Week of the Vacum

After a week like last week, we here at William Stroock dot BlogSpot dot com were left thinking, 'I should have taken the vacuum cleaner salesmen job.'

This was a thing.

Twenty years ago we were living in Northern Virginia and more than 6 months out of work. 

One dreary February day we went on a job interview selling vacuum cleaners door to door.  That night they called us and said, 'Congratulations!' We stammered, stuttered, said no thanks and quickly hung up.

Over the next few years, 'I should have taken the vacuum cleaner salesman job' was a kind of shorthand for our lamentable career situation.

We really wouldn't have a career, or even steady work, till we started writing four years after the vacuum cleaner incident.