... and a one, two ...

LIVE … at the FUNHOUSE ..!

I detest lil’ Mook’s Rasputina thing. It bothers me on some many levels, I decided to look within, to find something that I do or did that was perhaps similar and just as potentially annoying <and I do know how to do that ..!>.

Couldn’t find anything that fit from my childhood, though I seemed to specialize at ticking people off. But I do remember at A&T that there were a couple of things that I did that people seemed chapped with. So as lil’ Mook opened what I feel is a good haul for Christmas, I thought back to my college days at A&T.

Working at Champ’s was a natural for me, as I had worked at Foot Locker upstate and they were part of the same group. People prolly don’t realize exactly how much money that shoe jockey make, but even for 1990 dollars, it was a good pay. You had to put in the hours, but you were compensated.

The hustle part of the job wasn’t just the time. You worked basically on commission for what you sold. That made meeting and greeting as many customers as you could paramount. During the holiday season, it was difficult to keep track with all the traffic. It was accepted that if you greeted a customer, then you were the sales person ‘waiting’ on them.

Out on the yard, I had borrowed a single phrase from a Run-DMC song, ‘Here We Go (live at the Funhouse)’. I would come up on a group of people I knew and in my best DJ Run shout, ‘HOW Y’ALL FEEL OUT THERE’, often including DMC’s ‘aw yeah’ … I brought it into the store, and the results were amazing! People would acknowledge me, even if I wasn’t near them. And as busy as we were, it was nearly impossible to actually serve everyone. Many customers would grab some clothing or athletic equipment and go to the counter.

The cashiers were taught to ask if anyone helped them find what they were looking for. I did have the range to check on people and give them at least a smile and a ‘finding everything ..?’. Between that and the encompassing ‘How Y’all Feel ..?’, it often was enough to get them to tell the cashier that I helped them out! Well I have to admit Virginia, that I got under the skin of many a fellow sales person, not to mention folks in the caf with that phrase!

Something else from that time that I KNOW got under people’s skin, is this: funny, I am not. But I like to laugh, and I definitely will laugh at what I FIND funny. This does not mean what I am laughing at or why I am laughing is funny in a general way, but just a Mark way.

One of my roomies, who worked with me at Champs would laugh at my laughing, because what was said, especially if I said it, only had to be funny to one person … ME! I can still feel the gaze of folks who just thought I was a jerk, laughing at something so corny or dumb … which of course made it funnier, as I couldn’t see why they couldn’t get it, or didn’t want to!

So I am not going to pick lil’ Mook’s Rasputina thing apart … after all, she will stop after a little while, and if she doesn’t, que sera … I am a short timer, aren’t I ..?