What Your Mom and Dad Didn't Tell You About Sales People

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When I was young, my parents would always be nervous whenever their insurance agent, or sales person, would come over to our house.  It was so intense they wanted all of the kids out of the house and they put together a game plan for dealing with Mr. MacDonald who was the insurance agent.  It was as if the devil himself was coming for a visit.

"Okay, don't give him anything but water to drink. No beer.  Next thing you know I'll have a beer and we'll be all chummy and I've signed my life away.", I could hear my dad saying from the kitchen while I hid under the porch, listening.

"Isn't that what he does?  Sells life insurance?", my mom would respond.

"What? Don't confuse the issue.  He's coming because he wants to sell us something and dammit I'm just not gonna let that happen.  Not this time."

"I think he just said he wants to renew the policy is all.  It's been over 5 years."

"Naw, he's gonna increase our rates.  I know it.  Don't ever trust a salesman.  Ever.  They're slick and they're evil."

" His daughters go to school with all of our kids.  He can't be that bad."

" That's what he wants you to think.  That he's just like us.  But he's not.  He's coming here to sell us on some new policy or get us to take more insurance that we don't need.  We have to resist."

" Whatever you say honey.  He seems pretty normal to me."

" Well he's not.  He's the devil."

And this would go on right up until the time that Mr. MacDonald arrived and I would hear them talking from under the porch, with my dad always saying no we don't want that, and then my mother quietly chiming in, and then after an hour or two, Mr. MacDonald would leave and my dad would seems confused and frustrated, but oddly content...with himself.

"I told you he was going to try and sell us something.  New requirements my butt. I taught him thing or two.  Ya can't pull one over on me."

"No you can't honey.  And really all he wanted was for us to renew the policy."

"And that's all he got.  Shifty salesman. Sell your soul for a nickel."

"He always seems nice, and very polite.  He seems like just a normal guy with 3 kids."

"He's not. He's a salesman."

Every meeting with Mr. MacDonald every few years went exactly like this, and each time my father would renew or up his insurance coverage. And of course, he would complain about what a sneaky person Mr. MacDonald was, and how he was taking my parent's money for "doing nothing but sitting behind a desk in his big house on Lake Street. " It was cyclical but it was consistent and I give credit to Mr. MacDonald for being patient and not insulted by father's stand offish demeanor.  He remained polite and pleasant during each meeting with my parents.  My dad would never insult him, but he would never trust him, or so that's how it seemed.  But my dad renewed with him every time, and my father was loyal to a fault, so Mr. MacDonald couldn't have been all that bad...right?

Here's something my parents didn't know about Mr. MacDonald, but I did.  He was a guy just trying to earn a living like everyone else.  No magic, no snake oil, and no mirrors.  Just a nice man attempting to provide for his kids.  And at times it could be hard, just like anyone else in town.

I knew this because I had been in the grocery store one time and saw Mr. MacDonald trying to pay with a check and the store manager refusing to accept the check for payment.

"Your last two checks bounced Bill.  Do you have any cash?"

" I do, but not enough to cover all of this stuff.  You know I'm good for it Ted."

" Sorry Bill, but I need cash for all of it.  Everything okay with Kathy, I know she's been sick. Haven't seen her in the last 6 months.  I heard in and out of the hospital. She doing okay?"

" No she's not Ted.  That's where all the money's going.  She's up at Roswell. Sorry about this, I'll have to put some stuff back.", Mr. MacDonald looked very embarrassed and very sad.  He looked over at me and I looked away.

" No you won't. I'll cover it for today.  You pay me back when you can.  And tell Kathy we're pulling for her."

I thought at that point Mr. MacDonald was going to cry, "I'll pay back every cent when I get my next check Ted.  I'm so sorry."

"We've all got problems Bill.  And we could all use some help at times.  Give her my best."

" Will do.  Thanks again.  See you next week."

I realized at that point that Mr. MacDonald wasn't just a salesman, he was a simple man with problems just like the rest of us.  Yes he had a big house, and a big car, but he also had a wife in the hospital, and the bills were obviously piling up.  My mom and dad didn't see all that, and I felt like telling them about what I'd witnessed when I returned home, but it didn't seem appropriate.  I felt like it was too private a moment for me to share about Mr. MacDonald.  I never mentioned it to anyone until now.

What my parents and your parents never told you about sales people is that they are simply human beings.

Trying to make it through life like the rest of us, one day at a time.