Professional Recycler

Dropped boxes at the post office and swung by the grocery store again which was also in the same complex. I noticed an older male clerk replenishing fresh bananas in the display.

He looked at me. I didn't even bother to crack a smile because I was in a hurry to go home and start dinner. The boy was coming home for the weekend.

But I noticed the clerk again when I went to a different aisle where the fresh plum tomatoes were displayed. He slowly walked towards me. I had no choice but smiled.

"Are you Filipino?"

I said yes, and he added he was from the Tagalog region back in the Philippines. I thought he was maybe Vietnamese or Thai.

Then, the short chit-chat turned to....

"What do you do?" he asked. I didn't need to ask him of his. Obviously, he was a stock clerk at the fresh produce.

I had second thoughts on telling him the truth. Most of the time, when people learn that I sell things, they'd recruit me to be in a pyramid networking 'business.' But eventually, I replied.

"I sell very old things online. 20 years old and older. Like those kinds."

Immediately, he replied, "What kind of work is that? Why did you choose that?" He kind of laughed sarcastically.

"That kind of work is uncertain." he added.

"Anong klaseng trabaho 'yan? Bakit ganyan ang pinili mo? 'yang ganyang klase, walang kasiguraduhan yan!"

I was pissed, but still I answered him.

"Aren't most things uncertain? Health! Careers! Our lives! Relationships! Even marriages!"

Good thing his phone rang, and he answered it without excusing himself.

I just gestured to him that I needed to continue shopping.

He caught up with me in the fresh button mushroom aisle.

Oh sh**t! I don't want to chat with him anymore.

"Where do you get your supplies to sell?" he asked.

I told him that people call me to check their closets or sometimes friends drop their unwanted old things for me to sell.

In fact, our neighbor Nancy dropped some of her beautiful old things days earlier.

But with my reply, he wasn't satisfied. He wanted details about where I get all my vintage goods. What kind, the brands, and other processes I do for the business.

Of course, I just tell him that I sell anything old, and that I am a professional recyler.

Why would I tell him everything?

It's my trade secret, and besides, it felt like he looked down on what I do.

I love what I do, and I hope he loves his work too.