Go For No

by Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz

It was the third week of March in 1990. I turned the steering wheel of the Oldsmobile, guiding it into the parking space next to the empty phone booth. The Cutlass was by no means my preferred choice of vehicles (I’d much rather have opted for a small two-seater), but it was the car my company provided to all its salespeople. There were no exceptions. This was my third year working for Western Equipment Leasing, and I was doing pretty well for myself. I was twenty- eight, married, and making good money. Not that I was setting the world on fire as a salesman, mind you. I was in the middle of the pack from a performance standpoint, but compared to most of my friends, I had a dream job. As a leasing representative in the copier division, I set my own hours. The sky was the limit in terms of income, and today was a good example of what was possible when I put my mind to it.