Hunters and Gatherers

Sales Support“Some of us were born to be hunters,” Wayne said “and some were born to be gatherers, Abe. I’m a hunter and you’re a gatherer. Were it not for me, you’d starve.”

Abe, who was staring out of the window of Wayne’s office on the 44th floor of the Manattan office tower, turned around to face Wayne. “I’d starve without you?” he said. “That’s a pretty intense way of saying that without you, I’m nothing. Well aren’t you fantabulous, Wayne? Maybe you expect me to get down on one knee and kiss the ring on your extended hand.”

“Abe, I’m not saying that you don’t contribute to our success,” Wayne said. “After all, we are members of the same team, right? It’s just that I’m the salesman and you’re the sales support guy. I’m the one who goes out to beat the bushes to drive the prey our way. Once I get them here, your role is to show them our solution and get them to see its value. But were it not for me, in my role as the hunter, you’d be sitting in the office twiddling your thumbs. You get that, right?

“Well, that was quite a motivational speech, Wayne,” Abe said. “I’m ecstatic at being seen by you as your lackey. But anyway you look at it, I’m the wind beneath your wings, buddy. You bring in the prospective customers using your unbounded charisma, but once you get them here, it’s me, in my role as the subject matter expert, who really closes the deal. Without my knowledge and deep expertise, and my ability to show your prey, as you call them, the ways in which our solution will address their needs in an efficient and cost effective way, it would be you, my friend, who would starve.”

Wayne gave Abe an incredulous look. “Well, whatever you have to say to yourself to make you feel better about your role.”

“What I have to say to you is that you’re very good at hunting for prospective clients, but I’m the one who makes it possible to gather their business,” Abe said. “And with that said, Wayne, I quit. I wish you luck with these clients, because once they take your bait, you’re clueless about how to reel them in.”


Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (hunter), The Daily Spur (window), Your Daily Word Prompt (intense), Ragtag Daily Prompt (fantabulous), Jibber Jabber (members), and Word of the Day Challenge (ecstatic).

Share Your World — Harry Potter and the Muggle Named Fandango

Share Your World

For this week’s Share Your World prompt, Melanie continues to provide Roger Shipp with a platform to show off his knowledge of all things Harry Potter. And then she asks her own “muggle” questions. I actually had to look up what a “muggle” is and I found out that it’s “a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born in a magical family.” No wonder I like her muggle questions better than Roger’s Harry Potter questions.

That said, let’s start with Roger’s Harry Potter-related questions.

Have you ever spent the night in a house that was supposedly haunted? Anything ‘strange” happen?

Not in a haunted house per se, but I used to think that the basement of the house I lived in when I was five years old was haunted.  It had one bare bulb light and was full of spiders and cobwebs. One day my father got very angry at me for something I did (or maybe something I was supposed to do and didn’t, I can’t remember) and, as punishment, he sent me to the basement. I was petrified that I would either be eaten by spiders or that a ghost would get me. I cried for an hour and I think I actually peed in my pants before my mother came down and rescued me. Ironically, my father got in big trouble with my mother, although she didn’t send him down to the basement.

What is the largest sporting event (or concert, etc.) that you have ever attended?

Before we moved to the East Bay in February, we used to live about three blocks from Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Every year, in early October, there was a music festival held at Golden Gate Park called “Hardly Strictly Blue Grass,” and we would take advantage of living so close to the park by going to many of the performances. The festival lasted for three days and nights and typically drew about 750,000 attendees during the festival. Of course, the 2020 HSBG festival has been canceled due to COVID-19

When you go for a swim, do you prefer an ocean, the seaside lakes, or a pool?

I prefer the ocean. I can’t actually manage to surf on a surfboard, but I can enjoy the surf using a boogie board or just body surfing. So much fun.

Tell about the most ‘ghastly’ fashion statement that you have ever made.

I don’t know that I ever really made what one might deem to be a “ghastly” fashion statement. But back in the early 1970s, I wore typical hippie garb: flowered shirts or tie-dyed t-shirts, bell bottom jeans, sandals. I had long, flowing hair, mutton chops sideburns, and a Fu Manchu mustache. As I look back on it, that was probably, by today’s standards, pretty ghastly.

And now for Melanie’s “muggle” questions.

What is the last song you sang along to?

It had to be “Evil Woman” by Electric Light Orchestra. That’s because I tend to always sing along with the video of the song I select each week for Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday prompt and that was the song I selected this past Sunday.

What was your scariest nightmare about?

I can’t remember the details of the dream, but I do know that I was so scared in it that I tried to scream but no sound came out of my mouth. In the dream, anyway. I apparently woke my wife up with some weird moaning noises.

What food do you crave most often?

I’m not sure if this is something you would characterize as “food,” but it’s Ben & Jerry’s Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream. And I satisfy that craving by consuming a half pint container of it almost every night.

What’s your grossest bug story?

My wife and I were hiking along the Appalachian Trail about 10 years back and when we returned to our hotel after a nearly day-long hike, we were pretty close to exhausted. But we had to spend the next hour or so removing at least a dozen ticks from various locations on our bodies. It was pretty gross.

Blogging Insights — Dodging the Draft

Blogging insightsFor this week’s Blogging Insights edition, Dr. Tanya wants to know about our drafts folder. She asks…

How many drafts do you have in your “Drafts Folder” right now?

First, let me say that most of my posts, except for my prompts that I host, are posted on the day I write them. So I don’t usually have a lot of unfinished posts in my drafts folder.

Spurred on by Dr. Tanya’s question, I went to my drafts folder and found six posts there. Two are tests, apply titled “This is a Test,” of my failed attempts to compose a post using the new block editor on my iPhone. I think I’ll just go in and move them to my trash folder and permanently delete them. I just wish there was a way to permanently delete the block editor, as well. One draft is an early version of a One-Liner Wednesday post that I gave up on. Another was a rant about my cellular provider. One, dated last September, was about when I upgraded to iOS 13 on my iPhone and the resultant issues that I was having on WordPress after that. I think each of those three drafts deserve to be trashed. And finally, one was from January 2019 where I posed three rhetorical questions. I forgot about that draft and might go back, reread it, and perhaps post it.

Do you always complete a post that you draft?

Most of the time, but not always.

Is it a good idea to leave your unfinished drafts hanging around or should you delete them after some time, if so, how long?

Every once in a while I will open up my draft folder and take a look at what’s in there. And unless I find some hidden gem that I forgot about, I will delete them.

Fandango’s Dog Days of August #31

Fandango’s Dog Days of AugustWow, it’s the end of August already. Time goes by quickly when your having fun, right? I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and it has helped you get through these dog days of August.

For my final theme in this series, I’m going to ask you tell us what “your plans for September are.” Do you have any? If so, what are they? They can be anything, from posting more (or less) frequently on your blog, taking a trip, learning a new skill, getting married, engaged, or divorced, getting more exercise? Or are you just going to play it by ear? Share a story, a poem, a photo, a drawing, some music, or whatever you wish to share about your plans for September.

If you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FDDA, and create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

And, of course, take some time to read the other responses to this prompt. See how other bloggers are coping with the dog days of August.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #81

FFFCWelcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is from the Google Hub Photo Frame.For the visually challenged writer, the image is of a house on a hill at dusk with an iridescent design on the ground leading up to the house.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Thanks to all of you who have participated in these challenges. Your posts have been very creative. Please take a few minutes to read the other responses to this photo challenge.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.