09/04/2021
I was going through my other FB painting site today and came across some thing that I wrote ten years ago that I forgot all about. It brought a smile to my face as i re-read it, It was one of those life's "lessened learned" events that we all have had.
"The Panhandler"
I was taken by the best Panhandler that I've ever run across. It was a time that I was moonlighting for a sales rep. selling paint sundries (every thing from brushes to spray equipment) to paint stores. It never worked out, but it was fun talking to all the paint guys.
Anyway, I was setting in my truck in a parking lot looking at a map to find the best way home from Peekskill NY. About 25 feet away on the sidewalk, this guy called out to me. He says, "Hi do you remember Me"? I said "I don't think so Pal". With a big smile on his face & an enthusiastic walk, he came up to the truck. He says, "I'm Mike Rodregess, I worked for you for a couple weeks about eight years ago". "Up in Vermont, on that big job, those gray Buildings".
So now I'm thinking to myself. I have no idea who this guy is, but that eight years ago I was under the most pressure with my brother just getting sick & with my business. So could I really have forgotten him? I'm thinking, Vermont, big job & gray buildings. At that time I was doing a condo project at the resort with some 15 employees, and the buildings happened to be gray. I said, "Sorry pal, but I really don't remember you". He says, "Oh Man, with every thing else that has happened to me in the last few weeks, that really hurts", "you were really good to me by giving me a job, so I could get money to come back home to see my kid's birth". Now I'm thinking that maybe those years I was more consumed then I thought I was, and maybe I did forget him, so I said & even with his name " Mike, those years were pretty hectic for me, and maybe it isn't you as it was me".
Now he's got the line in the water. He says,"Yea you do have more gray hair then you did, I wasn't even sure it was you, and now that I'm thinking about it, you were running around so much back then that you really didn't have time to get to know me". He says, "I've gained some weight so maybe you don't recognize me, but I worked for some of the restaurants up there too. Mind you, most likely if he had said that he worked in "A" resturant, I would've asked him which one, but since he said "some of", I didn't even think to ask.
Now he's hooked me. I'm thinking that maybe it's really me. I have hired guys like him in the past for the short term. I don't remember writing Rodregess on a check, but maybe I just paid him cash.
Then he says,"So how's the kids, they must be getting big now". So now I start taking to him like I really knew him, but at the same time I really don't know who the heck I'm talking to. I tell him that my daughter is now 23 & the boys are 19 & 15. Now that he's got me hooked, he's reeling me in with every word he says. Thinking I'm smart, and don't know if he has a girl or a boy, I say, "So how your kid"? He says, "He died last week", and he goes into this long description of he's illness in the past year. He also tells me that he lost his job with IBM a few months ago, and of the hard time he's faced in the last year. We talked a little more, and when we ended our conversation he asked me if I had a few bucks that I could lend him for a train ticket (somewhere I don't know)to visit his ailing mother. I told him I could give him two bucks, and he said that a ticket is 15. I said, "I'll tell you what, I'll give you 5, but I don't have 15 to give you".
As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I was feeling pretty bad about not remembering him, until I realized that I HAD F***** VERMONT PLATES ON MY TRUCK. Not only that, but I had spray equipment (with gray over spray on it) & brushes on the passenger seat, along with a windshield full of reminder post-it stickers showing that I am a busy guy. Plus, pictures of my kids on the dash. The "Big Job" thing was a guess, and a pretty good one at that, but the "Gray Buildings"(which was the hook) was more then an educated guess, when you think that I'm obviously a Painting Contractor and have probably painted big buildings with every color of the spectrum, so gray would be the best choice of all the colors, beside it was the predominate color of the over spray on the spayer.
I didn't feel to much like a fool though, because this guy earned ever bit of that 5 bucks with his scam. Certainly more then the panhandler that hits you up for a nickel or a dime for a cup of coffee. It was worth the 5 bucks to witness his performance.
I couldn't help but think that a guy with a skill like that could be making big money as a salesman with any company out there. But then again, why should he. He just made 5 bucks tax free on me in 5 minuets, and with no overhead. I'll bet that he makes more then I do at what he does.
Listened learned
Paint Can Pete
