The Delegation of Duty in a Small Corporation OK, so there's a lot of buzz in the corporate hive this week because we're preparing for a trip to Los Angeles for a trade show. As part of this voyage some of us have been given certain tasks to complete per literature/pamphlets to distribute. We've known these specific roles for at least a month now. Myself, when my part was given me, I completed it that day, more or less. I was fairly proud of it, and it's a nice piece of information presented in an attractive format. Ready to go.

Today one of the sale guys comes in with a floppy disk and begins to tell me how he's "not good at computers" and would just like me to look at his work thus far and "nice it up" for him. I feel bad for this guy, and was morbidly curious as to how illiterate he was on a computer, so I agreed. Turns out the guy has three word docs with info on them, that was all. On top of this lack of any design, the info the docs contained was somewhat shitty. How this guy sells anything for our company is beyond me. I shudder to think about the things people have bought from us based on the information he has provided. Really, now I understand how the CSRs get pissed because clients are calling them completely in the dark about what they own.

So I took this guys pathetic composition of information and did what I could. Actually, what came out was pretty damn cool, I have to say. I cut out most of his original info and added more succint, accurate info of more use to a potential client. I threw it in to Publisher, added some design elements and made a rather snazzy little tri-fold pamphlet. I also made it quite clear to this gentleman how he owed me for making this something a person would actually look at rather than just toss in the garbage as soon as they were handed it. The boss knew what was going on, so that makes me happy. Thinking about it, I feel bad for the Sales Guy. He has no idea what the hell he's doing around a computer. He has no real deep conception of the product he's hucking. I don't know where he came from, but I think he's getting by as far as sales are concerned on something other than product knowledge.

We ate lunch in the break room today at the same time and he wolfed down some burger. He's an older guy, smokes like a chimney, with a pot belly. I felt bad for him. No wife, no kids (that I'm aware of), just sellin' to make a living. He's completely inept, but oh-so-human, and that's the final impression I was left with. An older American male salesman, not too far removed from the Willy Loman paradigm, really. Humanity in a bloodless corporation, whaddya know?  ¶ 8:07 PM