During college, I worked at Sears selling home electronics. TV’s, VCR’s, camcorders and home stereos were all in our department. There isn’t a more delightful product to sell than entertainment goods. How fun is it to show someone how good a picture can look on a television, or how awesome the audio can be if they hook the right receiver and speakers to their tv. Selling a video camera to new parents so that they can have a record of their little one’s growth and development is like taking candy from said baby.
Yet, there were guys on my sales floor who seemed to have a problem with it all. They had a problem with the customers, the products, the company, the return policies, the management and the commissions. While they were busy leaning up against the console tv’s, a few of us were busy selling product to customers. The malcontents were what I like to call basement dwellers.
A basement dweller is one whose thinking is in the basement. It’s all bad and nothing is good. If things are going well, it is only a matter of time before they go sour. If they are sour, it’s only going to get worse from here. People are only obstacles in the way of our happiness.
Another thing about basement dwellers is that they want you to be in the basement with them. Thus, they complain, argue and criticize all in an effort to show you just how bad it all really is.
My advice is to stay out of the basement altogether. Even if it looks nice because it has been remodeled, it is still a hole in the ground where you can’t see the light of day.
Joel Stiff's Adventure 