"Thank you selecting Agency Rent-a-Car, Mike speaking, may I help you?" That's how we had to answer the phone at my new job. I found this job in the want-ads. I took it because I liked cars...that's it. The job was pretty straight-forward: tow a car to customers at their homes, auto repair or body shop, or their places of work, do the paper work, and then drive the company car back to the office. We would tow the company car on the back of the customer car. When we arrived at the customer's location, we would detach the tow bar from the customer car, throw it in the trunk of the company car (a 1984 Dodge Horizon hatchback), and be on our way. The challenging parts of the job were (1) towing a car in urban areas, (2) detaching the tow car on inclines, and (3) backing up. I usually did ok, but once I didn't swing out far enough in a parking lot and put a huge dent in some guy's Lincoln Town Car. I paid him cash so I wouldn't have to file a claim and have my boss find out!
I liked taking the cars to customers who were way out in the country. It was easy to drive on the highway and one delivery could suck up two hours in my dreary day. Four over-the-road tows and the day was done! Also, at this point in my life, my politics started to veer to the right. The long drives allowed me to listen to conservative radio for long periods of time. The following year, I ordered my first subscription to National Review.
To get some extra cash, I worked part-time at night with Curtis as a janitor. I was also living rent-free in a house because I agreed to help the owner fix it up: minor electrical, demolition, painting, etc. It was a dump, but it was free.
But by the summer of 1987, I came to the realization that I wasn't going anywhere in my life. I left Rochester and went to Cleveland, OH to be near my girlfriend. After a couple of months and with no job prospects, I headed back home to Long Island. It was time to regroup.
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