The best deserve the best, the worst deserve the worst

The monthly sales figures have come out for November. Overall a six per cent increase on last year, but far short of the fifteen per cent increase that had been targeted. All the sales reps were in the offices this morning, long faces, bemoaning the fact that they had missed target for the month (they have their own room where they sit when they are in the office – it’s like a private club just for them, no-one ever goes in there except by invitation).

Everyone expects Trevor Bush, our Managing Director, to come storming into the offices later this afternoon, demanding to know why the sales were off target and what plans the sales reps have to put things right. He will keep them late into the evening, haranguing them about their failure and threatening to take away their privileges (they are very well looked after in terms of salary and benefits). One of Trevor Best’s favourite sayings is: The best deserve the best, the worst deserve the worst.

Throughout the afternoon the tension has been mounting.

I would not normally get involved in this monthly berating (just as I do not get any of the bonuses when targets are met). However, recently Marketing has been given one of the least-performing areas to run some campaigns in, to see whether they will have any effect (none of the sales reps believed anything would come of this – they regard Marketing as a wasteful irrelevance). Looking at the sales figures just released, Area 7 (the area we had been given) has experienced a thirty-five per cent increase.

I have e-mailed Trevor Bush pointing this out to him. I know he will use it as ammunition to attack the sales reps. I can almost hear him saying: Even Marketing, yes even those useless people in Marketing have done better than you lot…