The young woman stopped herself for a moment before opening the door.  She stood still, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.  A slight smile curved her lips; the fast beating of her heart, the tension in her stomach, and the tingling in her limbs were due more to exhilaration than nervousness.  Still, she thought, it was prudent to try to calm herself down a little.  Finally she exhaled, opened her eyes, and turned the doorknob.

"Hello," she said, approaching the secretary within the office.  "I’m Glory Tessler.  I have an appointment with Robert Orloff."

"Yes, Ms. Tessler.  Please have a seat.  It will just be a few minutes."

Glory nodded and made her way to a row of chairs; a young man, sitting in one of them, looked up from the magazine he had been reading and smiled at her. "You interviewing for the sales position?" he asked.

"That’s right."

"Then I guess that would make me your rival," he said.  "Bill Denning." She introduced herself and they shook hands.

"So, who are you selling for now?" he asked casually.

"Well--no one," Glory said with a grin.  "If I get this job, it’ll be my first. I just graduated from Indiana, actually."

"Oh yeah? Indiana, huh.  They’ve got a great business program.  Ah--you did major in marketing, I assume?"

"Correct.  I also got a minor in astronomy, just because I find it fascinating."

Dennings’s eyes lit up.  "Really? Wow.  That…must’ve been a lot of work."

Glory shrugged.  "I guess so.  It was what I wanted to do, though.  I figured I’d probably only be at school once, might as well make the most of it."

"Yeah…that’s kind of how I felt, too.  I really would’ve liked to minor in history when I was at school."

"Oh? So why didn’t you?"

"Well…seemed like it would’ve been a lot of work, and I was afraid it wouldn’t leave any time for partying.  But you know…it’s only been a few years, and I can’t even remember half the parties I went to any more." He smiled wistfully. "Oh well."

"Mr. Denning," the secretary called, "Mr. Orloff will see you now."

"Nice to have met you, Ms. Tessler," he said, rising. "May the best salesman win."

"Good morning, Mr. Denning," Robert Orloff said, rising briefly to grasp his hand.  "I’m Bob Orloff.  Have a seat.  I see from your resume that you have some considerable sales experience."

"That’s right." Denning said.  "I’ve been selling for the Kenyon-Schwarz Corporation for about three years now."

"Excellent," said Orloff.  "I’m really looking for an experienced salesman to revitalize this department." He scribbled a quick note on his clipboard, then leaned back in his chair.  "As you’ll see, Mr. Denning, my method of conducting interviews is quick and to the point." He pulled a pen from his shirt pocket and extended it across the desk to Denning.

"Sell me a pen."

Denning looked Orloff straight in the eye, his features composed and confident, and took the pen without missing a beat.

"I imagine, Mr. Orloff, that in your line of work there are a lot of things that you need to keep track of.  Phone numbers, meetings schedules, and so on."

"Yes, that’s true," Orloff said.

"I’d like to explore with you some ways that you could go about meeting that need. You could hire a personal assistant--but that would be very expensive, and probably overkill in any case.   You could use a small tape recorder--that would certainly be less expensive than an assistant, but I think there’s a solution that’s much easier and still less expensive." He held up the pen with a smile.  "Keep one of these in your pocket, and you’re problem is solved.  You’ll have the means to instantly record all the information you need to."

"Very well, Mr. Denning," Orloff said, smiling pleasantly.  "Good presentation." Denning smiled back and handed the pen to Orloff, who returned it to his pocket. "Well, that’s the entire interview.  I will contact you on Friday to inform you of my decision." They shook hands again, and Denning left the office; then Orloff instructed his secretary to send in Glory Tessler.

"Good morning, Ms. Tessler."

"Good morning."

"Please have a seat," Orloff said, settlling back in his own chair.  He picked up his clipboard, looked at it, and frowned.  "Now, according to your resume, you’re fresh out of school and you’ve never actually had a job in sales."

"That’s correct."

