I'm not sure it was the weirdest but it was definitely the worst. My dad had an old friend from high school who specialized in buying distressed or discontinued merchandise and then selling it at discount. He bought up a bunch of a cutting edge product that hadn't quite been perfected yet: It was a portable copy machine from 3M. Great idea, but these were bulky, finicky, and slow, and the copy quality was mediocre. Plus they guzzled toner like Charles Bukowski greeting a bottle of Old Grand Dad. But they were a novelty and he was selling them for $30 each. And he hired my brother and me to drive down to Chicago in the middle of summer and walk the streets of commercial districts trying to unload them. And we got $5 for each we sold. It was hot, muggy and the air was shitty, the samples were heavy, and we weren't getting a lot of "Oh boy, I'll take one!" responses. But I walked into this one place that had a bunch of people sitting at desks talking on phones very animatedly and the guy running the office seemed dazzled by my patter and the vaguely readable copy I was able to demonstrate. He asked how many I had and I said, this demo plus two others in the car a few blocks away. He said he'd take them all. I couldn't believe it. I'd hit the motherlode. If I brought the two from the car he'd have a check for me the next day. I dropped them off and spent the night dreaming of the $15 (with inflation, probably closer to $40-$50 now) that I was going to be rolling in the next day, like Scrooge McDuck in his vault of Roosevelt dimes. I drove to the office the next day and it was completely empty. No desks, no phones. Just a couple broken chairs and some disconnected phone lines on the floor. And me, playing the role of loser Shelley Levene in a production of "Glengarry Glen Ross, who now owed my boss $90.
Excellent Will. Oh you are so right about substitute teaching! Been there. Once I had a job pumping gas and selling moccasins at a lake resort in New Hampshire. Way more fun than sub. teaching but I was 16.
When I was a fledgling make up artist in New York in 1976 I got a part time job working for a photographer named Simon Nathan who had developed a wide angle lens called the Simon Wide. I worked every Saturday. He had coffee, which was an exorbitant $8 a pound so this was a big deal. I sat on a chair as he went through his mail, he would hand me a piece of paper and have me walk across the room and put it in a box and sit back down until the next piece of paper needed to be filed. This was my day - excruciatingly boring. Thank God he was a very sweet man and harmless!
Fun as this blog continues to get glimpses of Will's journey through life. Perspective is an amazing thing. Going back and reading that book you used to love and finding it meh, or better than you thought, or worse, or at least different than you remember. Going to places from your childhood and finding them different than you remember, often much smaller. Going back to your school and seeing how your life has changed since you left and realizing how much of it was influenced by this place. And then TEACHING THERE!! Can't wait to hear more about this chapter.
For a while I had this weird babysitting job where I would watch this baby for a few hours at a time while the parents were still there. And the mom NEVER wore underwear and would always sit criss cross in a nightgown while she talked to me and it was overall just a weird vibe. Baby was cute though
I've always loved cars so I took a job at a service station while I was in high school. Turned out part of my job was to open the shop at 6 am on weekend days and pump gas (yes we pumped the customers gas) and clean their windshield. This was made even worse by Wisconsin's blustery winter weather. Thankfully I was rescued by my friend Steve who got me a new job delivering pizzas at his family's restaurant.
I worked as an extra for a couple years right out of High school and this one time I was a a butt double for Madeleine Kahn in Blazing Saddles It was so much fun Laughing all day
I'm not sure it was the weirdest but it was definitely the worst. My dad had an old friend from high school who specialized in buying distressed or discontinued merchandise and then selling it at discount. He bought up a bunch of a cutting edge product that hadn't quite been perfected yet: It was a portable copy machine from 3M. Great idea, but these were bulky, finicky, and slow, and the copy quality was mediocre. Plus they guzzled toner like Charles Bukowski greeting a bottle of Old Grand Dad. But they were a novelty and he was selling them for $30 each. And he hired my brother and me to drive down to Chicago in the middle of summer and walk the streets of commercial districts trying to unload them. And we got $5 for each we sold. It was hot, muggy and the air was shitty, the samples were heavy, and we weren't getting a lot of "Oh boy, I'll take one!" responses. But I walked into this one place that had a bunch of people sitting at desks talking on phones very animatedly and the guy running the office seemed dazzled by my patter and the vaguely readable copy I was able to demonstrate. He asked how many I had and I said, this demo plus two others in the car a few blocks away. He said he'd take them all. I couldn't believe it. I'd hit the motherlode. If I brought the two from the car he'd have a check for me the next day. I dropped them off and spent the night dreaming of the $15 (with inflation, probably closer to $40-$50 now) that I was going to be rolling in the next day, like Scrooge McDuck in his vault of Roosevelt dimes. I drove to the office the next day and it was completely empty. No desks, no phones. Just a couple broken chairs and some disconnected phone lines on the floor. And me, playing the role of loser Shelley Levene in a production of "Glengarry Glen Ross, who now owed my boss $90.
Now that I did not know! Sorry, Dude
Excellent Will. Oh you are so right about substitute teaching! Been there. Once I had a job pumping gas and selling moccasins at a lake resort in New Hampshire. Way more fun than sub. teaching but I was 16.
I don't know...did you have to touch people's feet? I don't think I could handle that.
Ha HA!!!
When I was a fledgling make up artist in New York in 1976 I got a part time job working for a photographer named Simon Nathan who had developed a wide angle lens called the Simon Wide. I worked every Saturday. He had coffee, which was an exorbitant $8 a pound so this was a big deal. I sat on a chair as he went through his mail, he would hand me a piece of paper and have me walk across the room and put it in a box and sit back down until the next piece of paper needed to be filed. This was my day - excruciatingly boring. Thank God he was a very sweet man and harmless!
I worked in a steel mill. After almost getting killed four times in the first two days, I quit on day number three.
Fun as this blog continues to get glimpses of Will's journey through life. Perspective is an amazing thing. Going back and reading that book you used to love and finding it meh, or better than you thought, or worse, or at least different than you remember. Going to places from your childhood and finding them different than you remember, often much smaller. Going back to your school and seeing how your life has changed since you left and realizing how much of it was influenced by this place. And then TEACHING THERE!! Can't wait to hear more about this chapter.
For a while I had this weird babysitting job where I would watch this baby for a few hours at a time while the parents were still there. And the mom NEVER wore underwear and would always sit criss cross in a nightgown while she talked to me and it was overall just a weird vibe. Baby was cute though
A new exhausted mother…she probably had no clue.
I've always loved cars so I took a job at a service station while I was in high school. Turned out part of my job was to open the shop at 6 am on weekend days and pump gas (yes we pumped the customers gas) and clean their windshield. This was made even worse by Wisconsin's blustery winter weather. Thankfully I was rescued by my friend Steve who got me a new job delivering pizzas at his family's restaurant.
Have you rolled an old TV out of a closet and showed a movie yet?
Hahah totally fair!!
I worked as an extra for a couple years right out of High school and this one time I was a a butt double for Madeleine Kahn in Blazing Saddles It was so much fun Laughing all day