my sanctuary

Insurance agent from hell

Over the past 2 days, i went for 3 interviews. 2 with MediaCorp and 1 with Parkway Shenton, a healthcare solutions provider. I think all went quite well except for MediaCorp TV's position of Account Exec/ Manager. Today went back to MediaCorp Radio for a 2-hr written test. Think i did quite well on that one, and as for the actual face-to-face interview, i'd give myself a 3.5 - 4 points out of 5.

The interview is very short!! Only a mere 10 minutes and there were 5 interviewers!! 5!! Can you imagine?? 1 was Feng Hui Shi and the other i can recognise is Wen Guo Xian i think from FM 97.2? Anyway, they asked me to self introduce, then asked me how would my friends describe me, why i wana leave SingTel only after 1 year and whether i have experience in promotion activities. That's all...i dun even have the opportunity to ask any questions! But i guess they have to interview many candidates and this 1st round is just to size them up before they select the final few.

Oh, and it was the 1st time i've done an interview using Mandarin, so as expected, it was splattered with English words and phrases here and there. Generally i feel my Mandarin was good though.

After the interview, i went to Toa Payoh Bus Interchange to take 26 home. Since there was some time before the bus comes, i decided to walk around but alas!! A guy in his early-mid twenties approached me to do a supposedly short survey.

I didn't want to but being in a good mood after the interview and thinking i had some time to spare, i thought to myself, why not? That was the move that brought me to my grave.

After answering 4-5 short questions, i was brought to the makeshift "counter" where he starts to show me tables of my projected returns on my savings. Yes, he is an insurance agent. He was quite okay actually, but then suddenly another guy joined in our "consultation/ financial analysis".

This guy is terrible. He cracks jokes that are dry and meaningless. AND he thinks he is funny. I really can't stand the way he talks, as if thinking he's the funniest guy in the whole universe. AND he is lame. "You look very familiar!", "Where did you graduate from? NUS?!! My god! It's a very good school!". These are but minor minor examples of his idiocracy.

The most annoying thing is he is darn hard-sell. Perhaps i should credit him since he speaks so well and can make you sound like a fool not to sign up with his savings policy. But i hate this kind of person. I know you want to earn my money, even though it is a puny pathetic sum, i just don't feel like giving it to you. Why should i give business to a person that i dislike and whom doesn't respect my decision? Sure, i know you're doing a good thing by forcing me to save, but when i tell you i save $300 monthly, u better believe me and stop doubting me by aking me 3 times "You don't save at all right?"

From this i have learnt a lesson. Not all good deeds are worth doing. Perhaps i'm stupid. I know not all insurance agents are like that but i'm sorry. A few black sheep will cause the entire herd to be black. So the next time when someone approaches me to do a survey, you can be sure that i won't give him/ her any chance. It is better to be cruel and reject him than to let him bear a flicker of hope that i will be a prospective customer.

posted by itoshiiyun @ 6:18 PM