Childhood was tough as a guy named Lauren. From elementary school through high school I was bullied mercilessly. Called names, slurs, found tampons in my locker on multiple occasions. You can imagine. It wasn't until college that I learned to not care about my name.
I went to a state school but outside of my original state, so there were thousands of people attending, and I didn't know any of them. I don't want to speak for other's experiences, but my college experience was great. No one cared about a name, there were no bullies, everyone just figuring their shit out. I had a great time and learned to actively like the name Lauren. But it was after graduation that I learned my name was actually the greatest blessing that could have been bestowed upon me.
You see, I was an English major. I know, I know. "You're never gonna get a real job with that degree." I've heard it a million times, and I get it. But I wanted to study something I was passionate aboutd. And even if I'm not going to be an author or anything, I could go into sales. My dad had a degree in Physics, and he went into sales. So that was my mindset.
Unfortunately, I think everyone else had the same idea as well. No matter where I applied, I never heard back. Graduation was coming at me like a freight train, and I had no prospects. Was I going to have to move back home with my parents? I think I'd put a bullet in my brain before I did that.
Right when I thought all hope was lost, an angel in the form of a LinkedIn notification came to me. I was surprised as I had put zero effort into the profile. I hadn't even uploaded a photo. It was just that black picture. It was a recruiter reaching out to soon-to-be newly grads for a job opportunity. Off the bat, I could tell it was a shitty job. Entry level sales for a finance company, it required up to 200 cold calls a day and was 100% commission. Sounds miserable, but I needed something. So I applied.
I emailed back and forth with the recruiter and set up a job interview. It was with the sales manager, a woman named Deborah. I don't know if anyone is reading this, and if you are what year it is, but this all took place in 2021. If you recall, we were coming off some bullshit. What was at first unfortunate, but I soon found out was incredibly fortunate, was I was recovering from Covid when I was supposed to interview.
Thankfully, Deborah was fine to have a phone interview instead of in person or via zoom. Additionally, my throat was super scratchy and I was congested as all hell. I did not sound like myself, and she obviously did not see what I looked like. This is important. Regardless, the interview went great. We chatted for almost an hour, and at the end she gave me an offer on the spot.
I'm not naive. I know I probably got the job because no one else wanted it, but I was desperate. It also turned out to be the best job I would ever have.
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First thing to note about the campus of this company is it is out in the middle of fucking nowhere. I live on the outskirts of a mid-sized city, not LA or New York, so it only takes about 20 to 30 minutes to get to the other side of town. Well I didn't cut through the city to get to work, and it still took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get there.
The first hour is a suburb and other smaller towns, but the last fifteen minutes was all just fields. And then this giant building appears like the Emerald City. The campus is huge. It looks like a self sustainable commune from a dystopian movie. Just driving through to the parking garage I saw a gym, restaurant, what looked like a bar, and even a pool. This place was nicer than my university!
The second thing I noticed after the size of the place? All women. No joke. I did not see a single other man walking around the place. I could feel my collar start to heat up. Have you ever been in a room with entirely women? It is incredibly intimidating. Now blow that up ten times to a fucking town of all women. I almost turned around right then, but I was already almost late on rent, so I pushed forward.
Now this isn't some fantasy world. Not all of these women were tall blond supermodels with huge tits and tight asses. They were normal people like you and me just going about their days and heading into work. I definitely got some looks as I wandered around looking for my office, but I wasn't questioned until I actually made it there.
I was set to start work at 8 AM, and despite getting there early, I finally found the office around 8:10. I walked through the door and up to the receptionist sitting at the first desk. She was petite with short black hair. She looked up at me inquisitively as I walked up to her.
"Can I help you?"
"Hi yeah, my name is Lauren, today's my first day." I responded with a smile.
She stared at me with a blank look on her face. She didn't react as if my words had short circuited her brain.
"I, uh, spoke with Deborah." I continued, more hesitantly.
She continued just staring at me for a few moments before picking up her phone, all while continuing to stare at me.
