Arriving in Sheldon for the first time back in 1991, was culture shock to say the least. Coming from a county of 6 million people and surrounded by other counties where the boundaries are no longer visible, the realization we were moving near a town of 520, not knowing whether it counted the livestock or not, was shocking; and to add to the shock, the change from a 16-lane highway to a one lane gravel road….
Grumpy’s home was not even in Sheldon, I came to find out, but 17 miles East, at the edge of Cedar County, across the dirt road from Vernon County, at the end of a road with a startling view of a hay meadow, where friends from town stop by occasionally just to sit on the porch and contemplate the view from a rocking chair.
Now, where was I supposed to find a job? Grumpy had the experience but not the inclination to work for the government again. Voilà, received a call from a flooring manufacturer in Letchworth, England for a meeting in San Francisco. He asked if I would be interested in representing his company in the Eastern US, as a sales director.
Are you kidding? Of course, I’m interested. However, not to sound too eager, I made myself think about it for about 2 solid seconds and I answered: yes, I’m available next week to meet you; send the ticket and I’ll be there.
I made a list of recommendations on how to tackle the job to increase the sales; he, on the other hand, had scribbled a few items needed to be implemented to what he thought would be a great solution. He was impressed with my ideas!
After the initial exchange, he presented a compensatory package for the work I was willing to do on his behalf. My initial reaction required complete composure on my part as I realized I had been terribly underpaid in the past. Taking into account the sterling pound was worth more than the US dollar, I promptly agreed.
The fun began when one of the sales directors called and asked for me to change the delivery address to a post office box, as my actual address looked “too rural”. Following that criticism, he continued to berate me for my accent and anything he deemed offensive.
At the first sales meeting, this sales director asked the question: “how do you get to work in the US? To which I answered: “I swim the Rio Grande from Mexico every morning and swim back to Mexico after work every evening.” Everyone thought it was a great come back since the one asking the question was a Canadian National, who had been working in the US without a visa.
This sales director was a thorn on my side for many years, although I learned to ignore his comments and off-color jokes and eventually, he stopped the harassment when other directors asked him to have more respect for his colleagues. But he taught me how to defend myself, and I will always appreciate the lessons learned.
Today, I find myself surrounded by good friends who make life easy and fun, and I am no longer shocked.