$100 day

With Powerball now over a billion dollars, I remember when $100 seemed like a lot.

I was in High School, and later college, when my mom, my sisters, my Aunt Frances (or Auntie Fanny, as we called her) and I did sporadic work for a man named Gene Bauman.

It was a nice way to pick up extra cash. And back then, if I could make a hundred dollars a day, I felt rich.

Gene would contract with credit card companies. Then he would rent a booth at local events across the country and Canada. We worked at car shows in Springfield Massachusetts, boat shows in Los Angeles, and even county fairs in London Ontario.

When a person walked by our booth (where we all sat in one long row), we would shout out, in one continuous breath, 

Hi sir (or ma'am) can I see you a minute I'd like to sign you up for a (filling the blank) credit card, you can rip it up when you get it but I get credit for just signing you up what's your first name?

LA, April 1973, I'm second from left, my aunt Franny is 4th from left, and 
the lovely Rhonda K is to Franny's right
(too bad there weren't iPhones then)

And we'd get a dollar for every person we signed up, whether they were approved or not.  We would approach everyone, the only criteria being that that the were over 18 and alive.

I would often overhear,  "Sir, what's the name of your bank?"  And if the response was, "I don't have a bank account," the counter would be, "That's okay, if you were to open an account tomorrow — and you really should — where would it be?"

The work was long and tiring. But we got to sit. Meet new people (most of whom lived in rural areas and didn't own credit cards or have bank accounts). And we would know exactly what we made at the end of each day.

Now I am again doing retail work. I don't sit ,ever, but get good exercise for the 8 hours I'm working. I also get a very attractive discount at a fantastic store. And I meet new people all day, most of whom are respectful and appreciative.  

I just wish $100 /day still had the allure it did back when I was signing people up for credit cards.

Yes, January (as I was told) is a dreadful month for retail. Few sales and lots of returns.