Just Give Up, Jerks

Yesterday, some guy in a business suit walked into the office and stood right inside the door, looking around at our office environment and looking as if he had a meeting with someone. We've been very conscious of who's walking around the office these days, as with four companies occupying the floor, it would otherwise be easy for someone to slip in unnoticed and walk off with a laptop or some other expensive piece of equipment. So I challenged the guy and asked him who he was here to see.

He walked over to my desk and handed me his business card, asking me if I knew who handled office supply purchasing and wanting to know if we had a copier. I asked him if he had an appointment with anyone here. When he said no, I handed him his card back and asked him to leave.

Today, we got a call on our general number from someone who demanded to know the model number and serial number of our copy machine. Since we don't have one, I immediately challenged this guy, too, and asked him who he was trying to reach. He didn't know who he was supposed to be talking to, so he asked for "whoever is in charge of the copier." I told him we didn't have one and asked if his records reflected that his company had any sort of business relationship with us. He said no, so I hung up on him.

Over the course of the last few months, someone will drop by occasionally, claiming to be our rep at Office Supply Company XYZ and wanting to speak with the office manager. Since we don't have one, I always become suspicious and ask them to leave.

Has small business sales always been this sleazy? I'm tired of people pretending to have an existing relationship with our company when they clearly don't. And I'm tired of the solicitors in general. I know people have to make a living, but that doesn't give salespeople the right to walk uninvited into a private place of business and demand to speak to people they don't have appointments with.