Denis Ailing is understandably nervous about his interview at Cookham's Cures for the job of salesman: he has, after all, absolutely no experience, and is extremely self-conscious about his age -42. With the timely assistance of a pep pill (or two) he impresses Mr Cookham , and a bright new future as a salesman lies ahead: or does it?
In his relentless pursuit of his first sale, Denis realises that there are, basically, only two things standing in his way: the customers' allegations that any orders would be bungled by the delivery department, and his honesty in admitting it.
The dazzling success of Glenn in sales and with young Scandinavian girls is a source of irritation to Denis, who is, as yet, an abysmal flop as a salesman and in his approaches to the feminist Jennifer. But all this could change if Denis can just pull-off the big sale with one Mr Rackemann ...
When a glib salesman calls unexpectedly and tries to sell a group of salesmen a rather dubious burglar alarm with an even more dubious sales Ditch he can't be expected to have much success. But then again when- one of the salesmen is Denis Ailing....
Just as he overcomes his inability to sell Denis makes a devastating discovery: he just can't bring himself to take the orders which will bring him the success he needs. He has a sort of.... psychological blockage ...
When his sales figures are down, he has had a tiff with Jennifer and everything looks really black, Denis shows what he is made of and decides to do something positive about the situation - he asks for a transfer.