Ken came by around the usual time last night, I got my check for this pay and the one before so it's caught up, and we talked about stuff. I'm keeping the numbers good and it had been a $900+ day so the mood was pretty good. And I had a bag of flashlights to give to Ken and a couple of cute cat dishes for his wife, so all was well.
When Ken left, he almost left without his checkbook and the flashlights and stuff and I was lucky to flag him down as he was in his truck and leaving (this is pertinent because now, at 11:30 Friday night, he's just called me from his wife's phone as he's lost his and wondered if it was around here. He's only got 3 messy labs at his work and his very messy truck so it could be anywhere....)
The illegal night club was a bit busy which was unusual for a Thursday night, but not too bad. I got started taking a thing apart, and drank beers and eventually went to bed around 7AM.
I had everything done like packing packages, and when I woke up at 3 in the afternoon, I only had to clean up and pack up the trash, gather up the packages, tip box, horn, etc., and get going which I did at 4. I dropped off the trash, deposited my check in the bank where my math and theirs matched to the penny, and headed over to Whole Foods.
Now, I basically had no money with me. The usual plan is to go to Whole Foods right after the bank, and in the process of buying some things, take out $200 of my weekly $400 pay check, and that's my allowance for the week.
Since my busking sessions are as much practice for my retirement years as anything else, I decided, having about $6 on my clipper card so enough for one day's travels on the VTA system, I'd do the day as if I'm broke. So, when I bought a couple of beef sticks and a fizzy water and got $100 cash back, the checker gave me a $100 bill and took the trouble to pick out a nice one, I put that in my wallet to go into my cash-stash.
Being broke means no train when the bus will do, and I took the #22 bus to Sunnyvale. The two-hour rule being unbeatable, since I'd left the shop at 4, there's no way I'd be in Sunnyvale before 6, and indeed, when I'd walked to the Whole Foods and set up and played my first tune, it was 6:18.
I set up at the front door instead of the parking lot door, as the parking lot entrance had a guy with a table with some signs with stuff about kids and drugs and so on. So I decided it's a good time to set up on the other side and see how it goes.
It ... didn't go well. I got a $2 tip right away, then nothing. The wind was really a problem, as wind makes people not want to take money out. So at 7 I moved over to the parking lot side, the table guy being away for a piss/smoke/crack break I could kind of justify setting up by the door as always (he was off to the side, on the sidewalk).
I got to playing and it was slow. The thing is, last Sunday night, I'd put the horn away and not touched it all week. I played along and tips trickled in, and I determined myself that I'd stay until 8, making it an hour and a half. Every time I looked over at the table guy, he gave me the ol' hairy eyeball, and eventually he packed up and left. He'd have been entirely justified in yelling at me, "Hey! How long do you plan to be here?" and I've have said, "I'm only staying until 8, and them I'm outta here!" whereby he'd know that I'm a temporary nuisance, and he'd still have two sweet hours to get the late Friday crowd.
Finally it was 8 and I had counted up, $46 which isn't that bad. For an hour and a half, pretty good, something like $30 an hour which is huge money in Silicon Valley.
I walked back out to the bus stop, stopping in at Baraka Market for a yogurt drink. By the time I got back to my "home" Whole Foods, it was 9:30 and since I'd left here at 4, that's 5-1/2 hours to make that $46. And in most of the area of the US, you have to be in the tippy-top elite to make more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour so I have to call this good.
So I got back to my "home" Whole Foods and offloaded some of the stuff I was carrying onto the bike and went in for some shopping. In the end I got cheese, olives, a 12-pack of Lagunitas IPA in cans, mustard, and put the remaining $7 on my clipper card.
Petition Guy was there and called out to me. He wanted me to watch his table while he went to the bathroom. I was happy to help, but then instead of leaving to use the facilities, he then stayed here, moving things around and trying to get me to read and perhaps sign, his petitions. I said something like he'd better get going and use the bathroom, and he kind of started to, then went back to moving stacks of things around and I should read all the petitions. ... I put up with that for a few more minutes and then said, "Deal's off" and walked back to my bike, unlocked it, got on it, and rode off. While Petition Guy stood there, staring at me. Funny as hell.
I come from years of dealing and selling at gun shows and swap meets. There's a code. If you ask someone to watch your stuff while you go pee, your end of the contract is you leave immediately, go to the loo, and come immediately back. You don't stay there sorting through your shit and trying to get your benefactor to buy some of it. Nor do you tarry after having peed, there's no coming back 15 or 20 minutes later with a bag of groceries. If you break the code, no one will cover for you when you need to go take a whiz, nor should they. And I mean, not just the person you've burned, but word will spread and no one will cover for you other than whatever sketchy types are around whose time is worth nothing.
Swap meets and gun shows where people all know each other are great; they're one of the closest things you can be involved in where people act as a tribe, and have codes about things like this, that aren't written out on paper anywhere but are known and followed, with consequences if one doesn't.
And Petition Guy can just stick to having sketchy people watch his stuff for him.
I got back here and it was something like 10:30.
No comments:
Post a Comment