I have been meaning to write something about my internship, and I did, one summary of my one-week journal, but this doesn't even show half of the hardness of my work, the fierce competition on the street is out of imagination. Last Friday, I was the only agent on the site of Arc de Triomphe, while our competitors have three agents and buses coming and going regularly, I felt submitted to their visibility, but also I was also proud of my action, i went straight to clients and made eye contact, then felt their vibe, which is very important and hard to catch. As a result I sold 28 tickets that day, which is not bad.
However I could have done better if I had tried harder to approach potential clients. I even felt frightened when all those people pouring in, well, frightened is a big word, but maybe the correct word is overwhelmed. With all the flyers in my hand, I can hardly move, with a smile stuck on my face, I blame myself how come this ego coming out of nowhere could hold me back.
I began tracing back this “big ego”, this fear of being refused. Always thought of myself as one ft he elite students in Shanghai, my first two internships are in a renowned bank, et China SFECO group, pretty nice for a 20 years old, with my badge and my white shirt and black dress, I felt like one of THEM. And When I found this internship at opentour, as a street salesman. With only one year of study of the French language in Paris, I was lucky that I could be admitted in this company that can make my cv look nicer. When i first started this job, i felt a bit ashamed, every morning with this light green uniform, huge ass backpack with a flag on it, and a heavy billboard. Shame is such an evil thing that could hold you back with a black energy. Don’t give me wrong, I do sell tickets, but I didn’t give all of my good energies. Until one day, I was put up with one of the oldest working staff as a team. He has been multiple times best salesman. He wears a trouser with four pockets, each pocket is filled with different flyers to give out, on the sites, he is always moving around, trying to see which place works the most to attract clients. He told me when these people passing by don’t know you, you don’t need to care if they respond or not, if we as salesman don’t talk first, they won’t talk to you neither, it’s better to make the first move. And that day, I yelled with him, I used my eyes to lock down everyone passing before me, and I handed out flyers at the same time, as a result, we sold 100 tickets that day. I get why all the internes are not so motivated, for them, this kind of job is below their expectation, but there’s actually no demeaning job. If you are competent, you can make an easy job a challenge every day for you. That’s exactly how I feel right now, every morning, I arrive at the office to change, thinking about how today’s going to be like. And I feel in charge of my day, at the same time, I can help tourists in need. After all, what we are selling is a service, the experience of customers count.