Chapter Two; pages 30-32

A couple of my favorite characters in the sales room were the two college kids, Doogie and Max; A couple of intelligent young men that were taking time off and seeing the world, smoking weed, and surfing after graduating. I didn't need to twist their arms to spend more time at the Del Rey and other local nightspots; they were afternoon shift guys anyways that could sleep in.

Doogie was a smart-ass recent college grad. He was a tanned young surfer from Rhode Island. Doogie clowned around on the phone with the prospective gamblers and wasn't very businesslike but he did convert a higher percentage of customers that called in than most sales representatives. Doogie liked to get under people's skin in the sales office and he was successful with many people even catching the ire of George a few times. Despite being a presentable young man, Doogie was an unfinished product. As a young guy he wanted to nail every girl that moved in Costa Rica and for all of his efforts he struck out at an alarmingly high rate. To his credit, he never stopped swinging for the fences believing in his potential with every girl. I doubt he has changed either as he brought that same attitude with him to San Diego the last time I saw him. I still don’t think there is a girl out there that can destroy his confidence while he still continues to swing for the glory.

Max was exceptional on the phones. When he spoke gamblers probably thought he was the guy in charge with an answer for everything and if he didn't know the answer he would at least sound like he knew it. His ability on the phone must have caught the attention of ownership because Max was one of the few guys that could go from sales to customer service and wagering at any time. Normally the sales people never got involved with wagering and were told to not take any calls for wagering but to transfer the calls. Max was a surfer also but his real passion seemed to be potato chips and weed which made Costa Rica perfect for him. He never seemed to have any problems with the ladies either. Where Doogie was still in the evolution process Max was a smooth talking young man.

I believe the youngsters were eating some magic marijuana brownies when they gave me the nickname Hacksaw after the big burly Professional wrestler Jim “Hacksaw” Dugan who carries around a 2x4 to the ring. I am not sure why they gave me the nickname.

A couple of the other sales representatives included Peter Wilson, Tom, and DD.
Pete was a decent guy while he was in sales. He was a recovering addict of some sort often leaving for lunch to attend his support group meetings. I don’t know what it’s like to be an addict but to regularly attend support group meetings is commendable because he was trying to clean up. Pete was very businesslike on the phone and we got along real well the first year in the sales room. Once Pete moved on over to be my marketing assistant he tried too hard to be just like Claude and that has gotten him into some trouble. There was only room for one Claude at BOS and I think the company would be still up and running had others tried not to imitate him. Pete is also the last one at large that is wanted by the Federal Courts in Dallas.

Pete was a well spoken guy in his late 30’s that had been rejected by the US. Rumor has it he was accused of some trouble and rather than face the penalties of a felony he chose the out clause and flew to the Caribbean before heading to Costa Rica. Whether he was innocent or guilty he never got a chance to find out. Furthermore I heard news in Curacao and in Costa Rica that had him being booted off the island of Curacao. Now Curacao is more peaceful than Costa Rica and to be evicted from that island paradise you would definitely have to perform an act of complete social debauchery. I am no one to judge but the abuse of alcohol and drugs might have been part of the reason for his eviction as Pete hinted towards that in one of our many conversations.

Tom and DD were a nice couple from Arizona and Colorado respectively. I enjoyed their company as they invited me over for dinner frequently and we would be known to take more than a few trips to the local watering holes when I was in town and one memorable trip to the Pacific coast tourist spot of Manuel Antonio. Those two would also save me from the “Barrio Arms” as I would soon move into their three bedroom apartment which Claude paid for. BOS under Claude paid for a lot of apartments and houses around the office to lure good English speaking salesman and workers.
DD was a sweet beautiful young girl in her late twenties that many people would confuse as a local. She was great for getting “the local discounts” with her brown skin and excellent handle of the Spanish language. She got stopped at the Del Rey entrance a few times also. She was well spoken, good sense of humor, responsible drinker, and nice body. Any guy would be lucky to have DD as a girl friend.

Opposites attract as in the case of Tom and DD. Tom was a car salesman. He was a top guy in the BOS sales office. He had no problem converting one call after another into a new customer. Tom was a big burly guy a bit shorter than me with a left hand that George called the mule kick due to its intense power which he enjoyed unleashing playfully into your shoulder. Guys would be flying when they were hit by the mule kick and it had an intense sounding thud to boot. Tom was about 45 years old and his face and body showed the wear and tear of hard drinking and age. Tom was a funny guy, quite sociable and extremely personable. Most everyone liked Tom unless you were on his wrong side of humor; he was great to be around. The last report on Tom had him back to selling cars in Prescott, Arizona. Unfortunately Tom had a short life in Costa Rica as the combination of his love for liquor, the nightlife, and the cheap prices were an ugly combination. His desire to party wasn't bad enough to keep Tom from showing up every morning at 6am, ready to take sales calls which he turned into hundreds of customers a week.

Tom was also the reason for George’s sales office rules which were quite simple yet hilariously effective. Rules of the sales office, “how you show up is how you have to stay, if you’re drunk, stay drunk. If you’re high, stay high. If you’re sober, stay sober”. These rules were adopted after Tom got the shakes so bad he dropped his phone during a sales call. After he dropped the phone he was sent down stairs into the Mall San Pablo for a small vodka bottle and he was just fine after that churning out customers more customers than anyone else in the office. I think Max approved of these rules too cause he was always high. Max always had a high number of sign-ups so the rules were extremely effective. Between Tom and Max they would have been terrible subjects for the study of how weed and alcohol effects office production.