Day CLlll

Bottom of the Barrel

     Since he had been doing so well with his one card, American Express, and some others got in on the act, and sent him theirs. He was very democratic too, giving them all equal shopping opportunity. It was just his first bill, then every other day that week he got another one, each from a different card. Sitting at his desk, John looked like he wanted to freaking die, he was so despondent. I had heard the phrase being so low, you had to look up to see bottom…well, it seemed to me to be John and Denise at the time, being at the bottom of despair.

     After that John and his wife became very heavy chain smokers, each smoking three or more packs a day. Before that she barely smoked a half a pack a day. That was some sad shit, but I never found out how they got out of their mess. I just figured they were in the hole for a very long time, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, ketchup soup for dinner, and water and smokes for breakfast.

    If you smoke, stress will always make you light up. I ran into a friend one day who was working as a jobber, and he told me they needed somebody to work the Bronx. He explained the deal to me, and the money was a lot more than I made at the warehouse. They wanted somebody who was a people person, and spoke a little Spanish.

     “This stuff sells itself, man. Ya don’t need ta be no wocket scientist, man.”

     Sometimes you need to take a chance in life, and I figured this was one of those times, so I decided to give it a shot. I called in sick one day, and followed him around as he went about his business, and decided I could do it as well.