Wait. Wait. Wait. I spoke too soon. I hang my head in embarrassment. Robots will not take over every job. They might commandeer our postal jobs and our salesperson jobs, but now I’ve seen an error in my report: Robots will never ever be able to replace the sign spinner. These guys are too original. Too creative. Too much of a necessity to be obliterated by a mechanized piece of plastic.
This guy, especially. When I see him on the corner every morning, he reminds me that I’m alive. His energy is contagious. And his uncanny resemblance to the actual Statue of Liberty just baffles me.
I like to think of Mr. Liberty’s kids. I’m sure he’ll reminisce with them about his first job as a sign spinner and boast proudly about how he got to stand on a corner every morning and wear the regal seagreen robes of an American icon, topped with a matching foam crown. Just like I’ll reminisce to my offspring about my first job at Ken’s World of Video. I’ll tell them all about the stale smell of popcorn and the nice men who would come in to rent Cool Runnings on pizza-sized laser disks or Debbie Does Dallas VI on VHS. Just to return them two hours later. I probably won’t tell them that someone pooed on the floor of the 21-and-over room though. Sometimes details are meant to be left out. Especially the fact that it was me who pooed on the floor of the 21-and-over room. Not really. But whoever did is really gross and probably didn’t use toilet paper. And probably bought some popcorn from me right after. Oh, first jobs.