You May Feel Some Slight Discomfort

I suppose there are people who like cold calling—sales-type people, who see it as a game to be won, I imagine—but
I sure don't. I seem to have some company in that—when I mention it, most people make a face, like it's some sort of medical procedure that we all have to get but would prefer not to have to do or even talk about.

And then I thought of a perfect metaphor. My cat has to get subcutaneous fluid injections (I just started to type "objections," which he has) every few days. I remember the first day I did it—I was literally trembling at the end. I had an awful sense of messing about blindly with a creature's body, sticking metal into it and putting fluids under its skin and it just felt blasphemous. I was doing something that wasn't my province, it was for doctors and God and other more competent agents to do.

That was a year and a half ago. Now it's just part of the chores. I don't much like it and I'd just as soon not do it, but I'm not, like, a mess when I'm done. And the thing is, it keeps him alive.

And maybe some bright shining day I'll feel that way about cold calls. They'll put food on the table and thus keep me alive, and it's just part of the work day. Not the funnest part, but not a big scary deal. Maybe some bright shining day I'll feel that way.

But not today. (Sigh.)