Love letter to the man on the corner

*another post from a few months ago*

I'm sure you have seen them. They stand on the corners of busy intersections with large signs. And that's ALL THEY DO. Their job is to be a living billboard and they are presumably paid hourly to do this.

To be honest they've always depressed me. Imagine a job where you could be instantly replaced by a wooden 2 x 4, if only the boss could get permission to plant it there. And they are usually advertising things that a sign is just not a good medium for. Like this guy, who I will describe momentarily. His sign said "condos for sale". Now, if you are in the market for condos, are you really going to be driving around looking for sales? I may be wrong, never having bought a condo, but I would imagine it involves a lot more research than that.

I always wonder what that's like, having that job. I may hate my own job sometimes but I'll never be replaced by a stick. Well maybe by a high tech Japanese stick, those are pretty sweet. But not by an American stick, no way.
So that brings me to Jim. I call him that because he kinda looks like a younger version of Jim from The Office. He was LOVING his job. He had a 4 foot arrow, about 2 feet wide, and board thin. The first time I passed him, he was spinning it on his finger like a pro, then swooping it over his back, still spinning, and re-catching it, like a circus performer on acid. Then tossing it up and spinning it over his head before sliding it across his stomach. The entire time he's doing this he is also individually waving to each car turning right by him.. and everyone was grinning and waving back at him. Just watching him I felt happy.

The second time I passed him, 45 minutes later, he was even more into it. He was jumping while spinning it, then trying more complicated tricks. I saw him drop it once and he pantomimed "don't tell anyone!" at me and went back to his acrobatics. The guy in front of me was laughing and pointing and for once I wasn't pissed off that people were ignoring the right turn green arrow. How many people did this kid cheer up just by enjoying himself?

Jim, you put on an awesome show and I hope lots of people decided to buy condos because of you. If I could have tipped you I would have and if I ever run into you, drinks are on me, mein friend.