I have to admit that I've had a similar experience as well. A company had been running in my college town for a while. I needed new work and applied, got the job, attended training, and all of that. I quit after the first day of real work because they lied to me about the hours (10AM - 9PM Monday through Saturday, not the 11AM - 8PM Tuesday through Saturday I was promised) and the actual work (door-to-door vacuum sales, not the customer service phone calls and loading and unloading of vans that I was promised--and the "sales strategies" I was expected to use were also dishonest and manipulative).
Over the next three years, I observed whenever their offices moved. Each time, the new place was smaller and in a less friendly part of town than the last. They eventually disappeared. I was very happy to see that.
Yep. Had one of those managers, too.
Him: HS, why didn't your department meet sales goals yesterday?
Me: In the seven hours I was working, we had four customers. That's why.
Him: That's no excuse. Why didn't you sell to those customers?
Me: I did.
Him: Then you should have met sales goals.
Me: I couldn't. How am I supposed to get $35,000 revenue out of four customers?
Him: Upsell!
He just couldn't accept that it ever might be impossible to hit the sales goals if there was not enough store traffic. And I don't want to ever meet the salesperson who can get four people to buy $7,000 worth of computer stuff each in one day, especially when only one wanted to buy a computer in the first place (the other three were after software or ink or stuff like that).
Or my favorite...
Him: HS, if there's time to lean, there's time to clean!
Me: I dare you to find me something in my department that needs to be cleaned.
Him: *wanders off, doesn't return for about three hours*
Same here. In an inbound call center, I improved my upsell rates on one product line by adding my own introduction to the upsell page. Just an introduction! Something like, "You can also get Product Y and Product Z at a discount if you add them to your order today. Would you be interested in those?" It wasn't on the script, so I got "coached" for that, even when I pointed out that my numbers had gone up significantly and suggested that the script could be changed so everyone could do that. I was told to just read the script. I left.
Over the next three years, I observed whenever their offices moved. Each time, the new place was smaller and in a less friendly part of town than the last. They eventually disappeared. I was very happy to see that.
Quoth protege
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Him: HS, why didn't your department meet sales goals yesterday?
Me: In the seven hours I was working, we had four customers. That's why.
Him: That's no excuse. Why didn't you sell to those customers?
Me: I did.
Him: Then you should have met sales goals.
Me: I couldn't. How am I supposed to get $35,000 revenue out of four customers?
Him: Upsell!
He just couldn't accept that it ever might be impossible to hit the sales goals if there was not enough store traffic. And I don't want to ever meet the salesperson who can get four people to buy $7,000 worth of computer stuff each in one day, especially when only one wanted to buy a computer in the first place (the other three were after software or ink or stuff like that).
Or my favorite...
Him: HS, if there's time to lean, there's time to clean!
Me: I dare you to find me something in my department that needs to be cleaned.
Him: *wanders off, doesn't return for about three hours*
Quoth smileyeagle1021
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