Reading Bunk's journal

The Doorbell is Inside.

That has to be the best sign I've seen on my door to door aerating job. Like my brother said, I should have knocked and asked "Can I please use your doorbell for a minute?"

Yes, I've been working. For Kando (pronounced "can do") Property Services. I had an aerator, and I walked around going door to door and asking people if they want their lawn aerated. Amazingly, it made pretty good money. Now we do contract work, and I'm paid hourly. But that door to door was quite the experience.

: By completely random chance, I ended up on the street of one of my best friends... and they needed it done, so did I their lawn.

: I walked up a super long driveway for about ten minutes (thinking "Big house = big money") only to find a run down old shack with a tiny junk covered lawn.

: The best customer I ever had gave me juice, water, tea, cookies, a fig bar, a ham sandwich and a piece of meat pie... and a tip. :)

: I had the door closed/slammed in my face twice. One person looked at me through the window, eyed me suspiciously, then shook their head. Another pretended not to understand english. :/

: Some dogs don't just bark. They jump up and slam them selves into the door or window in a frenzy.

: It's amazing how many people will answer the door in their bathrobe as late as 11:30 on a saturday. One even had breakfast in their hand, still chewing her last bite.

But I can't find no place or nothin', where thrills are cheap, and love is divine

This post was edited by Bunk on May 21, 2005.

Sounds like really great raw material for a study on the nature of humans and doors.

I love the idea of having the doorbell on the inside. They're kind of scary sometimes. It's like this out of the blue announcement that someone is there, on the otherside of the door and you may or may not know why their there or what's going to happen.

I know, that's an elaborate thought on the subject. But after not being around one for so long, a doorbell that is, when I hear one it makes me jump and I want to go hide even though I will answer it out of habbit.

I think I'm becomming more and more of a recluse, and that worries me a bit.
anyway..I got off subject, sorry about that.

Does it bother you going up to complete strangers houses and ringing their door bell?

It only looks that way because your standing on your head.

Does it bother you going up to complete strangers houses and ringing their door bell?

I do my best to be as unobnoxious as possible. I ring once. And if someone answers, I simply state who I am and what I provide. If someone wants their lawn aerated, there's no better way to get it done. If you get a contract, there could be delays and a higher cost. So now that I'm fully confident in my ability to use the machine, I go to the door with confidence.

And if they say no, I offer them a flyer and leave. No sleaze, so sweet talking. If you think about it, it takes a lot more time for me to go to their door than it does for them to answer. So I always like it when I meet someone polite, or at least respectful.

All that said, I'm starting to hate my boss. Actually, hate is too strong a word. He's not a bad guy, and I think he means well, but he's the kind of guy who flies by the seat of his pants: impulsive, patched together, and utterly a salesman. It really pisses me off when he says one thing, then ends up doing something completely different. But you should hear him explain it off later- I swear, everything he says is %50 sales pitch.

Sounds like really great raw material for a study on the nature of humans and doors.

Yeah, the variation in response is huge. It can be a fun job. Still, I think I'd rather be working at Home Depot where my brother works. At least then my boss wouldn't call me at 10:45 at night to ask if I want to work the next day. :p

But I can't find no place or nothin', where thrills are cheap, and love is divine

Your boss sounds like a mirror immage of the guy who was and still is the manager at michaels here in town.
Says one thing and then is constantly changing his mind.

And the calls the night before would have been not so bad as getting a call on my day off asking me if I could be there in an hour and then getting there and there's nothing to do.

I finally got fed up with not being able to do my job because there were "other" things that were always on my work list so that the job I was suppose to do got less and less time.
Try taking a job that your suppose to get 32 hours a week to do and cram it into 8 to 10 hours a week and make it fly.
It doesn't work.

The person who stepped into the job after me didn't last a week, and on the following saturday, the kids club which is a saturday regular event, it took 4 people to do what I did.

Last I heard things hadn't changed there, and they won't until either the corporation removes him as manager and puts someone in who actually works with the other employees so they can do their jobs or takes a hard look at the reason that the event coridnator job at that store has been failing for so long.

Either way, the only answer I can see to fixing the problem is for the person who is in there to be removed.

Home Depot huh? Well, it's a regular 9 to 5, regular schedual, regular hours something predictible and that's a good thing.
I hope something opens up there so you can do that.
Maybe it will end up being the job you really like, or hate just as much but for different reasons, but only you will be able to tell if you can get in.

Until that happens all you will be able to do is want it and keep trying. In the mean time it sounds like your gaining some good experience dealing with people.

It only looks that way because your standing on your head.