New Phobia

I was looking through a list of phobias for the title of this blog and determined that there is no phobia listed for the fear of salespeople. There were some pretty funny ones that I thought you would enjoy:

Allodoxaphobia- Fear of opinions.
Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
Bolshephobia- Fear of Bolsheviks.
Coprastasophobia- Fear of constipation.
Levophobia- Fear of things to the left side of the body.
Medorthophobia- Fear of an erect penis.
Novercaphobia- Fear of your step-mother.
Oenophobia- Fear of wines. (that is just wrong)
Papaphobia- Fear of the Pope.
Proctophobia- Fear of rectums.
Venustraphobia- Fear of beautiful women.
Walloonphobia- Fear of the Walloons. (what?)


So I've created a new one: Soldophobia

I recently volunteered with my company to spend my Saturday working for charity. We were giving tours of these incredible playhouses (some 2 story) that were being raffled off for charity (to build a hospital for children without insurance). The raffle tickets were $3 each.

So, we sat at our table and watched as these children ran up, wide eyed, and so excited to see these playhouses of their dreams. Most of the parents followed, let them look in the houses and the majority purchased at least a single raffle ticket.

But then there are the crazies.

These are the parents that either A) chased their children, grabbed their arms and quickly snatched them up as if they were about to run into a burning building B) covered their children's eyes or diverted their attention so that they didn't see the playhouses C) Completely ignored me when I said "hey do you guys want to come check out these cool playhouses? It's free! We just want you to vote on which is your favorite!" D) Looked at me like I had a third arm coming out of my forehead and was obviously the dumbest person on the planet for even thinking that I had the right to invade their ears with the idea that they would stoop low enough to participate in my little scheme.

Who are these people? I'll tell you who they are. These are the same people that keep their porch light off on Halloween and pretend they aren't home when a trick-or-treater rings their doorbell. (We know you're home, dude, we can hear your t.v.) They are the same people who ignore and glare at the adorable wonderful girls who sit outside of walmart chanting "would you like to buy some girl scout cookies?" (SHAME ON YOU PEOPLE...girl scout cookies are heavenly) They are the same people who shrug off the perfume tester lady and the sweet salesperson who just want to help and who drive by the lemonade stand without stopping to spend 25 cents on the most tart or watered down lemonade ever but making a 4 year old's day.

As one of my former advisors and a good friend, Kim Bradley, once told me "People don't like to be sold, they like to buy"

I believe this to be oh-so-true but in the same sense, people always assume that you are trying to sell them something. I don't understand the fear of salespeople as I am a salesperson myself. The reason I don't understand this is because unless you are a single, unemployed, person who has never been a babysitter, employee or on a date....you are a salesperson. If you've gone on a job interview, a date or tried to convince some child that the toy they desperately want you to buy them is actually not cool at all...you are a salesperson.

Here is my challenge to you. Next time you encounter a solicitor, salesperson or anyone wanting you to do something that you hadn't planned on doing, here them out. You don't have to agree, you don't have to do it...but you can give them a chance, give them a smile and give them the respect of 20 seconds of your time. And you better stop and give that kid a dollar, even if you don't want the lemonade!