The loneliness of the export traveller.

[Globalti]

Plenty of CC contributors will recognise the loneliness and boredom, when you just want to get the job done and jump on that big silver bird home. This time with the weather you're having I'm in no great hurry, was in Khartoum yesterday where it was a pleasant 38c during the day and very dry, about 25c at night but.... no alcohol.

Now I'm in Addis and it's cooler, about 16c at night with occasional rain but just behind my hotel is a German-owned hotel, which has a micro brewery in the lobby. I don't normally drink Euro-fizz but Boy, when it's this fresh it slips down pretty damned well.

 

[Drago]

A micro brewery, you say?

 

[Levo-Lon]

Enjoy

 

[Cycleops]

It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it.

 

[Globalti]

The people you meet are the greatest joy, in every country you receive friendliness, hospitality and interest. The nice thing about Africans is their charm and absolute lack of the sense of entitlement that we British seem to have learned from somewhere.

 

[Cycleops]

I've spent my whole life in sales and thoroughly enjoyed it but you're right @User259 not everyone is cut out for it.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

Plenty of CC contributors will recognise the loneliness and boredom, when you just want to get the job done and jump on that big silver bird home. This time with the weather you're having I'm in no great hurry, was in Khartoum yesterday where it was a pleasant 38c during the day and very dry, about 25c at night but.... no alcohol.

Now I'm in Addis and it's cooler, about 16c at night with occasional rain but just behind my hotel is a German-owned hotel, which has a micro brewery in the lobby. I don't normally drink Euro-fizz but Boy, when it's this fresh it slips down pretty damned well.

Out of interest. What do you sell/export?

 

[ColinJ]

Out of interest. What do you sell/export?

Answer:

I work for a perfume manufacturer so I'm one of the few chaps who can go home smelling of women's perfume and get away with it.

The labs are downstairs and some raw materials like furfuryl mercaptan are so stinky that if one of the lab staff opens the bottle, the stink fills the entire building in a few minutes. Should be in a fume cupboard really. It's not unpleasant as it's used in tiny dosages to make a coffee aroma but boy does it stink.

 

[gbb]

The people you meet are the greatest joy, in every country you receive friendliness, hospitality and interest. The nice thing about Africans is their charm and absolute lack of the sense of entitlement that we British seem to have learned from somewhere.

I only did Egypt in Africa and did find very distinct strata in the people there. Very helpful, the shop floor workers were extraordinarily friendly and always happy despite what seemed to me to be a 'do as your told or get out' mentality by anyone who had seniority. I suspect poverty was endemic for a lot of them. I gave half of my tools to some of the guys there and had some fantastic, albeit broken, conversations with them at breaktimes. I did find the management there kinda..neither here nor there, efficient, not friendly, could have been worse. I had no intention of venturing into Kafr El Zaiat...it looked decidedly 'basic' so all my eating and drinking was on site. A week of dodgy food but they did have beer.
I got a better view of real Egypt via my taxi driver. He took me to a couple of fabulous, roadside eateries...no alcohol but the food was awesome, as were the staff.

My colleague frequently did S Africa and despite the poverty of the farm workers, they were always smiling and happy.. The farm owners always looked after him royally. Shame I never made it there.

Spent many an evening over 10 years in various resturaunts on my todd in Cyprus and Spain, a few beers and good food made being on your own...a tad easier. Cyprus was often easier to meet Brits, usually retired expats or workers like myself.

Uruguay, meh. Mediocre food and beer.

Big silver bird to go home....my tickets were always open, , I could never be sure I'd actually make the flight and frequently didn't. I'd frequently be working up to the point a taxi arrived to take me. If something wasn't working...i wasn' coming back yet.

Miss it all...and don't. It puts a fair strain on a relationship.

 

[Dirk]

[QUOTE 5166715, member: 259"]Sales? I tried it and hated it. It takes a special kind of person to be good at it.[/QUOTE]
I did 3 years commission only sales back in the early 80s, most of it cold calling. Loved the challenge of the sale, most of the people I met and the variety. Hated the insecurity and uncertainty of whether I would actually earn anything each time I went out.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

It puts a fair strain on a relationship.

Got the chance to do the Asia exports for the Marine Division of PPG a couple of years ago. Good money but there's no way I could spend so much time away from my sick wife.

 

[Brandane]

[QUOTE 5166715, member: 259"]Sales? I tried it and hated it. It takes a special kind of person to be good at it.[/QUOTE]
Yep; tried it for a few months. It was great to start with and a good earner for a while..... Then the initial enthusiasm hit a brick wall and the earnings nose-dived. I think you really need to be passionate about whatever it is you are selling, and keeping that passion going can be difficult. Especially when those above you move the goal posts.

 

[Dave7]

Spent the last 30 years of my working life in sales of various products.
Approx 10 of those years were in export throughout Europe which included an 8 days stint in Israel.
I didnt enjoy the 'mainly' commission sales........I didnt like the pressure.
As I got into senior management I also went to a number of exhibitions in Germany and Spain.....they were enjoyable trips.
Sometimes ie when visiting a really interesting city I felt a bit lonely as in "I wish there was someone (wife or friend) with me to share this". But generally I was ok with my own company.

 

[mjr]

I know a bit about the job and I think I'd struggle with it. You travel the world but a lot of the time, you mostly see only workplaces. Most time in any interesting places like city centres is arriving late and leaving early which is tolerable in summer but difficult in winter, when you also have to deal with disrupted travel networks which is a skill in itself.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I've found that having limited time to take in cities and towns has made me more observant. With my parents in Spain last year I seemed to notice far more than them on day trips to Valencia, Murcia etc.