My uncle Tim and I have a very endearing relationship with regards to “this organic thing.” I think it started back when we initiated our office recycling program with Pedro’s Planet last fall and Tim gave me trouble about not wanting another thing near his desk (aka recycling bin). Then I got on his case about his daily trips to QuickTrip to get his and several other coworkers’ cold beverage (iced tea) fixes taken care of in the morning. “Tim, can’t you re-use the same cup-carrier every day? How about we just rinse our cups and you take the same ones to refill every day?” I pleaded. “Molly, I’m recycling paper now, leave me alone, and just go plant some trees,” he joked.
So you can imagine my shock and glee when he came in my office today to look for a sample of an organic hoody. I thought he was kidding at first, but since he seemed to be looking for one right away, I asked if he had a customer interested in organic. “I can find what I need!” he insisted. “Well I might be able to help you find it faster if you want. Believe it or not, I do know about those products,” I responded, referring to my lack of knowledge of any of the “regular” products we carry in our showroom!
“Okay, who makes this?” he complied.
“A company called Continental. And it’s really great because it’s actually manufactured using only wind and solar energy! But that’s going to be pricier. Your best bet is Independent,” I answered, happy to be putting all of my vendor and product sourcing work to good use finally! “Hold on, let me get you the info. I think that’s who just confirmed that they could give us case pricing.”
So I jotted down the info for him, and when walking by my office a few minutes later, he said, “Molly, don’t jump out of your skin or anything, but I met your challenge. They just placed an order for some organic hoodies.” (After presenting the sustainable apparel options that we can make available to our customers at a sales team meeting several weeks ago, I challenged each salesperson to make one “green” sale this spring.
“Way to go, Tim! Now you get a green leaf that I can put up above your desk!” I said, gleaming.
“No, I don’t want that. I’ve got a challenge for you now! You have to sell baseball team uniforms now!” (Baseball is my uncle’s forte.)
“Does kickball count? I’ve sold two kickball teams!”
“No, it has to be baseball!”
(And in case anyone’s wondering, the photo in this post is illustrative of Tim & I’s joking-aroundness. That’s me on the right, in full fall kickball gear, for some reason holding a wiffle ball bat, and Tim looking on with amusement on the left.)
Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran