The New Salesman

"The New Salesman"

A keen Texas lad applied for a salesman's
job at a city department store. The store
was the biggest in the world and sold
everything under the sun.

"Have you ever been a salesman before?"
the boss asked during his interview.

"Yes, I was a salesman in Texas," the lad
answered.

The boss took an immediate liking to him
and told him he could start the next day.
"I'll come and see how you made out after
we close up," the boss said.

The day was long and hard for the young
man, but finally it was 5 o'clock. The boss
closed up the store and found the lad sitting,
slumped and exhausted, in a chair. "How
many sales did you make today?" the boss
asked.

"One," said the lad.

"One?" said the boss, obviously displeased.
"Most of the sales people on my staff make
20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the
sale worth?"

"Exactly $101,334.53," said the young man.

"How did you manage that?" asked the boss,
flabbergasted.

"Well," said the lad, "this man came in and I
sold him a small fish hook, then a medium
fish hook, and finally a really large hook.

Then I sold him a small fishing line, a medium
one, and huge one. I asked him where he was
going fishing, and he said he was going down
the coast. I said he'd probably need a boat, so
I took him down to the boat department and
sold him that fancy 22-foot Chris Craft with twin
engines.

Then he said his Honda Civic probably wouldn't
be able to handle the load, so I took him to the
vehicle department and sold him a new GMC
1-ton pickup truck."

"You sold all that to guy who came in for a fish
hook?" the boss asked in astonishment.

"He didn't come in to buy a fish hook," the Texas
boy explained. "He came in to buy a box of
tampons for his wife, and I said to him, 'Your
weekend's shot. You might as well go fishing.'
Received on Thu Aug 31 08:21:29 2006