"Um, Deborah? Can you come to the front please....yeah she, uh, THEY are here." She put the phone down and continued to look at me without emotion.
I shifted nervously from one foot to the other as I heard high heels clicking down the hall. When Deborah turned the corner she froze and looked me up and down. I didn't react either because I was equally frozen. I mentioned this wasn't a campus of supermodels, but if Deborah was the only person you met you wouldn't have the evidence to prove it. She had slightly longer black hair than the receptionist, Deborah's came down to her shoulders, but nothing about her was petite. She was tall and slender with an ample breast and a form fitting outfit that accentuated her hips and curves.
"Who are you?" She broke the moment.
"Oh, I'm Lauren. I start today." I smiled and held my hand out to shake it.
Deborah didn't move other than looking at the receptionist and back at me.
"There must be some mistake. You are Lauren?"
"Yes ma'am!" I tried to act confident, but I don't know if I pulled it off.
Deborah stared at me for a few moments more, then she sighed before continuing. "Very well, follow me."
That first walk was the most awkward 20 seconds of my entire life. We turned a corner, and I found myself looking upon a cubicle farm of goddesses. There were at least 50 women standing up at their desks looking at me, all of them gorgeous. I can't name or describe them all, but everything you can think of when you think of female beauty was in my eyesight at that exact moment. Blondes, brunettes, redheads, white girls, Asian, Black, Latina, bit tits, perky ones, dresses, skirts, yoga pants, turtlenecks, and low cut tops. Truly everything.
I was beet red as Deborah led me to a conference room and deposited me there. She closed the door behind me and left me sitting there completely confounded with the situation I was in. Many of the women outside continued to stare at me through the windows. If I wasn't so confused and horrified, I would probably be aroused.
I heard Deborah step into the room next door and could hear a faint conversation she was having on the phone. I couldn't hear the other person, but I got the gist of it. My hiring was a mistake, and they couldn't legally fire me. I didn't get all of that from just listening though, Deborah made it very clear when she came back in.
I won't go into detail on the conversation, because to her credit, Deborah was very thorough. Essentially, sex sells is the mantra at this company. Not literally, it's not a brothel, but there are statistics that show that young women are more successful selling equipment leasing and working capital loans. This company extrapolated that to the extreme. They hire only women, and I slipped through the cracks due to my name and my altered voice on the phone. They legally couldn't fire me due to just my gender, but Deborah made it very clear that I probably wouldn't last.
I needed this job though, so I told her I wasn't going to quit. I could see the frustration on Deborah's face, but her hands were tied. She walked me to my desk, amidst the sea of perfumed angels, and left me to get myself settled.
It took a while to get comfortable. Everyone kept me at many arms lengths. I was never talked to, never looked at much after that first day, and paid very little attention to. But I'm not here to talk to you about my professional work life. Well sort of, but you'll see. I'm here to tell you about what happened about a month in and onward.
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Luckily for me, I'm a good salesman. I can keep people on the line, I can connect very quickly, and I can close deals. As I mentioned, barely anyone talked to me, so I could focus entirely on work. I hit my numbers, over 200 cold calls a day, and in financial sales it's almost all a numbers game. If you can make the calls and have a little bit of skill you are golden.
When I started, Deborah had given me a goal of closing ten deals in the first month. She had said it with a decent amount of poison dripping from her words, so I assume that was supposed to be difficult. She even wrote into my contract that after ten deals I would be extended for a full year. Well I closed ten with a week to spare.
When I closed the first deal on my second day she was shocked. When I had closed three in the first week she was speechless. When I closed ten by the end of the third week she called me into her office. She essentially had dollar signs for eyes.
It was a short conversation. She congratulated me for hitting my number and slid over a contract extension for me to sign. I won't lie, I hesitated for a moment. Did I want to work this job for a full year with no one talking to me? Yes. Yes I did. I decided that working a job I was good at in a room of beautiful women wasn't the worst thing in the world.