Mañana Man's Fan Mail —DeWese

Hi, Harris!

All of my people passed this article around the office, “How Not to Succeed,” published in the January issue of PRINTING IMPRESSIONS. What a great chuckle we all had, since we interface with our own reps (on and off-site), as well as reps from vendors we deal with. It is astonishing how some people operate!

Thanks for a well-written article aimed at a big subject.

Signed,
[Redact], production manager,
[Redact] huge printing company

* * *

Understand, please. This is not self-aggrandizement. This is what the people say. I can’t stop ’em.

These letters have reminded me of one I received about 12 years ago. My book, “Now Get Out There and Sell Something!” had been published, and I received this letter from a young woman in Alabama.

Down on My Luck

Dear Mr. Mañana Man,

I’m Norma Jean Clark, and I live in Umpulatta, AL, and sell printing for Umpulatta Litho. You may remember I bought your book, and you let me pay for it in $2 monthly payments with money orders from the post office.

I was really down on my luck when I bought the book, ‘Now Get Out There and Sell Something!’ My husband, Derek Dwayne, left me and the kids for my best friend Brenda Wanda Sludd. He took Brenda in the pickup, and I sure missed my truck. Now, I’ve got four kids under seven, and I’m three payments behind on the house and no pickup.

My sales were so low that my boss, Junior, let me work a shift on the six-color. So I’m workin’ two shifts selling and printing, and thank God for Mama lookin’ after the kids.

I read your book during my breaks and lunch.

Soon, things began to change for me. I landed three big corporate accounts over in Birmingham and two more down in Montgomery. All the sudden, I’m too busy to keep up my six-color shift.