Do you know what your job is?

I’m not sure I do


I called a locksmith a couple of weeks ago to ask about changing the front door lock on our flat.

We bought it in June last year, and it’s had the same lock for over twenty-five years. A lot of the time it’s been rented out to various people, so who knows how many copies of the key are floating around 😉

​Anyway, the guy came round and brought a couple of samples. I asked him a lot of questions (turns out locks are really interesting -expect a more detailed post once I actually decide on one and get it installed).

The locksmith was a nice guy, kind of quiet, with a pleasant demeanor.

The thing that really struck me though, is that he didn’t seem to understand what his job was in this particular situation.

He thought that his job was to bring the 2-3 locks he thought I might want (determined solely by price), and install them.

What I wanted from the interaction was for him to listen to my concerns and understand our situation, then make a knowledgeable recommendation.

What we ended up with was me asking a lot of questions that started something like: “I was reading online and I saw ____, is that true?”, and him saying “yes” or giving a similarly short answer.

I think we both came away frustrated. I got a quote for a couple of locks, but didn’t feel ready to install one yet. He didn’t get an order.

If he had understood his job better, he would have made an expensive sale (I am not price-sensitive for things that might matter and last a long time), but he thought his job was just to fit locks.

And this made me wonder: am I getting my job wrong at times?

Seth Godin writes really great little daily blog posts about things like this (subscribe to get them every day), and made one of my favourite TED talks:


How about you? Do you know what your job is?

2 Responses

  1. I don’t know to nicely say this but I find two types of business people in Japan. Those that want to rip you off and those that have no real idea what it means to be a salesman. I have experienced this so many times in Japan from cars to tires to clothes to just about anything. Their unwillingings to bargain, price match, or even put any effort into selling you a product which it’s this their sole job to sell to you. It’s mind boggling.
    I remember watching this mx-5 car sit in car lot for two years, every year it dropped 50,000 in price. Time came that I need a car. It was down to 600,000 yen. I offered the guy. 550,000. He said no. I later went back with with 500,000 in cash and told him I have watched this car drop in price every year, I will hand you cash today. He said not one yen less yen less than 600,000. Sure enough it sat there another THREE years and last I saw it it was down to 450,000. I have no idea if he sold it. He just didn’t want to do his job and actually sell me a car.
    Yesterday I was shopping for motorcycle pants, I found some pants that were lasts years modle on the shelf, but still full priced. I even showed guys at the store (just some local store), look, these are are 7,000 yen cheaper on every web site. Can you give me a waribiki and I’ll buy it from you guys instead. “Let me check”. Not one yen off.
    I have been to tire shops where the store across the street was selling the SAME set for cheaper and I told the store, can you match the price? No! So I walk across the street and buy from the other store.
    I could on and on and on. It’s not that they won’t haggle, it’s like they just don’t care if they make a sale. They don’t see themselves as salesman trying to make a sale. They are just peddingly their wares sticking to some insane code of no comprise. You buy? Whatever. You don’t buy? Whatever.
    Then you have shady groups who try to rip you off for the most basic of things. Mechanics and such (luckily I have an awesome one). But this a post for another day.