Noah's Raven

We went out on a one-on-one coaching visit, selling trucks. Our first stop was a longtime customer who owned a distribution company and also did some farming on the side.

Oz, the salesman, forgot the routine where he introduces me as "an outside consultant working with the company", and I didn't say a word, because I make a point of not interfering with the salespeople's work.

The customer was an older man, rude and extremely blunt, with a vocabulary not fit for Facebook... not even for WhatsApp...

In the middle of the sales conversation, he cuts Oz off, gives me a long, searching look and asks: "And what's your role in this outfit?"

I answered, as required: "I'm an outside consultant working with the company's reps."

"But you look more like a teacher to me," he said.

"That's true," I told him. "I've done a fair bit of teaching." (So far, all perfectly true.)

The customer won't let go and asks: "What did you teach?"

Now I was stuck. What could I say? "Sales"?? The whole point was that the customer wasn't supposed to know what I was doing there.

After a split second of hesitation, the answer just popped out: "Bible"... I figured that would get him off my back.

"Bible, you say. So tell me, why was the raven from Noah's ark punished, and what was the punishment?"

That was it. Now I was well and truly stuck.

How on earth was I supposed to know there was a raven on Noah's ark, let alone that it got punished??? The dove with the olive leaf, sure, I knew about that. But a raven??

The one who saved me was Oz. It turns out he has a friend who's a rabbi. Oz called the rabbi on the spot and got an in-depth explanation of the raven's role.

It turns out the raven was the first one sent out to check whether the waters had dried up, but the rascal never came back to the ark... His punishment, if I remember correctly, was that from then on he would reproduce through his droppings.

If you ask me, he had it coming!