MOVING ON... a change of pace (Part 60f)

As promised, I headed out on Wednesday looking for just about any kind of work. With Summer in full force all the seasonal jobs were taken. I looked up as many people that I could remember with no success. Cliff, who had owned the gas station where I’d worked for a few Summers (and also drove my racecar) had sold it and bought a small restaurant. On my way home that evening I stopped in to see him. I hadn’t been there for more that few minutes when he started in with a sales pitch for a ”sure fire moneymaker!” for me. Cliff had always had an ability to “sell” and he seemed so sure of what he was talking about I fell for it. He was a distributor for Nutri-Bio, a company that manufactured nutritional supplements, and convinced me that I could make money selling the stuff. He had product, brochures and a bunch of testimonials right there in the restaurant. He used all the right words... you’re your own boss... work as hard or as little as you want... product sells itself... 20% profit margin... backed by Bob Cummings (a former movie actor who was then on TV)... you can get people to work for you... etc. I was sold. All I needed was $250 to get started.

I’d promised to stop and see my grandmother and when I arrived at the hospital I ran into my grandfather who was leaving. Still excited about what Cliff had told me I asked him if he’d loan me the money to get started. He wanted to know more about it and told me to stop by his house that night (and to bring the kids) and he’d consider it. My grandmother had improved, somewhat, in that her eyes were open and she could follow movements around the hospital room. The nurse said that she was now trying to talk but it was just mumbling that came out. I gave her a kiss and headed home to tell Elle the news.

My grandfather was skeptical but gave me the money anyway. I promised to stop by and show him the products the next day. I was at the restaurant at 11am and Cliff gave me some training and a free lunch and sent me on my way with a supply of product and promotional material. I had to “register“ with the company and some other stuff that took up most of the afternoon. As soon as Elle fed me supper I was off to my grandfather’s house. I’m sure it was just to give me some encouragement but he did buy some stuff. Flush with success, I headed for my neighbor’s as soon as I got home. The elderly neighbors just to the South of us were sitting in their yard and I walked up to them thinking how easy it was going to be. Not so! I won’t say they ran me off but they let it be known that they weren’t interested in my ”junk“. Somewhat taken aback I decided that it would be best to make an appointment before calling on any other of my neighbors.

The sale to my grandfather gave me the cash to buy groceries to take us through the weekend. On Friday, after doing the shopping I made a few calls to the neighbors and received basically the same reply... ”No. I don’t think we’d be interested.“ I was pretty discouraged by then. I decided I’d take my sales kit down to my mother, hoping she’d do the same as my grandfather did. She was very polite but I could sense that she was less than overwhelmed. While I was going through my dog and pony show the next door neighbor walked in. It was like a bolt of lightning when she proclaimed ”I’ve been looking to buy some of those things ever since I saw Bob Cummings on TV with them". From that point on I just stood and listened to was a much better ”pitch“ than I’d been making. In the end she bought a whole bunch of stuff. I don’t remember the dollar amount but it was cash money I had in my hand. Not to be outdone, my mother also bought some things as well. I ended up leaving some of the brochures with my name and telephone number with the neighbor and left feeling really good.

Back at the trailer I found that Elle had actually sold a few items as well. The elderly lady next door came over to apologize for the ”rude“ way I was treated by her husband the night before and bought a few items she saw that I’d left on the table. Lois, the neighbor on the other side, had come over to see Elle and had also seen the product on the table and purchased some. I’m not sure but I think the total for the day was about $75 or so. Even with that modicum of success I still had some lingering doubts as to just how easy it was going to be to move the product. I found it increasingly uncomfortable to ”sell“ people when it was clear that they weren’t really interested. It was a lot different than in a store where people walked in because you had something they wanted.

On Saturday Elle was still suffering from the sunburn and was issuing ”warnings“ that she probably wouldn’t crew for me on Sunday. She was also complaining that she really didn’t have much in the way of clothes to wear as she had been pregnant the previous Summer and all that she had were worn and old. With a few dollars in my pocket I went into my ”bartering“ mode and told her I’d buy her a few things if she would crew. That’s all it took. As soon as I agreed to that she got the kids dressed and by 10am we were downtown. It didn’t take her long to find some things she liked. I agreed to a short set and got her out of there as soon as possible. I really didn’t want to spend the money but I really did want to race.

As soon as she got back to the trailer she had the outfit on. I didn’t realize how excited she would be. The elderly lady came over to see the kids and Elle was gushing about her new clothes and how much she wished she could have more. The lady came right back and told her to start making her own... that Elle could use her sewing machine and she’d help. I overheard the conversation and shook my head knowing that we still needed money to buy the cloth. But... what I hadn’t heard was that the fabric store in town was owned by her daughter. It turned out to be a ”bartering chip“ for my pocket.

To be continued...