Friday 1 February 2013

Blogruary Day 1: The Survey Man

The MA degree that I am studying is supposed to prepare us for our first full-time, proper, real life job. I say that because we have classes from 9-5 every day. That is apart from Friday, which we have off.

I always say to myself on Thursday when finishing classes for the day that I will do a ton of work on the Friday and have a really productive day. Today I planned to finish an essay, do an hour of shorthand and really get ahead with my work. 

I woke up at 11. That is a late start in comparison to the 7am starts I have had all week. I drove to the corner shop and brought the newspapers which I read the minute I got home. I made my lunch and after eating a tasty stew, I looked in horror at the clock and noticed it was 2pm.

Where had the day gone? 

I opened the laptop, grabbed my notes and got my academic brain into gear and got cracking on my reflection essay. 

That was until a man came to my door asking me to do a half-hour survey on finance. I didn't have a spare half-hour so I told him I didn't have the time to do the survey. Naively, I thought this would get the man to move onto the next house in the street. 

In true sales style he asked what time he could come back tomorrow and began offering potential times. "10am...11am...?" 

One of my fatal character flaws is my inability to say no to minor requests as I don't like to be mean. I didn't want to hurt the poor man's feelings by saying I didn't want to do the survey tomorrow so I said, "The afternoon...?"

He continued to push for 10am so I offered a reasonable time of 1pm. He agreed, said he would come back then and moved onto the next house. 

I shut the door and began to wonder how I can avoid doing the survey when he comes back tomorrow. 

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