Part 1
Part 2
So there I was. Maybe 10 minutes into the day and I'm coming across a homeless man that fears for my life, and another fellow yelling at me from across the street. Unlike the man sitting in the ally, this man seemed to be a little more spry. The first thing I noticed was that he was certainly well fed. However, he wasn't very intimidating. He walked with a limp and did not really have any anger in his voice. It was almost like he was trying to get a Teacher's attention on the school yard playground. I looked back at the homeless man who once again told me to "Just walk away..." It was almost as if he was begging me.
I tried to ignore the fellow across the street at first. I figured if I act like I didn't hear him and just walk away I would be fine. The fucker did not give up though... "Hey white boy in the suit!!" Yo!! YOU A COP OR SUMTHIN?! YO! WHITE BOY, I'M TALKING TO YOU!!!" I finally snapped back at him...
"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" At this point the fellow was lumbering across the street towards me. By the time he reached my side he started apologizing.
"Look man, I'm sorry for yellin at you... I waz jus'wundrin if you had any change, I'm tryin'd catch a bus."
"Sorry, man. I actually don't have change" I really didn't...
"Yu dun' have to give me much, I'll take whut yew ghat"
"I got nothing man. Really. No change"
"Don' be holdin out on me white boy" At this point, I was starting to get frustrated, so I did the only thing I could think of. I reached into my pocket, took out my wallet, opened it and showed him how empty it was. It was a move that he did not appreciate one bit.
"MAN WHAT DA FUCK YEW DOIN?!" He frantically backed away.. "I DIN TOUCH YO DAMN WALLET WHITE BOY!!"
"I'm not trying to frame you guy! I'm just showing you how fucking broke I am!"
"MAN GET DA FUCK OUTTA HERE!!" To my relief he finally staggered back across the street. I looked down at my watch. It had been 15 minutes since I got off the train. I decided to press on.
As I continued to walk down the street I noticed there weren't to many Caucasian folks dressed up in a suit and tie that day. In fact, there were zero. Usually when you're a "white boy" walking along that section of town in a suit and tie can only mean you are some sort of officer of the law. It was not something I had thought of until the fellow who needed change for the bus colorfully asked me if I was a cop. "He was just trying to get me wound up" I thought. "People out here know what a fucking cop looks like don't they? Yeah.." I could not let it bother me. It was time to sell some shit.
I reached my starting point and went into my first business, a little convenience store selling the basics. I introduced myself to the dude behind the counter and told him why I was there. At first he actually seemed kind of interested. He was around my age so he was easy to talk to. I started to get excited and thought I was gonna make a sale to the first person I talked to. That was until another dude (who apparently knew the guy behind the counter) started to come time the store, took one look at me quickly turned around and walked in the other direction. It was not until the guy behind the counter yelled at him "ITS OK HE AIN'T A COP!" that he decided to come back into the store, at which point the guy I was talking to said to me. "I'm gonna need you to get out.. you're hurtin my business." It was a problem I had all day.
Every where I went people were giving me the "Who the fuck are you and what do you want" look. All day having to explain to scattering customers that I was not a cop was not exactly putting me in good standing with the employees. And the ones that were interested at first abruptly said "Manager not here!" or "Fuck you!" when I asked them if I could borrow their ID so I could run a credit check on the tablet I was carrying around.
Finally it was getting towards the end of the day. I hadn't had ANY luck and was trying to decide if I wanted to take a shot at one more business to see if the law of average's were on my side. As I stood there a little kid was peddling towards me on his bike. He looked to be around 12 or 13 and was looking right at me the same way the homeless man had looked at me earlier in the day. Except unlike the look of dread and fear the homeless man had given me, this one was of joy and excitement. His face was grinning ear to ear. Once he reached me on his bike he began doing circles around me on the sidewalk, not once taking his eyes off me. Finally, he spoke..
"Its getting dark! Its getting dark!! ITS GETTING DARK!!!" and peddled off.
I looked down at my watch. It was only 3:30... it would not be dark for another 2 hours and this kid was already fucking warning me. There was something really fucked up about a child in that situation telling you that its getting dark. Its almost like it was his way of telling me that night time on the south side was no place for a white boy, but he would be happy if I stuck around if it meant more entertainment for him. It was then that finally decided to get the fuck out of there.
Even though the sun would be up for another couple hours my walking pace had picked up. I was a good mile or so away from the train and was honestly freaking out a little bit about this little fucking kid. I did not want to push my luck anymore. Apparently neither did the two officers that pulled up next to me in an SUV Cop Car. Jesus Christ.. what now?! The officer in the passenger seat rolled his window down, looked at me like I was a moron and asked,
"What are you doing?"
"Working my territory... I'm an authorized cell phone dealer selling phones to business in the area"
"You're a brave white boy" Even the fucking cop is calling me white boy
"Oh yeah?"
"We don't even like coming into this area...most of the time its only when we have to. If I were you I would get a new 'territory'"
"Yeah... I think I've had enough. Was actually trying to get to the train." The cop that was driving spoke up
"Well hop in, we'll get you there a little quicker" I accepted the invite. Mostly because I was tired of walking.....
On the train ride back to the office I made up my mind that I was going to quit. I came to the conclusion that there is a difference between being frustrated and wanting to quit at something I was not immediately good at, and being frustrated and wanting to quit because I didn't want to fucking die. I told my "boss" this to which he replied "This job is not for everyone" Even though the thought of being unemployed sucked ass, at least I wouldn't be working for someone who clearly did not give a fuck about my well being.
I struggled though a little over a month of being unemployed before I finally got hired at the bookstore. I jumped on the opportunity simply because I needed a job and couldn't NOT work. Every day I get into my clunky ford ranger and make the long journey out into the sub-burbs where I do my best to assist helpless yuppies find a book that they don't know the name of or who wrote it. Some days are better than others, but I'm alive, employed and know for an absolute fact that it could be a whole lot worse.
The End.
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