Stolen Memories.
Today a friend sent me a link showing some family portraits taken at Olan Mills, Sears and K-Mart.
I used to work in the telemarketing department at Olan Mills, which was essentially three school desks crammed into a closet. This was ‘95 so the technology was primitive. We were given a rotary dial phone, a phone book and a photocopy of a handwritten script, and told to start callin’. The team was a young single mother named Keisha, an older single mom named Kay and me. Our manager was a paraplegic named Mike who would grunt “get those numbers up” or “smiles equal sales” between smoke breaks with his mute girlfriend that was always hanging around. I would call my friends or daydream until Mike came back then I’d pretend to call potential customers. I think I only sold one portrait pack consisting of three 8x10s, one 11x17 and 12 wallet-sized for $19.95. It was to my first grade teacher. She later told my mom she bought it out of pity. Thanks Ms. Browning.
About a week into my Olan Mills experience, Mike went rouge. He and his girlfriend, lets call her Missy, stole dozens of portrait pack coupons and were going door to door selling the chance to be in the photo gallery linked to above.
There was a vacuum of power for about a week in Olan Mills-Centre West’s sales department. Then came a guy in from corporate who had a beard, slick hair and the powerful stench of too much Brut mixed with Marlboros. He meant business. He kept a sales tally on a dry erase board he brought with him. Kay was excelling. Keisha was passable, but me, I was the weak link. That’s why our bearded leader made me the runner. I drove my ‘89 Buick Skyhawk to deliver the coupons that Kay and Keisha sold. On one of my first deliveries, I was chased by a dog. At 16, I was too old for that shit. I stayed with it for another two weeks, rarely completing a delivery, often hanging out at my parent’s house. After Blazer Skateshop offered me a job, I never went back. When I quit, I had a glove compartment full of magical family moments unrealized.
