Pushing a rich kid to an undesirable sales job

[Anonymous]

Any job will be a good learning experience. Don't force the harsh, failure-prone jobs on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any job will be a good learning experience. Don't force the harsh, failure-prone jobs on them.

This. You already know your kids don't have the temperament or talent for sales. Why in the world would you push them into work you know they will suck at and hate.

[Anonymous]

I one time had a young college kid call to ask if he could drop by and do a sales presentation of some household products. I didn't know the kid but he explained that he was a neighborhood kid, home on summer break so I said - sure, why not.

When he came to the door, my child was napping and I asked him if he could show me the products outside - I didn't want to wake my baby up. He agreed to do the presentation on my porch. At any rate, he was a nice young man and he did a great job with his presentation but a large part of what he was selling were big, sharp knives....which was a little unsettling for me (young mom, alone with her young child) and awkward.

So, no. My kids will not be doing door to door. Department store sales? Yes, that might be doable.

[Anonymous]

Make sure the job isn't selling knives.

[Anonymous]

Just have them wait tables in Bethesda, you could get the same result.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty undesirable jobs around for your respective kid's growing experience - waiting tables, factory work, retail, etc. I wouldn't limit it to sales.

I, personally, have always lived by the mantra that you should never trust a person whose character has never been tested. I agree that it is important to give a kid some exposure to situations where they may fail or just be all around miserable for a short period of time so they can develop their character.

[Anonymous]

I learned a lot during my brief stint as a grocery store deli department. I worked the job for a month and quit after 3 weeks not even coming in on the last week. This reaffirmed my belief to get a college degree because non corporate jobs suck. Might be a good learning lesson for your kid to take a crap job.

[Anonymous]

You don't sound for real OP. In most places today -- door-to-door sales aren't legal...it's considered tresspassing in many places. If you are for real, get a grip. Let your kids do any job -- babysitting, grass cutting, whatever. You don't need to helicopter so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a shy, timid person. When I was younger I had a couple undesirable commission based sales jobs, but I learned a lot from them. I plan to push my kids to have similar experiences. My kids are timid too. A sales job will help them overcome this fear, especially since they live very sheltered lives. Such jobs could include door to door sales, selling shoes, used cars, insurance, timeshares, vitamins, cosmetics, etc. etc.

While they will likely be unsuccessful (like me) I hope they will learn how difficult these jobs are. They will also learn that many of these people lie or stretch the truth. Aside from being too shy, I know I failed because I was too honest. I am smart and I couldn't sell something to someone that didn't need it or couldn't afford it. There was usually a cheaper alternative to what I was selling too. The experience would also hopefully motivate them in their studies so that they can find a better job that is less difficult. Aside from the lying, I value sales skills. They will need to sell themselves to their employers and to their spouse. They need to have good speaking and presentation skills.

Another possibility is that they become very good at sales. Higher level sales jobs can be rewarding. For example, pharmaceutical sales, IT sales, real estate person specializing in million dollar homes, selling legal or accounting services, etc. etc.

My kids are well off and I could shelter them from all this, but I actually want them to suffer just a bit for the learning experience.

So do you approve of my approach or should I just protect them from these types of undesirable jobs.

I think that if your kids need to make money to cover some of their own expenses, they should figure out for themselves how to do it. If sales or other extrovert-oriented jobs make them anxious or unhappy then they will not be happy/in their groove, and are therefore unlikely to be successful at it as a long-term endeavor.

People are good at work that suits their personalities. Your kids should seek work that is a good fit *for them*.

[Anonymous]

I disagree with sales being undesirable job. It's a hard job and if you don't make sales, you don't get paid. Many people will not take that responsablity. It links performance with pay, gives one an understanding of p&l, how to work to a goal, and an understanding of how businesse work. Companies highest compensation is to their sales and marketing employees. But many times, getting a corporate sale jobs depends on having successful sales record.

[Anonymous]

If money is no issue then there will little incentive to sell shoes or Fuller Brushes door-to-door. However, learning to work is important. Your children should do volunteer work or internships.

[Anonymous]

Start earlier than working age to instill the values you care about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with sales being undesirable job. It's a hard job and if you don't make sales, you don't get paid. Many people will not take that responsablity. It links performance with pay, gives one an understanding of p&l, how to work to a goal, and an understanding of how businesse work. Companies highest compensation is to their sales and marketing employees. But many times, getting a corporate sale jobs depends on having successful sales record.

It is undesirable. It attaches too much value to money alone, and often leads salespeople to push sales on those who may not need the product or service. It's a job that's set up not to do what's best for the consumer, but to do what's best for the salesperson's pocket. Capitalism at its worst.

[Anonymous]

I wish I was rich enough to sit around all day and think of these weird scenarios to thrust upon my children.

[Anonymous]

SUFFER ? You want your kids to SUFFER ?

What kind of mother are you ? No good mother wants to see their kid suffer. There are other ways to get your kids to overcome being timid or shy. It's your responsibility in life to make that happen. Since you want them to suffer, success will probably not happen.

I can't believe you wrote something like that.