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Hot Dog Days My San Francisco Chronicles

Daily Post Day 37: “The One Who Got Away”

Summer of 2008

I was a hot dog vendor (remember those days?).

I didn’t think too highly of my appearance at that point in time, because I was in the midst of weight-loss mission #2 (#3? I can’t recall now…).

Short-haired and not enjoying the heat coming in through the back of the hot dog stand. We had the shades on but that didn’t help. I was alone at the cart that day, standing in front of Juicy Couture close to Union Square (San Francisco).

He approached me in a clouded vision. I looked up and was face to face with a man I had never met before, but he was quite attractive to me. Tall, wavy brown hair, surfer-type. He spoke his words with a smirk as he uttered his order in a unique accent. A European?

We exchanged our sheepish smiles and then he walked off to wherever he was going. I figured I wouldn’t see him again. That cart rarely got return customers, and he looked like a tourist to me.

But then he showed up again the next day, again by surprise. Shy smiles exchanged once again. I remember gushing to a visiting friend that I hoped he was a local.

He visited the next day again, and he actually dropped me some tip money at the very end after we stared at each other intensely and smiled the same way.

Those moments brought my work mood up and I looked forward to seeing him again the following week.

Monday came, and no sign of him.

Tuesday came, and the same result.

He must have been a tourist after all.

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Note: In case you’re wondering, oh curious reader, no, I am not pining for this mystery man anymore. An amusing few days of our mostly-silent flirting, but it made for a good tale.

Categories
life

Daily Post Day 36: Life in New York

Drizzly, cold rain.

Earlier I took a stroll through Union Square to check out the Green Market. I’ve been here in New York for the past week, and so far the week has been an eye-opener on what I enjoy and what I don’t enjoy.

Yes, I left San Francisco. And even though I feel sadness for leaving my loved ones and friends there, I had to leave.

Being back on my home coast feels comforting. I also got myself registered for a Gotham Writer’s Workshop (1-day Intensive) at the end of the month. I’ll study Food Writing; exciting! Perhaps that’s my calling, at least in the nonfiction realm.

Well, back to the family for now.

Categories
travel

Daily Post Day 35: Teleport, now!

Teleportation is something I want to be reality so badly. I get a thrill out of traveling (who doesn’t?), and it’d be so much easier (and more affordable) to have teleportation around.

First place I’d go to? Where my heart is currently residing.

Next, Palau.

And then, wherever our hearts will take us.

Of course, teleportation should only be available to people who knew how to use it. But that probably won’t happen–it’ll eventually leak out to the masses. And that’s when chaos will occur.

Categories
family

Daily Post Day 34: Greatest Hero Of My Life

My greatest hero of all time is my father. Without his courage, we wouldn’t be here today.

Categories
jobs

Daily Post Day 33: Worst Job Ever Had

I read the listing on Craig’s List, noticing the key phrase “move up [the ranks] in less than one month!”

Only the day after applying, I got a phone call to go in for an interview. I was ecstatic that I was chosen and wore my sleekest business outfit.

The interview was very short. And then they invited me back in for a trial run with an elder representative.

So the next day, I was there at the office again. And then, we were suddenly in one of the representative’s cars. “Can you tell me what exactly we’ll be doing?”

“We are going out on the field,” said the elder representative as she drove us and two others along. The other job candidate was sitting in the back seat with her elder, squirming a bit from the strange situation.

Lunch was innocent outside of the city, and I thought I could enjoy such a flexible work schedule. But then the real work began.

We drove into a neighborhood. My elder dropped off her comrade and the other job candidate in one part of the neighborhood. “You guys cover this side, and I’ll cover the other with Helene,” said my elder. I followed her and we made small talk. She was genuinely friendly and open, but I felt my heart beating faster as we approached each door, telling potential clients how we would help them cut costs on their cable bill if they signed up with so-and-so company.

I kept up my smile and politeness around my elder that day. The job seemed only comfortable because she was being so generous.

We went back to the office, and we parted ways for the day. I looked forward to going out with her again “into the field” the next day.

But then, I was reassigned to another elder, and this one talked my head off and our assignment the next day was borderline illegal, soliciting businesses with office supplies. I saw how the receptionists eyed us when we approached them. As the day wore on, I became more and more uncomfortable.

At the end of the day, we returned to our home base. The boss invited me into his office to talk.

“Helene, if you are going to survive in this job, you will need to be more assertive,” he said to me.

That was the ticket I needed to exit. His feigned encouragement was enough steam for me to call in and resign the next day.

I definitely was not cut out to be a door-to-door salesperson.