ASK A VENDOR THIS COLUMN IS A PLACE FOR DENVER VOICE VENDORS TO RESPOND TO QUESTIONS FROM OUR READERS AND STAFF. If you have a question or issue you would like vendors to discuss, please email community@denvervoice.org. Q When someone asks “Why don’t you get a ‘real job’ instead of just vending the Denver VOICE?” what do you tell them? A BRIAN AUGUSTINE First, I tell them this IS a real job for me. I’ve kept the same hours, every week, for years. With my back injury, I have to lay on the floor flat on my back, two to three times a day. I will stay that way until the pain lessens enough that I can move. No one else would pay wages to someone who has to do that. DAVID GORDON I would ask what their definition of a real job is. Some define a job as steady, paid employment. As for paid employment, there are many factors to consider, but I hope, if something like that came my way, that it would not interfere with my other job with the Denver VOICE. I define a job as a task or responsibility for a VERY REAL problem. A friendly reminder that being unhoused in this city is a REAL problem. [The Denver VOICE paper] brings awareness to people in a city that has enormous hostility to REAL people who might be considered the most vulnerable on the planet. This is very REAL. I remind people that the Denver VOICE is a grassroots journalistic street paper, that talks about homelessness through those who have experienced it. The VOICE does not push a hateful narrative, based on fear and ignorance. I am on the front lines talking to REAL people about a REAL problem in hopes to have a REAL conversation and REAL solutions. JERRY ROSEN I tell them I AM working a job. I do temporary work and volunteer work, also. I tell them I like selling papers, as I enjoy working for myself. I sometimes do work as a busboy or dishwasher, but I like doing this job, as nobody is on top of me, and I can work my own hours. RAELENE JOHNSON I simply let them know that some of us vendors do not have the required qualifications for an application to be accepted at a lot of places, or that prospective employers would hold our past against us. I would rather be doing the newspaper than holding up a sign or begging for money. This paper gives dignity, self-worth, and respect to the vendors because we are giving our customers an award-winning newspaper, and they’re not just giving; they can see the change in me and the other vendors! JOHN ALEXANDER When people ask, “Why don’t you get a real job?” I express to them that I am not just vending the Denver VOICE; nor am I just working a job, whether they think it’s a “real job” or not. As a Denver VOICE vendor, I am self-employed. I have a job, and I have a real business. The Denver VOICE is my only job. I love it. There is plenty of work for me right here, where I am, and the more I work, the more I am developing and building my OWN business. I am 72. I’ve been working ever since I was seven years old. I have been working this real job for 15 years. I am the employee of the month this month. I have been the employee of the month every month for 15 years, straight. The people that have bought papers from me and the other vendors over the years support us, just like they would any other business, where someone purchases products or services. The ability to give to others is one of God’s kindest and most noble gifts. Helping other people to help themselves is part of the very foundation that our country and all of our American spiritual institutions stand on. Some time ago, a few broad-minded men and women came up with this strange, off-the-hook idea that they could help fight homelessness [by publishing street papers] that would help people get jobs and become self-employed. Wow! Well, today, that concept is practiced in nearly every state in the U.S. and 60 other countries around the world. What if the people who had this far-out idea had stood back, and if the only idea they came up with was to ask people, “Why don’t you get a real job?” Because of those few people, there are individuals all over the world, who, like me, DO have a real job, and a real business, too. ■ September 2022 DENVER VOICE 5
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