The paper salesman

Jim and Pam

I chewed on the end of my pen, trying to work out how to finalise a sale.

"Jim, can I have your help-." I looked up and stopped speaking as I saw that he wasn't there. I looked around and saw him talking to Pam, laughing and smiling. I sighed, feeling a slight knot of jealousy in my stomach as I looked back at my work.

"Hey, Y/N." Jim smiled as he sat back down.

"Hey. Can you help with how to close this sale?" I asked, showing him the sheet.

"Oh, he's easy, he loves talking about his kids, so just ask how Alicia, age eleven, and Jackson, age eight, are doing." He nodded.

"Thanks." I smiled before looking at him.

"So, what's going on with you and Pam? You're over there a lot." I chuckled. He returned it and nodded.

"Well, we're actually dating so..." he smiled. I raised my eyebrows and gulped slightly.

"Oh, that's cool. I can totally see that, you're cute together." I nodded.

"Why thank you." He chuckled and nodded.

"So, do you have a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?" he asked.

"Pfft, she's not gay. We'd know if she was gay." Dwight mumbled. Jim and I looked at each other and Jim smirked at me before looking at Dwight.

"How exactly would we know?" he asked, resting his chin against his fist.

"Have you seen the way that she dresses? She wears short skirts and tight tops, if she was gay, there'd be no need for her to show off what marks her as fertile, in a male dominated workplace." He mumbled. Jim chuckled and looked at me.

"Just ignore him." He smiled.

"I already do." I nodded, making him laugh.

"But to answer your question, no, I don't have a boyfriend." I shook my head.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure that you'll find someone. I mean, you're amazing, I don't know why someone wouldn't want you." He smiled.

"Thanks, Jim." I returned.

Jim's P.O.V

"Pam and I have been dating for just over a year and a half now. It's going okay, we've had our problems, but I love her, so it always works itself out." He nodded.

"What do I think of Y/N?" he asked, repeating the question that the producer had just asked him.

"She's really nice and cool. I mean, she's been here for two weeks now and we're getting on really well. Yeah, I think she's awesome and I can see us being really good friends." He smiled into the camera.

Y/N's P.O.V

"I could give you five percent off of your next order?" I asked, talking to a client on the phone. I sighed as I rested my head against my hand.

"The most I could do would be twenty percent, but I'd have to check with my manager." I spoke, biting my lip.

"My final offer is twenty percent and free delivery on your order, I can't do any more." I shook my head.

"Okay. Thank you for your time." I sighed before hanging up and resting my head against the desk.

"You okay, Y/L/N?" Jim chuckled. I looked up at him and sighed.

"No. I just lost one of my biggest clients to Staples." I spoke.

"Oh. I'm sorry. It's tough losing your first client." He nodded, giving me a reassuring smile.

"The issue is that they're not the first client I've lost. They're the third." I choked as I looked down. Jim's smile dropped completely.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, don't cry." He chuckled gently as he wheeled his chair over to me before taking my hands in his. I gulped at the contact and looked at him.

"It's okay. You've only been here for three months, the first half a year is always hard because you're trying to learn the ropes and learn what makes each client unique at the same time. It's not easy work." He scoffed, shaking his head. I looked at him.

"I'll tell you something. I lost five of the company's biggest clients within my first month." He nodded. My eyes widened.

"What?" I laughed.

"I know. I sucked, I was even worse than you are." He smiled, making me laugh more.

"Point is that we all start off on a small streak of losing clients. And that's okay. Because they'll call back in a month because Staples have raised their prices and they want us back and so you'll get most, if not all of your clients back. It's okay, Y/N. You got this." He smiled gently at me. I returned it.

"Thank you, Jim." I nodded before leaning forward and hugging him. He returned it, gently putting his hand against my hair to hold me close.

"It's okay. I don't like seeing you upset." He admitted before letting me go.

"I'm going to let you get back to work." I smiled.

"Okay. I'm here if you need me." He returned the smile before wheeling back to his desk, giving me one final smile before going back to his work.

I walked into the breakroom and smiled to myself as Jim sat there.

"Hey, Halpert." I spoke, making him look up.

"Hey, Y/L/N." he smiled, making me chuckle.

"You know how you love me?" I asked, walking towards the table. His smile faltered slightly and his eyes wavered as he looked down.

"Um, yeah, sure." He chuckled nervously, gulping as he looked up.

"You're a great salesman. I was wondering if you could give me some tips on how to stop losing clients and start closing deals." I spoke as I sat down.

"Oh, sure, yeah." He smiled, popping a grape into his mouth.

"Okay, so always start the sale like a conversation. You need to know your clients for this, so for example, I might be on the phone to Mr. Neal, who has a wife and two kids. I'll start with how are the kids, then he'll ask about Pam. It's a lot easier to close a deal with someone who thinks that you're friends." He nodded.

"That's gold, Jim, thank you." I smiled.

"It's okay. Um, what else...oh, I know that you would never do this, but if you don't close a sale, end the call with grace. If you swear at them or are unpleasant to them for not closing, not only will they not come back to you specifically if they come back to Dunder Mifflin, but you also put your job on the line. And I don't want to see you go." He admitted, looking at me. I smiled at him.

"Thanks so much. You're amazing." I smiled as I stood up.

"Nah I'm not, I'm just helping out a friend." He returned my smile. Mine dipped slightly, but I hid it as I left the breakroom.