Do You Like To Cook?

"Do you like to cook? No? Have a nice day!"

"Hello m'am. Quick question. Do you like to cook? No? Have a nice day!"

"Hello sir. Quick question. Do you like to cook? No? Have a nice day!"

How would you feel if you were randomly out on the street in the city and asked if you liked to cook by some stranger in an apron... when it was snowing? Imagine being the stranger in the apron standing outside in the cold trying to play the hustle game? That's what I did for just under 3 weeks.

Welcome to my commission-only job, where the name of the game was, "have fun and make money".

I had been looking for a job and had finally landed a second round interview again, which I decided to go to. I get to the second interview and find myself talking to a young man named Nate and answering questions about marketing and sales all while standing outside. Thankfully, this was all before it became super freezing outside. After a strenuous six hours of doing that, Nate walked me inside. I ended up having to answer a questionnaire and talk to a man named Ryan to convince him I have drive and am a motivated person. I was offered the job on the spot and told to come in tomorrow.

Tomorrow happened and I was just snake-in-the-grassed into this role of a lifetime... or so I thought. Part of me was skeptical the entire time. My friends were also throwing me red flags right away due to the nature of the interview and telling me not to go into work. Something was up, and I needed to figure out why red flags were being thrown so early on. I went into work anyways.

After arriving at 17 N. State Street in the morning, I walked into this standing-only room into a meeting called "atmosphere", where we would go over the pitch and do some training in the morning before going out into the field. Nate ended up becoming my mentor and would work in atmosphere meetings with me to teach me the pitch. It took me awhile to learn the pitch, but after several days, I eventually got it down. Everyone was super helpful and kind to me the entire time, which was nice. After atmosphere meetings, someone would come to the front of the room for an "impact" meeting, which was a lesson on how to sell shit. Sometimes, there would also be conference calls with the top representatives in the US, which also explained to us how to sell shit.

We sold "Blue Apron"-like products, which were meal kits with pre packaged and pre measured ingredients so all you had to do was chop veggies and cook everything. It would take 20-30 minutes to cook the food.  The field was where we would be standing outside soliciting strangers trying to sell shit. I knew I had a hustler mentality and something inside of me was convincing me not to bail right away.

The workday was normally supposed to be from 9:45am until 6pm and if you didn’t make 3 sales you were to stay until 7, but no later. The training was from 9:45am until 11am, which you wouldn’t get paid for. The rest of the day, it was floating in the field trying to move it or lose it. 

The field was a very rough and cutthroat place. It looked all smiley and dancey and like you have pep in your step, but it was getting cold since it was around November and the field was outside on the street you and your group were assigned to. There were even points where I had to stand outside by myself and start pitching to strangers. Yes, you had to pitch to strangers! You would continuously ask every last person if they liked to cook and they would mostly give you some form of “no” while you would tell them to have a nice day and move on. Some days it was nice and warm and I didn’t need to look like an eskimo. Other days I wasn’t so lucky. Some days I would be pain free. Others I would be reaching into my bag for Advil praying the day would end. Some days I would be nice and awake. The rest of the time I would be having brain farts, mind blanks, and my mentor would see how dead I am and make a secret stop to the nearest Dunkin Donuts in order for me to be able to function during the day. Thanks Nate!

Each day in the field on average I managed to make 1 sale a day. Some days I made 0 and one day I made 3, which is called “ringing the bell”; the next day at work, you’d get announced before going out to the field in “noise”, which is honoring the people who made 3 or more sales in a day. 

After the field, you would go inside and break down your day to see if you hit your “goals” and go over what you did well and what can be improved upon. After a crazy long day plus a 45 minute commute each way, I was dead tired once I got home.

My dear roommate friends also noticed how unhappy I was when I would walk in the door and would often pass out on the couch; I had also been eating out a lot and unable to work out as much as necessary. When it was time for my appointment with my therapist, he told me to get the hell out of there; that was a sign.

After spending two and a half weeks at this place, I told the commission-only job I was done. I needed to make more than $150 dollars in a week period. No, this "experience" is not going on my resume. While I am now looking for a new full-time job that won't mysteriously end 2 weeks after my start date and driving for Uber/Lyft in the meantime, this gig of mine has told me I am a lot more worthy than asking random strangers on the street if they like to cook!