Good luck (and good riddance)

Of course, most of the time that I knock on a door, I get rejected. No problem. If everyone said yes, there would be a million cartoonists selling door to door. I make about 13 an hour, maybe a little less or a little more, but I'm a special case, and I'm not clear how well others would do with such an esoteric job.

One of the things that really gets me is when folks who have said "no," then follow up with "good luck." Now, in some cases, this might be heartfelt, but, way more often, it really isn't. For time I've been doing this (which is creeping up on a year and half now), I have heard folks saying "good luck" so many times it became like chinese water torture. I literally heard it 10 times an hour from folks that had no intention of ever helping me, and, logically, from my perspective, hoped that either a.someone else would (which is a cop out unless you are under extreme financial distress since I'm only asking a buck!) or b.Someone else WOULDN'T. I think in 9 out of 10 cases, when a person says to me "good luck," what he or she is really saying is "Rude &*&%," and is really telling me that he or she does not respect me enough to help or even look at my work. Fine. I'm not that upset, just making a point as to what it started to sound like to me hearing "good luck" every 7 minutes 3 hours a day.

Finally, I decided to counter this euphemistic blow off (which i determined was often designed to despirit me and my intention). Now, I say GOOD LUCK first! I always tell everyone "good luck" who says "no." Often they desperately attempt to "wish me luck," but, like a dog that has tried to startle you and who fails, this "good luck" they come back with is weak and useless against me emotionally. You can see it in their eyes sometimes: they are bummed that I wished them luck first, that they can't twist the "I won't help but 'good luck'" knife in. They are neutralized.

Sometimes my good luck is even more then a counter, and can become sort of nasty (though I would never reveal this to my rejecters). My "good luck" might be "good luck...in hell, where SUV'r's who don't have a dollar "anywhere" go. Or, "good luck..in the upcoming depression, where what you gave is what you will get.(a fantasy, but satisfying)." Or, "good luck..with that lousy lying attitude you have." Other times, if the person is unemployed, I really mean "good luck," and hope that they are soon able to feel financially set again.

More cartoons soon.