Small Gifts

Some years back, before I worked for the US Postal Service, one of the jobs I held was working in a merchandising crew for Best Buy. We were the guys who would show up for work at oh-dark-hundred and set up the merchandise in the store. Load the shelves, put up the display items and racks, print and place the price labels and advertising, and so on. The job sucked, but someone has to do it. It had the small benefit that I only continued to work an hour or two after the store opened so I almost never had to deal with customers.

One of the things that was torture was that the TVs were on and they played pre-recorded bits that ran in the store. Various record labels would apparently co-sponsor the tapes and so their acts would be on the TVs and audio systems. That meant that I had to endure mucho crap--things such as Britney Spears (who was just appearing on the scene). It could be really awful.

But one of the acts that didn't make me grit my teeth in pain was Jamiroquai. For some reason I thought the lead singer/dancer was a black guy from the USA...but he is, in fact, a Jewish guy from the UK. Hell if I know why I figured he was an American of African descent.

At any rate, this was one of the videos that would run in the stores in the morning that kept me from trying to find the source of the music and smashing the contraption.

A weird fact that I learned when working for Best Buy. This photo from SUMMER OF '42...the guy in the middle: Jerry Houser. He was the voice of Best Buy. He voiced all of their in-store ads and propaganda. I don't know if he still does that job--or if Best Buy even has an official "voice"...but when I worked there, he had the gig.