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Show opinion/ A6 MONDAY-OCTOBER 31 *2005 Dealing with salespeople joe YOCCll Or how I spent my summer vacation selling some useless products to desperate housewives Generally, I consider myself a pretty tolerant person. Generally. However, sadly, the time has come for me to denounce a certain group. No. it's not liberals or conservatives; it's not academia (I promise, I still love you, academia in spite of your pretensions and in spite of my rage the past few weeks). No, the unfortunate, but well deserved target for this week is a group known as salespeople. They come in all forms, these salespeople, but their tactics are pretty much the same. Perhaps you've encountered them yourselves here at UVSC-they're the ones in the halls offering you that special, incredible, one-day-only, *my manager really shouldn't let me do this' deal on a gym pass. Or the ones trying to recruit you for that lavish, high-paying, flexible schedule job you've always dreamed of-selling knives. Or per- the good the bod & the the good A woman from White City, Oregon apparently bought herstate's winning one million dollar lottery ticket with a stolen credit card. Because the card was stolen, she forfeits all winnings. It's okay, winning and then loosing a million dollars all in the same day is good for the heart. haps the ones trying to get you to nipulating people. "It's easy!" they salespeople. Some have miracudig your own financial grave by exclaimed with great enthusiasm lously maintained a certain deapplying for a 0% interest for the (in case you've never had the joy- gree of authenticity and integrity. first 6 months, 976% thereafter ful experience of working in sales, I recently bought a car from one credit card. such business. They didn't try Okay, I confess: I myself to corner or coerce me; they was once a salesman. didn't use some jackass line like, "What's it going to take I was 17, just out of high "They come in all forms, these salespeoto get you in this car today?"; school, and flattered to get there was no pressure or ara letter in the mail from one ple, but their tactics are all the same. tificial "getting to know me1 Vector Marketing expressing games. They were straightinterest in me (presumably Perhaps you've encountered them forward and honest, and as a they had talked to my agent result they got my business. and learned of my consider- yourselves here at UVSC" able talent and abilities). As I Unfortunately, this seems to read their letter, the opportube the exception in the sales nities seemed endless. I could world of today. In fact, I recently had a couple of mismake $30,000 in one sumsionaries knock on my door mer! I could be Executive Director of everything is done with great en- using the same exact techniques. Individual Cutlery Sales! thusiasm and optimism-or at least Having served a mission myself, Their scissors cut through pen- the appearance thereof)- Before I couldn't believe it! They were nies! long I was a motivated, mind- trying to SELL me the gospel, it seemed. Please just be real, I Over the next few days of train- bending, manipulating machine. ing 1 was taught the basics of maLook, I don't mean to trash all wanted to say, and people will be Off to war again Dear Editor, I'm leaving for Iraq here in a few days. By the time this hits the press, I will be in training. I'm not going to "kill babies" or "murder innocent people." I'm going to support victory because in spite of what most people think, we're very liked out there. The Jihadists that we're fighting today, are much like the Crusaders of the Middle Ages. They're out for blood "in the name of God," or in Arabic "in-sha-Allah." Muslims are very kind, peaceful and hospitable people. They hate the war as much as we do, but they actually being there, and seeing first hand what has happened, understand the relevance of it. They're afraid to say anything, because the minority of Jihadists have more power than the majority. An unfortunate situation indeed. I'm not saying these things from some pre-conceived notion. I've developed, but from actually going to the Middle East, and seeing first hand the people USU reporting complaints unfounded and culture, things are a lot better for them. Clean water, electricity, phones, luxuries many of them never really had. More and more Iraqis are enlisting into their military and their law enforcement. And as they start to step up, we start to fall back. It's time for everyone to stop pointing the finger and saying "this is Bush's fault, that is Bush's fault." Sit back, let him do his job, and you do yours. Things are starting to cool down and get better. And you will see over time, things continue to get better. So, I'm off to war. I hope to return happy and healthy, with all my limbs still attached. If anyone has any questions of comments about anything, feel free to email me: cragun_leishman@msn.com. — SPC. Tom Leishman U.S. Army Belief in God not ignorant the bod Germany's awardwinning director Dani Levy is planning a comedy centering on the character Adolph Hitler. Hitler moustache - pretty funny. Tens of millions of deaths - not so funny. the ugly In Delaware a 42-yearold woman who committed suicide this week by hanging herself from a tree went unnoticed when neighbors simply thought the corpse was a Halloween decoration. Dear Editor, I've noticed that The College Times has had a few letters to the editor and even an article in the Opinions on the subject of God. Most of the letters, in my view, seem to be in opposition to organized religion and view a belief in God as a practice for the