Rising to Success

Mathew was lighting a cigar as he sat down on the park bench. He was thinking of where he was going to sleep. It was 8:30 PM and he had just been thrown out of his rented flat. He had not paid the rental fee for three months because he didn’t have a good paying job. He was a salesman in a used-car auto shop and the pay wasn’t really helping. He used to spend it on alcohol and cigars. He was a heavy drunkard and so, he attended seminars which helped drinkers to prevent consumption of alcohol. But, the seminars were of no use.

As he sat there, lost in thought, it was almost 9:00 PM and he thought of going to a pub. As he entered the hostelry, he went to the counter and asked for a tumbler of brandy and a schooner of whisky. If, by any chance he died, why not die doing his much loved leisure pursuit?

‘Here you go, mate.’ The bartender, Tiny, said with a heavy Australian twang. ‘Thanks.’ Mathew said. After drinking the brandy and the whisky, he asked for one glass of each. At about 10:00 PM, he stopped and paid the bartender. He got out of the bar and was repulsed with himself. The atypical thing about him was that even if he liked to drink, he regretted it once he stepped out the drinking hole. He tottered back to the park, slept on the park bench and got lost in a muddle of dreams.

The next morning, he thought of getting the paper and looking for employment. He saw wanted ads on a salesclerk, a builder and a sanitary engineer. But the one that caught his eye was a job working at a call centre, receiving and returning calls, trying to sell imported products coming from other countries. He thought of going and giving it his best shot.

As he was walking towards the building, he passed a few shops selling cigars but painfully fought the urge to buy it.

When he entered the call centre, it was abuzz with ringing phones and a constant noise that never seemed to die down. He asked a person working there where the manager’s office was. He showed him a long corridor and the second door on the left had a placard reading ‘MANAGER’S OFFICE’. Matt knocked on the door twice and a voice from inside said, ‘Come in.’ He entered without any shilly-shallying and saw a man sitting behind the desk. He got up and Matt quickly examined him top to bottom. He was bald, a little flabby and short. He wore lopsided specs and had a small moustache.

‘Hi, I’m Mike Strom. I’m the manager of this joint. How may I help you?’

‘Hey, my name is Mathew Fredrick. I saw an ad in the weekly that you were hiring. I may be good for the job.’

‘Well, if you are a fast talker, then you’re hired. You start tomorrow.’

‘Thank you, sir. I’ll come prepared.’

And with that, he walked out of the call centre and ran everything through his mind. ‘I got a job where there is not much work and where the money is good.’ he muttered slowly to himself. And with that, he walked off with a huge smile on his face.

When he reached the park, he went to his bench and sat down. An old man came and sat next to him.

‘That’s a very nice smile. How did it come?’

‘Umm, who are you? I don’t think we’ve met before.”

‘I am Patrick James. I, too, sleep on one of the park benches. I have seen you many times. Sometimes in high spirits, sometimes sorrow. Today, you seem happy.’

‘That’s because I got a job.’

‘Well, that is just wonderful.’

The next day, Matt got ready to go to the call centre. He was very excited. He had never gotten a job in a really long time. As he entered the building, the noise welcomed him. He went into the manager’s office and asked the manager what he should do.

‘Good morning, sir. What am I supposed to do first?’

‘You can start by going to your desk and answering calls.’

‘You got it.’

And with that, he walked out the door. He went and sat on an unoccupied desk, assuming it wasn’t used by anybody else. His first call came and he tried to sell a product but could not do it. His second call came, third call and fourth call came. He was unable to sell a product to any of those people. But, fifth time’s a charm. A call came and the man at the other end was interested in American Caps. Matt sold it at last at $100. He was happy that he had sold something on his first day. The second day, the same thing happened. But instead of American Caps, the man wanted bread toasters and Matt sold it at $200. He was contented. This type of success had never come to him. For the first time in a really long while, he felt that he could change his life around.

It was Sunday. He had gotten used to getting up at 8 PM in the morning. But he wanted to keep himself open to new jobs which gave huger amounts of cash. So, in the newspaper, he saw an ad to be an assistant to an editor of a magazine, TeenLook. He thought about it for a while. One hour later, he was on his way to Chic Publications, where they published the magazine.

He was getting very nervous. He was wondering if he got the job or not. After a while, he knew. And it was another happy moment of his life. He had gotten the job. There was a huge beam on his face as he walked back to the park that evening.

The next day, he went into the call centre and told Mike that he was quitting.

‘But you only started yesterday. How can you quit so early? I thought you weren’t a quitter.’ Mike said with desperation in his voice. Apparently, Matt was the only person who had sold something for more than $100 dollars. So, when he got back to park, he asked Patrick if he wanted the job. Pat was more than overjoyed. He thanked Matt for the kind gesture and blessed him.

Looking back over the days, he was very proud of himself – form a drunkard and salesperson, he got a job at a call centre and from there, he got a job working as an assistant to the editor of TeenLook. In his long life, he had never imagined himself to be this successful and he thanked God, Pat and Mike. He would’ve never reached where he was without their support.