Thursday, September 1, 2011

Curb side numbers guy

I got a note on my door the other day asking if I wanted my house numbers painted on the curb. It was a well printed form and let you know the costs upfront for curb numbers on top and front, trash cans and anything else you wanted signed with your street numbers. I put mine up and decided on top and front for $20.00. I came home and everyone had theirs done but mine somehow was missed. I called my son who lives down the street and he suggested I drive around looking for the guy. He then texted me back maybe I didn't want this guy because he had painted my sons curb with the WRONG house number. Easy to do without his numbers being up on his house yet. He just finished remodeling and the numbers are waiting to be hammered on. I laughed but inside I wanted to know why my house was skipped. I told my DIL that when he came back to collect his money and redo their numbers to please tell him I was missed. This morning my doorbell rings at 8am. Thanks goodness I was up. I ask who it is before opening the door and he tells me curb painter. He was truly sorry he missed my paper on the front door so I open the door to a good looking man dressed beautifully. I figure he is the boss. I follow him out as he opens the trunk to this beautiful new high end car (lexus, toyota etc) and he pulls out a leather duffel bag with white paint floating in the bag. I immediately tell him that his car is too nice for the usual curb painters as the last ones were on bicycles. He starts to tell his tale. He really is a writer full time for marketing brochures and does curb painting as a second job. I asked him if the city tries to stop him but he says no because he is bonded. Who knew. I doubt the guys on the bicycle were bonded. Anyway he goes about the painting, first white paint rolled over the spot and then a stencil that he changes to reflect the different numbers and black spray paint that taggers use. Not a drop spills anywhere on his person or the street. He is dressed in pants and a polo like shirt. He is fast and neat and under 2 minutes. He talks about his passion for writing and his hoping to write the great novel. I told him about my writing and my storytelling. I ask if he is married and he nods yes, no kids yet. He puts away his leather bag with the white paint floating in it, takes my $20 and we say goodbye. He drives away in his fancy car to collect more payments for work done yesterday. I figure I saw about 20 curbs done and lots of trash cans. At $15 for basic curb and $5 a trash can he probably made $400 on my long street alone. Won't be long until he can quit is marketing job, paint curbs and write his great novel and become a published author. Now wouldn't that make a great book or movie.

2 comments:

  1. Emily Weathers Kennedy I enjoyed this post. I didn't know door-to-door salesmen of any kind were still in existence. Now, I don't have a curb, but I always wanted one! In our rural area we are lucky to have one sidewalk near the elementary school but alas, no curbs. As a designer, I can just imagine those beautiful numbers, glowing so neatly and brightly on the curbs. Sigh.

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  2. Only you would find out the guy's backstory! BTW, all the ads are for painters. Is that because the word paint is in your blog?

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