Employed 5 the college months Part 3

Ben said"Wow, that's quite a resume. How old are you?'
"Seventeen."
"Have you done any selling?" asked Ted.
"Sure have" l said :
"about a hundred-thousand gallons of gas,maybe a thousand sets of tires and Lawd knows how much motor oil".
"That ain't sellin'"said Ben,"that's Takin' orders".

"A couple o' times in middleschool  as part of a class fund-raising project l sold magazine subscriptions, door to door",l said,
"How'd you do?"
"Pretty good" l said."But so did most everybody in the class. Another guy and l tied for  first place,but we were only a few ahead of the ones just behind us. 
Considering that all of the money collected went to the class treasury, l think we all might have done better if it were  our job".

So, it turned out that Ben was self-employed as a periodicals distributor.He could sign you up for a subscription to nearly every magazine published in
America and within about a week after we met, so could l. Before long, except
for U.S.History,Drafting and ROTC, l was a no-show at UNR. But l was at Ben's
nearly every day, to take instruction from Ben in the finer points of direct sales,
the details on how to turn a signed order into part of a paycheck.

ln about six weeks l was earning regularly and despite my lifestyle, actually 
saving money. My college life, however was not good. By Halloween, l was so many plates (Drafting assignments) behind that l couldn't catch up if given
the remainder of the year to do it. So l  stopped going to that class. And when l saw what l had done l stopped going to US History class as well. (By itself it couldn't make up for my almost total failure at UNR) They still liked me at ROTC
though.  At Sometime near Winter Break, l got my first invitation to suit up and
perform with the synchronized marching group, whose group name l'm not yet
able to remember. It was a ball! Very much like playing in a marching band.
More exacting to perform and way more appreciated by the audience.l looked
forward to the next performance.

Another couple of months and it's time for the year-end break. Ben encouraged
me to take a break from selling subscriptions and go home for the holidays.
 (No one wants a magazine subscription for Christmas). For a few weeks l had
thought about going home then, mostly to talk some with Dad about the state
of my education. l made another attempt to convince him that l was much more likely to be successful at UNR if l studied Art. lt's not really too difficult, it's just
that l'm not interested in it. "That would seem obvious, but if the situation is as
bad as you say nothing will save you from expulsion, not a change in your 
curriculum or anything else you can come up with. When they boot you out,what will you do to keep your deal with the National Guard? Move back here? Elko is where your membership is. Another thing that comes to mind:You
are a hell of a driver, you know l've always said that.l'd be willing to buy a big-rig, tractor-trailer that you will drive and pay me back by sharing your profits with me. What do you say?"  "No thanks,Dad".