Stay At Home Moms
Posted on | August 28, 2008 | No Comments
I had a question asked here on the site. The question was posted in one of the comments here and I have lost track of it. So, I thought I would answer the question by writing this post.
This post is for you, the SAHM that sent the question.
The question was, “Is the field services business safe for a female out by herself”? Wow. I really hate being put on the spot but I guess I created that opportunity when I started the blog. So, here goes.
I think a lot about safety while out in the field. I don’t know if I do it naturally or if it is because of my law enforcement experience or if it is because I have female family members out doing inspections every day of the week. Whatever the reason, I do pay attention and pass along ideas and suggestions to our female reps. Actually, the guys too.
Let me start by saying that I have had only one minor incident in eight years or so. My daughter has had only one incident. As far as I know, none of the other reps, including female family members, have had any type of problem.
Now let’s take a look at reality. At least this is my reality:
I see in several places that the average number of miles driven per year by American drivers is 12,000 miles. That seems mighty low to me but that figure comes from several sources. I drive about 40,000 miles per year. To me, that means I am 3 times as likely as the average driver to have a wreck or be exposed to other types of transportation related incidents like road rage. I’ve actually had only one small bumper denting incident in eight years.
The one factor that I cannot get figures on is the human contact thing. If the average person works eight hours per day some place, that person should be interacting with pretty much the same people on a daily basis. I feel that gives them a slight advantage over me. Over time they have found out who is the person at work to stay away from or the person to feel safe around.
Field services is of course, very different. I may work two hours today, sixteen tomorrow, four the next and so on. The number of people I interact with in one day could be from none to possibly forty or fifty. And, in most cases, the interaction will be a first and only time event. For all the hours I’ve been in the field the last eight years, again, only one incident and it was just a subtle form of intimidation.
So who is safer? As I said, I haven’t been able to put numbers to it. What I can say, that on a normal day, I find most people very nice, very friendly and very cooperative. Every once in a while I run across a sour-puss but that’s ok. Every once in a while I am in neigborhoods where I would rather not be – but as I said, “one minor incident in eight years”.
Now, if you are inclined to think I am saying this is a safe business; I’ll say “no, I didn’t say that. What I am saying is that so far, everything has been ok for all of us”. You may be one of those types that attracts lightning – I don’t know. Maybe you are not as sweet and loveable as I am!
The bottom line is this: If you’re at all uncomfortable with any situation, just don’t do it. A lot of reps tend to forget that we really do work for ourselves. I think some companies hire the most intimidating people they can to work with field reps so they can frighten the rep into doing what they cannot get anyone else to do. Sad to say, but I’ll end with saying that I think you are much safer with the public than you are with some of the company people we have to deal with.
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