weak-minded and emotionally insecure. Now I will admit, it does take a great deal of faith to believe in a supreme being and some will always find it incredibly foolish. I have even been called uneducated for professing my belief in God, but giving up my religion is something I will never do. The whole argument reminds me of a passage in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. In the sixth book, The Silver Chair, the four main heroes find themselves in a great underground kingdom with no light, ruled by an evil witch. The witch was using her magic and the power of suggestion to make the heroes believe that the "Overworld" (Narnia) was simply a made up world and that they were foolish to believe in it and its God, the lion Asian. As they began to give in to the witch, one of the heroes named Puddleglum made this remark: "I won't deny any of what you've said. But there's one more thing to be said, even so. Sup- more open to listen. Instead, for about five minutes they tried to manipulate me using several obvious sales techniques. Look, I don't mind the idea of people trying to share something that's important to them, or even selling something. People, especially poor college students, have to make a buck, even if that means sales (or even worse, its evil stepsister. Telemarketing). But at least if you're going to do it, cut the crap as much as possible. And UVSC, maybe since we're paying for an education, and not the opportunity to be solicited by Gold's Gym on our way to class every day, you could do us a favor. Ask them to move their table to Gold's Gym. Any location would be acceptable. pose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Asian himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm on Asian's side even if there isn't any Asian to lead it. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for [Narnia]. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's a small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say." Dear Editor, Doug Downs, everything was going fine until that damning last paragraph. After that I was more convinced that your goal was to incite gossip and accusation against the newspaper rather than reporting a more believable approach to the USU bus incident; effectively that makes you guilty of exactly what you're accusing. Oh, and if you're going to babble on about your brother and some kind of accident, try to put it somewhere in the letter where it actually holds weight. You know, maybe just after the second sentence in your third paragraph. To borrow from your witty, writing style: "It's called topic sentences and supporting evidence." I get all sorts of confused trying to dig my way to your point otherwise. —Jacob Ford letter/ to the editor Supreme Court nominations raise questions Dear Editor, I am greatly disheartened to have to join the conservatives. Against my best advice and wishes, (and a few wasted bribes), Republicans in the senate recently voted 55-0 in favor of confirming John Roberts to the Supreme Court. It was thus a devastating blow when many leading Senate Republicans had the audacity to question the wisdom of President Bush's statement that his close friend and former lawyer Harriet Miers, was the most qualified person in the country to fill the second vacancy on the supreme court. How could the Republicans damage my spirits thus? It is almost an indescribable joy in my life to whine and mope about how ridiculous their practices are. I was all set to have a New Year's Eve-esque party when a little bit of wisdom on their part ruined everything. Here's a fact. I have more experience (I'm 24) in teaching than Miers and Roberts do combined in being judges. And yet I fail to qualify to be employed as an ordinary teacher (rightly so because I have no license) in the public school system, and somehow they deserve spots on the Supreme Court. Elementary my dear Watson. Being a lawyer is as different to being a judge as the role of a student to that of a teacher. I wish they made up a supreme court license. I'm sure the requirements would include more than two and zero years experience as judges. My common sense tells me Miers will be rejected but experience says hold on to your conclusions. Just in case anyone wondered I don't hold the Democrats in the Senate blameless. By my count they deadlocked 22-22 in the Robert's confirmation vote. Anyhow, it's going to be a tough decision for the less battle hardened Republican senators who will have to choose sides among the stick-to-your- nonsense Bush administration and the wary GOP leadership who can't be sure that Miers will vote their views. As for my sagging spirits, they'll just have to wait until the next time the Republican Congress passes some shoot-from-the-ass Bush legislation. Oh wait, that was today, yippee! —ChetBohrer LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Bottom line: I am on God's side, and if it so happens that there is no God to lead it, that belief still leads me to hope for a world that really does lick this world hollow. — Stephen Thomson * E-Mail letters to uvscopinions®hoimail.com * The NetXNews room is located on campus in SC220. * All letters become property of NetXNews and may be edited lor content, specifically clarity, length or other concerns at the discretion of the Opinions Editor. * Letters between 50-250 words-are encouraged and those letters marked by their succinctness are more likely to be published. * Letters must be accompanied by full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes (contact information will not be published). Occupation, title or major is optional. |