Day 6 & 7 - Bring out the Bats, Beers and a Broom!

I enjoy day games much more than night games! I feel like I put in a great workout and still have most of the day to do something and enjoy an evening.

Saturday was a great day! Sunny! Nice cool breeze! The perfect conditions for a great day of selling beer!

There is something amazing about getting to stop selling beer and watch Pujols bat. I got to do just that and witness 1 grand slam, 1 HR, and 7 RBI's...I think I'm loving this job.

I was back in commissary 240 and I was enjoying getting to know other beer-men and hear their ways of selling. With a little encouragement from the weather and knowing that the home series was almost finished, I decided to man-up and carry a full case of beer.

I took the advice of a veteran and stayed in the commissary while my beer sat on ice until after the National Anthem and then head out into the stands. This veteran told me there is no sense of going to make 1 or 2 sales and wear yourself out carrying your load of beer all over the stadium when you should wait till the guest get seated. I obliged and decided to relax before going out into the stands.

Stories from the game on Saturday:

While making a sale in the front row of section 250, I hear the crack of the bat and see everyone standing up. We are trained to stay down low when this happens because it means, "we have incoming" and we won't have the reaction time to turn around and find the ball that is coming our direction. I was 5 seats away from get hit with this fly ball that came back into the stands. The ball bounced off of the seat and went down into the lower section.

I accidentally hit a guy in the shoulder with the corner of my tub as I was walking up the steps in a section. I immediately apologized and he just gave me a disgusted look as if I had just destroyed his life or something. Honestly, I don't think I should have taken out a full case yet...walking up and down those steps sucked.

Beer tub - 1
Random spectator's shoulders - 0

Overall, Saturday was a great game...nothing too exciting took place...I survived carrying around a full case and then a few extra along the way when I reloaded.

Now for today. What's that Lassy? Timmy fell down the well again and the Cardinals just swept the Astros...and the Cardinals opened their first week of the 2009 season 5-2...and they are in first place in the National League Central Division? Touche Lassy....Touche!

SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP!

Honestly, I wasn't excited about working on Easter. I mean, yes, I'm willing to do just about anything for a job right now...obviously, I'm a beer man at Busch Stadium...but to work on Easter?

I debated on calling in today, but then, what would I do? Go home? I could have...but honestly, I don't think I would have...so I decided to work towards paying bills.

I went with a full case again today. My body didn't hurt that bad today before work. I did forget to med up before I went to work today...I usually pop 2 asprin before going to work to help with the soreness. My shins and knees have become bruised up from kneeling on steps. The soreness in my arms is not as intense anymore, but after carrying a full case for the second day in a row may do the trick...

Stories from today's game:

I witnessed 2 ladies, who were slightly intoxicated, walking up the steps out of a section while a guy from another section was yelling at them...It was then that I realized that he was asking one of them out to dinner...Then, out of nowhere, a guy gets up and yells in a very loud voice, "excuse me ladies, I think this man wants to take you out to dinner tonight. Do you accept his offer?" The ladies walked away and the guy got shot down...

While selling a few cold ones to some guys, I started up a conversation with them as I do with nearly everyone I make a sale to, and asked them where they were from and they live right down the street from me...but only for 38 more days...because they are about to leave for the Florida Keys and never come back. They expressed how they are going where there are "Beaches, beers and girls in bikinis" and they didn't need anything else. I somewhat agree.

I managed to sell through my first case in no time at all, but that second case was nice and cold as it sat in my tub on ice through most of the game.

I made a sale to a group of people and they told me to come back in a bit. Well, I just got that second case in my tub and decided to visit them. They revealed to me that beer vendors are like drug dealers cause all we do is try to get rid of what we have on us and overcharge for it. They got a laugh out of it...I however didn't enjoy being called a drug dealer... I did eventually make another sale with them during last call.

Today was "Kids run the bases day." Don't even begin to ask me how tempted I was to get in that line. The line was nearly all of the way up the ramp that winds up to the 4th level near gate 1.

I did manage to come out of my shell a bit more and started to interact with the crowd a bit more. It did hit me today as I was leaving the stadium, that if I want to do better in my sales, tips and overall performance, I'm going to need to be more animated. No way around it.

Everyone remembers beer-man from their hawking and calls that they yell...
-"The King" - "who wants to be the king? who wants to wear the crown? who wants to be drinking the king of beers?"
-That one guy with the long mustache that curls up on the ends...I can't remember his real name, but I have met him and everyone remembers that mustache.
-The "Bud on a stick" guy. There is a guy who would stand around and yell randomly "Bud on a stick" and shake an empty Bud bottle on the end of a stick at people...you get the picture...

For the first week of my new job, overall, I've enjoyed it. It has been quite the workout, that's for sure. I never thought that in my entire life that I'd be doing the manual labor that I'm doing and with the pay that comes with it after receiving a bachelors degree...sometimes you have to do what you have to do to make ends meet.

Total sales thus far:
1 Bottle of Water
29 Bags of Peanuts
291 Bottles of Beer

Even though there is a full week and a day between now and the next home series...I plan to blog about a few things:
-"Q & A with a beer man." I want to answer your questions. Many of you have asked questions about my job and I'm sure there are more out there...so if you have one, comment your question on here and I'll answer it for you.
-"Who would be a better beer man? A Minister or the average Joe?"
-"An Ode to Bill. An usher from section 271"

Thank you to everyone who reads and follows this!