Fuckwit moments….

August 1, 2006

Fuckwit moments.

No other excuse sometimes - no mitigating factors to blame - no foreign contributory element you can point to - no get out of jail card you can flash - no lie you can conjure - just you’ve been a fuckwit and not paid life its due attention when really you should have been on point and now the spotlight is on you.

I’ve gotten away with a few recently - came home to find the iron had been on all day and the flat could of theoretically gone up in flames - same thing with the toasted sandwich maker being on all night - you kind of wince and say that was close I really could of fucked up there - must be more careful and for a few weeks you’ll be a bit sharper.

As a trader you just chase sales all day - it’s a battle of wits when you get a bite - sometimes to get a buyer interested you have to offer with next to no margin at all seeing as you know they will see so many offers from so many others and you need to stand out to get them to take a look - in those situations you are usually banking on being able to get the purchase price down with the producer to make it all worthwhile.

However, sometimes you find a tea that you know is worth much more than the asking price and mark it up accordingly - then when you get a bite off those same next to no margin buyers, you are supposed to act in the same way as always - haggling over 2 or 3 cts per kilo when really you could add a nought to those numbers - and with the average weight of a 40ft container being around 20 metric tons you can see that those are the deals you are waiting around for - it is very hard not to snap their hand off at the very first bid - but you have to maintain your poker face for future deals - bite too early and they’ll think you have made money too quickly and then for ever more they will be bidding off 15 or 20cts on everything you put in front of them.

You have to make them feel like they are really pushing you to the very limits of making the whole thing worthwhile - as Asia taught me: make them feel like they are the ones who are winning and keep your quiet smile hidden - pull one of those kind of deals off and make $6000 on one container and you will be grinning like a coked up Cheshire cat for a good while longer than the rest of the week.

That’s where I thought I was today - until we realised we were talking in different currencies and I’d fucked up the offer list a week ago.

One of those situations when you get that sudden dropping hollow empty feeling - one of those forgotten my mothers birthday moments - one of those I can’t find my wallet reactions - I can’t find my passport- that was sour milk- that wasn’t paracetamol - that wasn’t reply sender, that was reply all- and - in this instance - I must have put down dollars when it should of been Euro’s and now there is nothing left to say other than at the moment in time when I printed the offer I was a complete and utter Fuckwit.

Fuckwit moments.

No other excuse - no mitigating factors - no foreign contributory element - no get out of jail card - no lie to you can conjure - just a big spotlight on you and the TV announcer in your head says Ladies and Gentleman! Heeeeee’s a Fuckwit!.