What I Do (did) for a Living

Today's LBC topic comes to us from the Old Fossil - Conrad.  Since retirement is not in the cards for me the choice is What I Do for a Living.

I trust the irony will not be lost on you when I say that I make a living as a copywriter/content specialist for the company from whence my nickname - shackman - comes from - RadioShack.  My handiwork - such as it is - is on display for all to see at  RadioShack.com  Irony you may say? Well - I am simply the worst typist in the world. Words don't bother me - typing is another story.

I've been with the Shack for over 28 years off and on.  It's where Fos and I first met and struck up the recently rekindled friendship we now share. At that time Fos was a teacher in our classroom and I was a peddler of computer equipment.  I was pretty good at it too but I hated it.  The selling part - although it had it's brighter points. I once sold a full computer system to a gent named Ralph "Sonny" Barger. Sonny is rather infamous in this country as the former president of The Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. It was a rather large sale, paid in cash and when I called our local delivery service to set up the delivery of the goods, the owner/operator went nearly apoplectic and I had to talk like the proverbial Russian racehorse to get him to make the delivery.  This all came about because as a store manager in Oakland I had cultivated a friendlty relationship with a gent namd Cisco - the VP of the club.  Cisco used to come into my store and buy parts for various projects and we talked electronics.  His day job about six months a year was as a lighting guy in the movies. He was an interesting guy. Ironic though - I played flag football for the Oakland PD one year - LOL.  Now that made things interesting as there were often cops coming by to visit.

My life at the Shack has included managing several stores (Manhattan Beach, Oakland Fruitvale, Oakland Telegraph, San Lorenzo), a computer center (Fremont) and a computer training and support operation (in Honolulu). Now that was fun. I spent 6 months in Hawaii sans wife & kids because Lynn chose not to come along.  Me and my Suzuki 550 had way more fun than we should have.  Every time the Mastercard bill hit home I'd get a phone call and a serious interrogation. I have no idea why - I mean the Banyan Gardens was just a place with a big tree in it and the Pearl City Tavern was - well - OK - a bar.  Ahem. But it had a huge glassed in place behind the bar with a bunch if monkeys in it and a great Bonsai display upstairs,  so who could blame me for soaking in as much local color as I could.  And I lived with a HS pal and his wife - Rick was the Chief Ranger on the Arizona Memorial.  That'd be Rick Smith - a real Ranger Rick. 

I also aquired a love for Hawaiian music while there.  Give this song a listen - you don't need to understand the lyrics to appreciate the melody and performance.

 I did pennance for years.  The photo is of my mom on a visit to Honolulu.  I always say the easiest way to make a Suzuki 550 look like a Honda 50 is  to put me on it.  I left the Shack shortly after my return (Xmas Eve 1986) and worked as a programmer at an Ins Agency and did some contract programming until the economy flopped in the early nineties.  I rejoined the Shack and moved to Texas and have been here since May of 1994. I have yet to aquire a love of the Dallas Cowboys or country music.

In the 19 years I've been here I've done computer technical support, Xenix/Unix support, consumer product support, been a supervisor in customer relations and for the last 7 years I've been what is called an Omnichannel Data Specialist.  In English, that's copywriter/content speialist. For the last 2+ years I've worked from home - the Shack has been very good to me that way and very understanding about my situation with Lynn.

So that's what I do.  Not terribly exciting but it's a living.  Check out the other members ofthe LBC - they're listed overthere --------->