Underachieving in America
At the gym today, I ran into an old friend of mine S*. Now S* is quite a character, never having a bad thing to say about anyone he is still always full of news and has led an interesting life. I met him, I guess in 92, when I was putting myself through school by managing a pet store. A huge customer in the fish & reptile hobbies , he decided that he wanted a career in retail and started working there. After I moved on to my version of " Office Space", he teemed up with another employee, also named S*( we’ll call him S2) there and bought the Store from my friend Tony. The partnership worked, unfortunately they didn’t realize that Tony never parts with anything that is profitable until after they bought the store. Within 6 months they knew they had better do something or they would have to go for broke.
So they called Tony and asked for his opinion. Ever the Entrepreneur and wanting to see these guys succeed Tony suggested that they start transitioning the place to a ‘hippy shop’. Tony thought there was a strong demand in the area for this type of good. He was right. 3 months later, they started becoming profitable. After a year they ditched selling pets altogether, and changed the stores name to something more appropriate. Within 2 years they were grossing $500,000.00 a month in sales, and with just the two of them working there full time stocking away lots of $$. It was fun to watch and I was happy for both of them. Quite a few times I would stop in, to hang out in my divorce years.
Then reality began to rear its ugly head. S2, got married, and thought that he didn’t want any children he may have to know he made his livelihood selling tie die tshirts, pro-dope bummer stickers and incense. Around the same time homeowner in the area began to get organized about protesting the store’s existence as well. S*, the ever-easy-going dude, said “Ok, lets cash out and close.” and that’s what they did about two years ago. S2 went on, at 26, to own open his own accounting firm and is expecting his first child this spring. S* just disappeared for a while, or seemed too. Occasionally popping up at parties, he went on a health kick, losing over 90 pounds and toning up the rest until he looked like a bouncer.
Today, I asked him what he’s up too. He grinned at me and said;
1.) He owns a pretty maintenance free home business selling air cleaning equipment.
2.) He began a photography studio, mainly kids & such on Main St.
3.) …and so he doesn’t get bored he tends bar at one of the larger meat markets in Baltimore.
Cool.
On a brighter note he mentioned that another friend of mine M*. Had finally quit drinking. M* won 12.5 million in the lottery about 7 years ago and has been partying, way to hard ever since. Nice to hear he stopped before his body did. I get a headache just thinking about how much he could drink.
So they called Tony and asked for his opinion. Ever the Entrepreneur and wanting to see these guys succeed Tony suggested that they start transitioning the place to a ‘hippy shop’. Tony thought there was a strong demand in the area for this type of good. He was right. 3 months later, they started becoming profitable. After a year they ditched selling pets altogether, and changed the stores name to something more appropriate. Within 2 years they were grossing $500,000.00 a month in sales, and with just the two of them working there full time stocking away lots of $$. It was fun to watch and I was happy for both of them. Quite a few times I would stop in, to hang out in my divorce years.
Then reality began to rear its ugly head. S2, got married, and thought that he didn’t want any children he may have to know he made his livelihood selling tie die tshirts, pro-dope bummer stickers and incense. Around the same time homeowner in the area began to get organized about protesting the store’s existence as well. S*, the ever-easy-going dude, said “Ok, lets cash out and close.” and that’s what they did about two years ago. S2 went on, at 26, to own open his own accounting firm and is expecting his first child this spring. S* just disappeared for a while, or seemed too. Occasionally popping up at parties, he went on a health kick, losing over 90 pounds and toning up the rest until he looked like a bouncer.
Today, I asked him what he’s up too. He grinned at me and said;
1.) He owns a pretty maintenance free home business selling air cleaning equipment.
2.) He began a photography studio, mainly kids & such on Main St.
3.) …and so he doesn’t get bored he tends bar at one of the larger meat markets in Baltimore.
Cool.
On a brighter note he mentioned that another friend of mine M*. Had finally quit drinking. M* won 12.5 million in the lottery about 7 years ago and has been partying, way to hard ever since. Nice to hear he stopped before his body did. I get a headache just thinking about how much he could drink.