The night before Good Friday a door to door salesperson came knocking. It was raining, nearly dark, and did I mention it was the night before a four-day weekend? Really? Who would think their sales pitch would be well received in this situation?
I am terrible at saying no and ending these kinds of interactions. Usually I try, half-heartedly, to cut them off. But of course, they barrel on, usually until T comes out to rescue me. In this instance, I felt really sorry for the salesperson – he looked a little terrified when T appeared on the scene. And this dude wasn’t terribly sleazy or annoying – just a guy with a turban and a mild accent who no doubt wanted to get home to his loved ones that night, too.
Are door to door sales pitches common where you live? Is it rare in cities where most people live in apartments rather than houses?
Blast from the past
This time last year we were in Malaysia, trying to acclimatise to the heat before starting the rest of our trip. But for now, the focus is on work/career, reflecting on our top travel moments, and of course celebrating our wedding anniversary.
This week’s links
LIFE
Ann Friedman offers an insightful perspective on the trap young stars face with the ‘are you a feminist’ question
Vanessa dishes out some realtalk for high school grads
Channel your inner two-year-old to build the life you want, says Cordelia
Lovely, poignant, accurate: Zen Habits on making marriage work
TRAVEL
Nomad Wallet explains how to make the most of booking flights when you have flexible dates
Your fix of panda photos for the week, via Break the Sky
WORK/CAREER
Tiny Apartment’s 10 rules for avoiding becoming an office drone
A day in the life of a writer by, incidentally, one of my fave advice columnists
Not just applicable to journalists, IMO. My biggest takeaway (which in hindsight, and from my own experience, I am actually inclined to agree with) from this sage piece on leaving a big media company: “Avoid working for a department or company where you are the only person who does what you do, unless you are hired in a senior position and have the authority and budget to staff the department or resource the project as needed.”
Finally, I was hooked from the very start (hilarious and true first paragraph example) of this piece on networking as an introvert. But what most resonated was this: “So, I may never be the most comfortable person in the room, that’s okay with me. What I want is to be able to stop passing up opportunities to meet new people, to build new relationships because I was too afraid.”