Calgary: Lessons in Excess
So I figured I owe it to you, my dear roommates and most sensual of friends, to at least give a brief update on where I am, as I haven't spoken to any of you (except Akaash, but you don't talk to Akaash as much as undergo the full body Mukherjee experience) in any detail since my summer plans shifted. Also, I feel that my situation is fairly absurd, and that is often enough for this blog.
I am working at an outdoor sports equipment store in Calgary, Alberta. This was the first place I applied; they didn't even ask me if I enjoy the outdoors. The job is commission-based, and one would think that experience in the field would help. I have no experience in sales, nor am I naturally gifted in any retail way. Yet despite these significant drawbacks, I'm making a pretty penny in commissions: yesterday, for example, I more or less (knock on wood, still finalizing the sale) sold a $1200 kayak to a man, and I have not kayaked since I was 18. Calgary is so stupidly full of oil money and so desperately short on labour that a well-trained shorebird could work here and still do alright. People come into the store all-day long and buy things on impulse - one time, I sold a guy bear-spray and an ax because he thought his friends would find them hilarious. Another time, a young couple came in and played rock-paper-scissors to decide which backpack they should buy. I mean, I don't want to jinx it, especially so early on, but it's not a bad gig at all.
As for Kingston and Maggie's vineyard, it was a really awesome job with a really good friend, but with a really long drive that cost really lots of gas and I had to live in a city with not really anyone I knew. At first, I came to Calgary just to see everyone here for a few days, but I realized that it made good sense for me to stay.
So what about everyone else? Let's do a status update on everyone's summers, so we don't come home and find out that Dan has converted to Mormonism, or got a tattoo of a snake on his ass-cheek, or something like that.
Also, www.clarkandmichael.com.
I am working at an outdoor sports equipment store in Calgary, Alberta. This was the first place I applied; they didn't even ask me if I enjoy the outdoors. The job is commission-based, and one would think that experience in the field would help. I have no experience in sales, nor am I naturally gifted in any retail way. Yet despite these significant drawbacks, I'm making a pretty penny in commissions: yesterday, for example, I more or less (knock on wood, still finalizing the sale) sold a $1200 kayak to a man, and I have not kayaked since I was 18. Calgary is so stupidly full of oil money and so desperately short on labour that a well-trained shorebird could work here and still do alright. People come into the store all-day long and buy things on impulse - one time, I sold a guy bear-spray and an ax because he thought his friends would find them hilarious. Another time, a young couple came in and played rock-paper-scissors to decide which backpack they should buy. I mean, I don't want to jinx it, especially so early on, but it's not a bad gig at all.
As for Kingston and Maggie's vineyard, it was a really awesome job with a really good friend, but with a really long drive that cost really lots of gas and I had to live in a city with not really anyone I knew. At first, I came to Calgary just to see everyone here for a few days, but I realized that it made good sense for me to stay.
So what about everyone else? Let's do a status update on everyone's summers, so we don't come home and find out that Dan has converted to Mormonism, or got a tattoo of a snake on his ass-cheek, or something like that.
Also, www.clarkandmichael.com.
posted by dmgroves @ 2:32 AM
2 Comments:
At 3:41 PM,
sarahpin said…
I told my brother about the bear spray. He thought it was funny.
PS YOU NEVER SENT ME AN ADDRESS. You will come home to a postcard in September. I hope you're happy.
At 3:43 PM,
sarahpin said…
Oh. This is Sarah, but because Ben and I share everything (like spit and lice) his Blogger account is attached to my email account. That's why I sometimes change his name for fun, and also why on my computer it says "Kies een identiteit: Happytunes (Uw weergegeven naam in Blogger.)"
Bloody Dutch.
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