So I'm on the road in Philly and I left a sick son behind. Andrew had a 101 fever yesterday and was up in the middle of the night twice. Leah ended up sleeping on the floor of his room from about 3-7:30. He's much better today. I had to go to South Jersey to visit my client's NJ operation. The thing of it is, this sales force and these people are known for one thing - bitching about pricing. This has been going on since the day I climbed aboard. They had set up this meeting as a way to "bridge the gap" between what they want in pricing and what we are willing to give. The thing of it is, we aren't willing to budge.
Indulge me if you will.
This may be boring, but follow me. The pricing in the NJ/New York/Philadelphia/DC/Baltimore areas is very cut throat. Our into stock pricing is as good as at can be. Yet, nothing is ever good enough for them. We have offered to do deviated contracts for them to ease this issue. They refuse because they are lazy. This works in the other five distribution centers, but their sales force's opinion is that they need to sell at their everyday into stock pricing to succeed. Fine. But the laziness and anti-my company's sentiment has seeped in so deep that these guys have essentially thrown in the towel. This attitude comes from the top.
Essentially I sat there for two hours while four guys yelled at me, told me our pricing sucks, my answers aren't good enough, and unless they get their way, they will get some other company that will give them what they need. Keep in mind this is something that goes way over their heads and the amount of money we make for them as a whole is staggering. These guys don't get the big picture with rebate programs, pricing, etc and what this does for their organization as a whole. All they care about is getting what they want.

I sat there and took it and didn't yell or scream, and they kept saying to me "i'm sure you are enjoying this." As I told them walking out, I've had a lot worse things happen in my life to let this meeting get to me. Coming out of the hardships and tragedies that have happened to me, I have really learned to put the proper things in perspective. OK - I did get really upset when Joel Skinner held Kenny Lofton at third in Game 7 last year, and I was even more upset when Casey Blake grounded the next pitch into a double play. (SIDE NOTE - That was the ultimate killer. Not only did Fake swing at the first pitch and ground into a DP, but let us not forget that horrible error that started the bottom of the next inning. A season full of solid play was erased in two minutes). But I'm not going to blow my stack over a meeting where a bunch of guys tell me how bad me and my company are screwing them and how bad we suck.

Can we move on to happier notes - like me BURYING both a Pat's and a Gino's cheesesteak tonight? Yes, I took the challenge head on. So far, my stomach feels fine. Anyone who has been to Philly knows you gotta hit Pat's. It's 1000 times better than Gino's, but I felt like I had to make the statement tonight. Pat's was first - steak "wit" wiz. So good. Tender steak, warm, semi-hard bread. Loved every bite of it. As for Gino's. Their bread falls apart too easy. It was a tad on the soggy side, and the steak was tough. Plus, their neon lights are the WB. Pat's > Gino's all day.
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