Unpleasantries

At the grocery checkout, the cashier says “Hi” to me without smiling. I say, “Hi. How are you?” She sighs. “I’m here.” Why that is so irritating: Duh. I know you are “here.” That’s why I asked “How are you?” and not “Where are you?” “I’m here” is one of those cop-out phrases that says [...]

Dear Xxxx Company: Do you really train your salespeople to act like this?

E-mail I sent yesterday to the “national sales” e-mail address of a large B2B network communications company: Hello. I’m a bottom-tier employee in an office that has been visited (cold) three times in the past few months by sales reps from Xxxx. In two of those instances, I was the person who greeted the sales [...]