'He was officially reprimanded': Salesperson tries to pull power move with the lab techs, learns the hard way how to wait 24-48 hours

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Oct 14, 2023 8:00 PM EDT

If you have ever worked somewhere that included a sales department, then you are familiar with the clashing of heads. Salespersons tends to have a little bit of a more inflated ego than the other employees. Why is that? Who knows? Maybe because they think they're the money makers since they're the ones making the deals. But the deals wouldn't even be able to happen if the product didn't exist, so maybe they should be taken down a peg. 

Well, that thankfully happened in this story we found on Reddit. A lab tech was working very diligently on a wrench that takes very specific calibrating. If it didn't do the proper sitting for 24-48 hours, it would come out incorrect. Apparently, this was of no concern to the salesperson. This entitled employee came stopping into the lab (which he was not supposed to be in, in the first place) and demanded the product get done that day. The lab tech tried to explain that it needed a day or two still and finishing it in one day would be impossible. 

This made the salesperson lose it and go off on the lab tech. He needed it his way or it was going to be the miserable highway. So fine. The lab techs agreed it will go out today. They sent it as it, noting that it is very much "as-is" because the lab tech knew (and tried to tell the salesperson) that it was not going to work. 

The customer received the basically broken product and was extremely up set. This was apparently a big client, and the salesperson got in trouble by the higher ups because the lab tech made a note that the salesperson insisted it be sent as-is. So, just goes to show, if you have no idea what you're talking about, maybe you should listen to the people who do?? See for yourself below!

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  • 01
    Standing - 11 UNL60 4311
    via U.S. Department of Agriculture via Rawpixel
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/upset_pachyderm 1 day ago Okay, it will ship today! S OC A friend of mine did this.
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 03
    Font - When I was a tech at a calibration lab, we had a torque wrench arrive for calibration. Now, to do the job right, you must let the wrench sit in the lab until it has reached the same temperature as the lab and the calibration standards.
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 04
    Font - It was winter, and the wrench was cold (unheated shipping truck, warehouse, etc.) So this wrench was put on the shelf to acclimate, which would take 24-48 hours.
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 05
    Font - That afternoon, one of the sales people told the torque tech that this wrench "must ship today" (because it was a big customer and he wanted to make a good impression). The tech obviously said that it couldn't, because it had to acclimate before being
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 06
    Font - calibrated. This salesperson was the sort of irresistible force who thought that no one could (or would) ever stand in his way. He was also not supposed to be in the lab or in any way involved in production. He was also kind of an a hole.
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 07
    Font - So the tech again explained that the wrench could not be calibrated until at least the next day. Otherwise the calibration would not be a good one, and we don't do it like that. That's when the salesperson
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 08
    Font - exploded and flew his bl flag high. Repeated several times that "it must ship today". After the 10 minute tirade had ended, the tech just told him "It will ship today".
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 09
    Font - So the salesperson huffed back to the sales department, gratified that he'd got his way again. As soon as he was gone, the tech processed the order as a Return-As-Is and put it on the shipping cart. The wrench did indeed ship that day. Without a
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 10
    Font - calibration certificate. The customer was miffed. The subsequent investigation did not show the sales person in a good light. He was officially reprimanded.
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 11
    Font - enjoyoutdoors. 1 day ago Imagine if Sales were properly trained in the procedures they sell? "Before you are allowed to sell these services, you must assist in doing them for two days."
    via u/enjoyoutdoors
  • 12
    Font - What you want is that when the customer calls and asks for expedited treatment, the knee jerk response should be "well, that COULD prove difficult for procedural reasons so I am going to have to go and ask what our options are..."
    via u/enjoyoutdoors
  • 13
    Font - Sales should always know better than to sidestep accredited procedure. Sales is not above accreditation. Accreditation is the livelihood of the lab. Sales will find out.
    via u/enjoyoutdoors
  • 14
    Font - Ben Hocking 1 day ago "Can't you just put more people on it?" "If there were nine of you, could you give birth to a baby in one month?"
    via u/Ben_Hocking
  • 15
    Font - Vast-Measurement-930. 19 hr. ago I think that's a pretty ridiculous position to have. "Salesmen are too dumb to receive any familiarization with the technical aspects of the products or services they sell."
    via u/Vast-Measurement-930
  • 16
    Font - In the case given by the OP, if the sales department was with given a familiarization the technical aspects and procedures of the lab, at a minimum this salesman would have understood the acclamation requirement and wouldn't have made same day service promises.
    via u/Vast-Measurement-930
  • 17
    Font - Or at the very least, when reminded of that SOP, he would have had no grounds to push back.
    via u/Vast-Measurement-930
  • 18
    Cheezburger Image 9823619072
    via u/upset_pachyderm
  • 19
    Font - cjsv7657 1 day ago An old company I worked for used to have a policy that every new hire has to work on the production floor for two weeks. It was kind of fun seeing high level people wearing toe caps struggling to do the lowest jobs.
    via u/cjsv7657
  • 20
    Font - CounterContrarian 1 day ago This set up seems a backwards anyway. Why is a sales person able to override lab staff on how to do lab work? It sounds like something where you go "talk to your boss, have them talk to my boss, and my boss will tell me to do this. I will not do it on your say-so."
    via u/CounterContrarian

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lab technicians failblog jobs lab tech employee story salesperson malicious compliance r-maliciouscompliance 24-48 hours employees careers entitled salesperson workplace shipping center Reddit blue collar working out career stories
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