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The Carpet Sweeper

Four harrowing days in the 1970s

I never tell anyone this but for four days back in the 1970s I worked as a door-to-door salesman. Actually, it was only three and a half days since I quit halfway through the fourth day.

I was between jobs and waiting to hear back from some interviews and apparently I was feeling rather desperate. Who in their right mind would agree to be a door-to-door salesman? When I saw the ad in the paper I answered it. Anything was better than sitting at home stewing in hopeless anxiety.

Or so I thought.

The guy who hired me as a door-to-door salesman said that if I was really gung-ho that I could earn many thousands of dollars a month. Yeah right. I just wanted to make enough money to last me until I got a real job.

I should point out that this occurred during the summer in the middle of the Chihuahua desert where average daily high temperatures ranged between 105 degrees and 115 degrees (Fahrenheit).

So there I was in my dress shoes, pressed slacks, short-sleeved shirt, and tie with a satchel full of household sundries in one hand and an electrostatic carpet sweeper in the other hand. The electrostatic carpet sweeper was a brand new item the company was selling so they wanted us to really push it. In the brutal heat I walked from door to…