MY EXPERIENCE - SALES REP IN LONDON

Hello everyone

Many moons ago I transferred from South Africa to England , the country of my birth. The company I worked for was one of the major cigarette companies in the world. It wasn't a straight forward process as even though I was "guaranteed"a job I still had to have an interview. When I arrived I contacted the Personnel manager and started the process.

The position I was offered was to take over the region of East London. The area had been vacant for more than two years and no one was deemed suitable. The previous manager and area rep had been attacked and tied up and left in the boot of their car. More like Hollywood I know but I had come from a worse area in South Africa. I was young, fit and eager to get going. Nothing phased me. The last month in Durban I can recall instances driving with police shooting over the top of my car at the car in front. That phased me and was a reason for leaving.

The first few months was working and driving around with a map starting from scratch. Mobile phones had just come out and there were no apps or Garmin. I had an A-Z map book which fell apart and pages got lost. I must have gone through dozens. I experienced a few break ins with smashed windows and chased a few people but nothing major.

Everyone wore suits except East and South London so we would blend in and hopefully get our work done with few incidents. I made it through the 2 year stint unscathed even though other company reps had some serious issues. I was moved over to South London to basically do a similar repair job on another neglected region. This is where it got more interesting and you had to be aware of everyone around you.

I am very security conscious and know who is around me whilst walking and driving. Just is second nature if you live in South Africa. Certain areas in South London you just know as you could spot the lookouts whilst driving in and parking. The police weren't bothered as it was sneaky crime. No violence as such. We were carrying cigarettes which is cash on the street. By now I was rather experienced and was getting ticked off with break in after break in. It was like a slap in the face. Your work day is ruined as you need a hire car etc and police reports for insurance. They changed from smashing windows to drilling through the number plate and popping the catch in the boot. These guys wore suits so looked like reps. I upped my game by starting my own sting operation, I was now wearing running shoes.

Another rep from another company was attacked and her cigarettes stolen. This left her in intensive care, thankfully she recovered but wouldn't return to the area. I now knew what the gang in suits looked like as I had been followed a few times and wasn't stupid. It looked like a father and son team. I nicknamed the older one the Silver Fox.The police were now interested as there was a violent crime and this affected their area stats. I teamed up with an inspector from Greenwich CID and we started using me as bait. I would park the car in a known spot and walk away and do my work. Nothing happened so they knew the heat was on. Break ins happened periodically but not as much as before. Some areas were worse than others.

One day I was driving and noticed a car following me. I took it on a detour of South London which I knew like the back of my hand now. They were still behind me at a safe distance. I phoned my manager asking for permission to intervene and ram them. One of my biggest regrets right there. I shouldn't have phoned as it was a NO. Phone the police. The chap I had been dealing with at CID was unavailable but the station passed on the registration and message. They sent out a cop car who did nothing. He said to me that they were wearing suits. Idiots as the detective phoned me the following day apologizing as the plates were false and had missed the opportunity. I should have rammed them.

I had in the region of 60 break ins over a 4 year period but was proud to say I got the stock back most of the time in the end. I used to report the break in with no loss of stock which became a joke. I chased a few of them the one day down a river bank and they only realized I was after them as they started screaming and threw the stock at me in black bags. They weren't the suit gang but just petty thieves who were getting money for their drug habits. In that same area I had asked the local police station if I could use their car park for safety. He turned around and said "cars get stolen from here". I was safer on my own.

Eventually I was moved off the area and the areas I had worked were left vacant again. It was too high risk and they were worried about me. It's a shame as I really wanted the suit gang and know I had them if i had the backing of management to let me ram them.

I am sure the area is the same today with tons of petty crime and a spiraling drug problem. Thank fully I am no longer in the cigarette game and my repping days are over. What is ironic is I now live in Johannesburg which is like the crime capital of the world.