Competition

They say competition is good . It produces new ways of thinking, new products, and new consumers. It also can, on some occasions produce some really good laughs.

Some of the people that I work with are just plain crazy when it comes to competition or having fun.One such "gentleman", I'll call him Brian is just such a person.

When I first started working at the building supply company I am with, Brian was already working there. Now Brian is about 6"3" tall which , as you all know is a little taller than I. One of the first things he said to me was " boy, are you ever short". I knew this man was going to be a good friend. As the years went by, Brian never missed a chance to take a shot at me. The store raised one of estimating counters so Brian would not have to bend over too much to work on the computer. As soon as it was done, he put a mark on the wall, just higher than my head.On this mark he wrote," YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO USE THIS COUNTER" I erased the mark and the note then started to plot how I would get him back. And I have. Whenever he used a computer that was not at his counter, I would tell him he was too big to work at our counters. The company has since made the counters standard sizes.

Back to being competitive. One year, we decided to have some friendly competitions for sales. The idea was to pick a product and try to sell more of that product than anyone else. If you won, the other person or people would have to bow down and tell you that you were the best salesman ever. In order to win you had to have the sale on a written invoice.

One time, in the middle of winter, we decided that the product would be garden hoses. There were about five us in this competition. As you can imagine, it took a while . The eventual winner was a fellow"JOE" who would ask his customers, as he was selling them ice-melt, snow shovels etc. if they would like a garden hose with that. Brian and I would be on the floor laughing so hard we would turn red.

On pay Fridays, a bunch of us would go for a POP after work. One year, just before Christmas, we went to a strip club. When we had consumed a few POP we decided to buy Brian a Christmas present. He was the perfect choice as he was the only one of us that was single. We all chipped in and bought him his gift. He told me later that he had enjoyed the LAP dance immensely.

The title of this is Competition for a reason. Brian is one of the most competitive people I have ever met. Especially when it comes to beating me. We had a competition one day for electrical. Whoever sold the most electrical stuff would be the winner as long as they had an invoice. It was a slow day for electrical while i was on shift and I didn't sell anything in electrical all day. Brian was on the late shift and knew this.The next day when I got to work Brian practically ran to the door to greet me. "Bow Down", he said laughing. "Let me see the invoice", I said, not trusting him. He immediately went behind the counter and pulled his invoice. It was for one, count them, one light bulb. He had written an invoice for about 75 cents just so he could win. Boy , talk about competitive.

I must say this. Brian is one of the best people I know. He is a good friend and golfing partner. We really do have a lot of fun together. I also just got him back for the short jokes.

Brian, Just wait until I get back. Then the real competition starts. ROFL