$2 Bill

I was miserable. It was close to 5pm and I had been knocking on doors since 10 am. I was working a particularly hilly neighborhood so every house seemed to have 20 steps on their front porch. I was definitely getting my work out today. The temperature was in the 90's and I was sweating through my shirt. I can only imagine homeowners opening their doors to see my we shirt and dripping forehead, pleasantly smiling and waving my bug photos.

I was deep into my first summer selling pest control service door to door and this particular day had not produced any results. As in, I had zero sales for the day.  I remember working one side of a street with some of the most ridiculous porches. This side of the street was all hill so every house had 30 or more steps up to the front door.  I was coming down one of these huge stairways when a car pulled to the curb and rolled his window down.  An elderly gentleman yelled to get my attention and waved me over.  I'd been through this before. It was probably the president of the Homeowner's Association. He was going to yell at me and threaten to call the police if I didn't leave now. If I was lucky, he would give me this information and go on his way, maybe follow me out of the neighborhood in his car.  If I was unlucky, he would have already called the police. He just wanted the personal delight in telling me himself.

So I made my way down the steps and down the driveway. The road actually had a good amount of traffic so I had to wait to cross the street and go to his car. As I walked up, I heard him say, "Are you Aaron Whitaker?"  "Yes sir!" I proclaimed. I had already learned my tactic, I'll kill them with kindness. But I was prepping for the worst and not looking forward to it. I was hot and had no sales, getting kicked out of the neighborhood was the next logical event in this great day.

I politely crouched down next to his car in order to put myself at or below his eye level. Another tactic I had developed, I never liked being over a person when talking to them.  I looked at the gentleman and didn't recognize him, but he stuck his had out the window and said, "I just wanted to shake your hand."  What? This is an interesting way to kick me out!

He went on to explain that I had knocked on his door earlier in the day and his wife answered. I had spent about 5 minutes with her explaining who I was, what I was doing in the neighborhood, and doing my best to get her started with pest control service. I didn't think twice about this lady. She was just another one close to 100 people I would see that day.  But he went on to explain that she had come back inside in a great mood and happy to have met this nice young man named Aaron Whitaker. He explained that she really appreciated my positive attitude and it made her day better!

I honestly didn't know what to say. But at this point, I was pretty excited. This was the first time someone had gone out of their way to thank me for working so hard.  He told me they were selling their home soon and it didn't make sense to get my service. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.  He removed a $2 bill and gave it to me.  "I always carry a $2 bill for good luck. I want to give this to you and hopefully it will bring you some good luck."

I can't remember if I got any sales that day or not. But I remember this gentleman that was so kind and gracious, he put a smile on my face and made me feel good about what I was doing. That $2 bill was in my pocket for the rest of the summer. Not only did I finish as the top salesperson for our program, but I made 3 times the amount of money I would have made at my previous job. That summer was the start to a very successful and rewarding sales career. And this man with his $2 bill helped me get there.