"I see.  Frankly, Ms. Tessler, I’m looking for someone with at least a couple of years experience to fill this particular position.  I really need someone who’s going to be capable of turning the sales record of this department right around.  But the really important thing, of course, is your ability to sell--which I’m going to give you an opportunity to demonstrate right now." He pulled the pen from his shirt pocket and offered it to her with a challenging smile.  "Sell me a pen."

Glory blinked.  "I can’t sell you that one," she said.  "You already own it. I’ll sell you mine, though." He had not seen her retrieve it, but she was holding up a shiny black pen.

Orloff paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, fine," he said.  "It doesn’t matter which one you use, it’s only a demonstration." He began returning the pen to his pocket.

"Don’t put that back just yet," Glory said.  "I want to show you something." She removed a small pad of paper from the pocket of her suit, tore a page from it, and set the page on the desk.

"All right, Mr. Orloff, try signing your name with that pen." He complied; Glory tore off another sheet and placed it next to the first one.  "Now," she said, handing her own pen to him, "try mine." He did so.

"Can you feel the difference?" she asked when he had finished.  ""My pen has a much smoother ink flow, don’t you think?"

"Why…yes," Orloff admitted.  "I have to say, it’s a pleasure to write with."

"Now let’s look at the difference." Glory said.  "See how the ink from your pen shorts out at the places where you make fast, sharp strokes? My pen doesn’t do that--it makes a much cleaner line--but the thickness of the line does vary with the amount of pressure you apply, almost like calligraphy.  And the ink is significantly blacker, as well."

"You’re right." Orloff said.  "I really can see the difference."

"Great," Glory said.  "Now, the usual retail price of this pen is two dollars, but since it’s slightly used, and since I want you to have it on a trial basis, I’ll let you have it for twenty-five cents." She sat up in her chair and looked at him expectantly.

"Well done, Ms. Tessler," Orloff said, smiling pleasantly, and placed her pen before her on the desk.  "Thank you.  I must say, that was quite an impressive presentation for someone with no real experience.  Well, that’s the entire interview." He rose from his seat.  "I will contact you by Friday to inform you of my decision."

Glory did not rise.  "So, are you going to buy the pen?" she asked.

Orloff’s eyebrows rose in surprise--then he chuckled.  "Well, no, that was just a hypothetical situation, you see.  But you really did do a fine job." He smiled reassuringly.  "I would have bought it."

"You ‘would’ have bought it?’ Glory asked, still sitting.  "But you didn’t buy it.  You asked me to sell you a pen.  If you haven’t bought it, I haven’t sold it."

"Well--" Orloff stammered. "But--"

"Let me put it this way, Mr. Orloff.  How much revenue would you say your company is losing every month because your prospects ‘would’ have bought from you--but didn’t?"

Orloff sat down.

"For that matter," Glory continued, "how much satisfaction and fulfillment would you say that people all over the world are missing out on because they don’t actually do the things that they ‘would’ do--that they know they should do, that they wish they would do, but that they never actually get around to doing? The people who ‘would’ quit smoking? Who ‘would’ get more exercise? Who ‘would’ save for retirement? Who ‘would’ try hang-gliding? Who ‘would’ double their income?"

Orloff said nothing, but stared at her raptly.

"Now, do you really agree that this pen makes writing easier than the one you’ve got?"

"Well…yes."

"And do you agree that it’s a steal for twenty-five cents?"

"Yes, yes, I do."

"Then I have only one last question: Do you consider that it’s safe not to do something that you know you ought to do, that you know would be to your advantage?"

Orloff hesitated.  "It’s not the pen that’s important here, Mr. Orloff," Glory said, "it’s the principle.  If you buy this pen and keep it in your pocket, you’ll never be able to forget about those ‘would haves.’ You’ll catch yourself every time.  And if you really want to turn the sales record of this department around, nothing could be more important than that."  With a quick but gentle motion she placed the pen on his desk and stood up, looking down at him.

Orloff sat still for a long moment; then, slowly, he reached out, took the pen, and placed it carefully into his pocket.

Finally he looked up at Glory, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Very well, Ms. Tessler.  You’ll get your twenty-five cents on Monday at ten-thirty when we meet to discuss your salary."

©1999 Steve Clark
All rights reserved.