Snake Oil

"That's something about you Cats, you always land on your feet."

Today, I was speaking to a sales guy at my work. I was telling him how I saw this guy who used to work in sales at our company a few years back. I met him at hockey last night. He was walking south and I was walking north. He played in the "B" division and I was about to play in the "D". I recognized him right away. He had his head down.

"HOMO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Oh, christ. Is that YOU?"

I used to have a man crush on this particular sales guy. He seemed so real, so genuine. I used to send any business I could drum up myself to him. It wasn't much but he needed it and I felt pretty good doing it. Still, he just didn't seem to be doing all that well. He struggled with very little business and any kind of screw up meant certain hell to his personal mental state. He seemed a mess on the inside.

He quit working where I do sometime ago and never said goodbye. I guess I shoulda seen that coming. He works in sales. Any good sales guy has nine lives, at least, and nothing sticks to him.

He told me about the job he got selling print at another shop. He claimed to be on his last leg (life) last night. He had done 15 years and that was enough for this shitty business we both shared pain in. He admitted as much and as I studied his face for clues, the down in his expression made me believe it so

As we said goodbye, we made no promises for later. I wasn't going to stand on that island again. Nary an invite of future meeting was passed. It made me think that he must be telling the truth about quitting sales. In fact, it would seem, he already did.

B