Entries (RSS)My dad managed a Kmart store for a number of years. One Saturday, he called and asked if I’d come dress up as the 7-Up Spot. They were doing some sort of promotion and had an employee walking around the store in the costume. They ended up short-handed that day, so Dad called to see if I could fill in and he’d pay me in new clothes. All I had to do was wander the store, wave at the kids and have my picture taken with them. It wasn’t any big deal and no one could see my face anyway. It was actually even fun when a couple of my friends came in. I followed them around the store for a while without saying anything. Since we were in early high school, they found it pretty embarrassing. The only real problem was I sometimes forgot just how big the costume was in comparison to me. There were a few run-ins with poles that spun the costume around on me a bit. I’m sure it looked quite graceful.
A couple months to a year later, my dad asked if I would dress up as J.J. Pretzel for some other promotion. This time it was actually a paying job. I think I got $25 for a couple hours of wandering the store. Again, no big deal. No one could see my face or anything. I wandered the store for a bit and had my picture taken with a couple little kids. Unfortunately, one little kid was trying to put his arm around the big costume, but ended up grabbing my rear end. He was pretty little, so I’m sure he had no clue what he was doing, but it was still a little unnerving.
