“What the… ” Just before opening my car door to drive to work, I noticed writing scrawled on my window. It was gibberish, but the paper notice stuck under my windshield wiper cleared away my confusion: The police noted my expired tags, and gave me 48 hours to get them updated, or move my car …
“You, uh, about to head in soon?” the man in his mid-50s asked me. It was past 5PM on a warm day, and I hadn’t realized how the time had flown by while I waved my sign on the sidewalk. “Yeah, just about.” “We’ve, uh, talked a lot so could I ask you a personal …
“It’s called The Awesome Science of Luck. I highly recommend it.” Roughly a year before I got a job as a sign-spinner, I sat at a restaurant in the Colorado mountains with my friend Jim, stuffing my face with brownies and ice cream as he watched in delight. During our conversations, Jim recommended a book …
“So I called up one of the landlords… she didn’t even speak English!” I said. “Oh man… that’s not good,” replied the buyer. I had just finished my lunchbreak at work, where I called four different apartment listings in the Denver area. I was scraping the bottom of the real estate barrel, trying to keep …
“Hey another quarter! And a dime! I’m so lucky…” As I walked across downtown Denver to my 341 meeting, I found a total of sixty cents on the street. A good omen, I figured. Then I arrived at the building, took the elevator to the 14th floor, and found the classroom-sized office for my meeting. …
We can help, the lawyer wrote to me on a Sunday afternoon. For weeks, I had been obsessively researching bankruptcy, online. It fascinated me. Although there’s room for abuse (and I suppose my opinion is understandably biased), I love the concept of bankruptcy. It encourages entrepreneurial risk, because as a business owner, you know you’re …
“Your skin is BURNED. You face looks like a lobster! The ladies love that I’m sure…” “…yeah…” I muttered. I was walking back from the convenience store, fetching some snacks for the buyer in between rounds of sign-holding outside. It was dead in the middle of summer, and I had to admit what the kid …
*Knock knock* I opened the door to see a deputy waiting for me. “Are you Nathaniel Rifkin?” “Yeah.” “This is for you,” he said, handing me an envelope. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad.” I thanked him, closed the door, and immediately opened the letter. A lawsuit had been filed against me By the state of …
“Hey Doberman Dan! I’m talking to you right now from the street corner! Can you hear me alright?” I asked, pressing my cell phone close to my ear to overcome the traffic noise. “I sure can!” he replied. “Awesome! I’m outside, waving my sign right now.” Months earlier, had I signed up for a monthly …