The Entrepreneurial Spirit (by Lisa)

It seems like every time we go down to play in the subways, we see people selling unusual stuff. If you look closely at the wares of the "Magazine Man" at Harvard, you will find, amongst his ancient porn and "Better Homes & Gardens", ten year old copies of "PC World". I have no idea who would be interested in buying ten year old copies of a computer trade magazine, but perhaps I am the fool for not snatching them up quicker, as they may be valuable collector's items waiting to happen.

We also won't soon forget the woman at Park Street who we saw selling buttons that say "This is the Only Bush I Like" with a picture of a woman's you-know-what. She seemed to be doing quite well in the pre-election season.

The most unusual sales people we have seen down in the subway, however, were two women selling perfume. The two women, who were wearing long cotton dresses and hijabs, decided to try their luck one day selling perfume near where we were playing. They greeted us with a smile, then proceeded to set up a display of their perfume bottles on top of a nearby trash can. When a promising looking man or woman came into range, they would lead him or her over to the trash can to smell some samples of their fine perfumes.

At one point, the subway cleanup guy came to empty out the trash can, and waited patiently while the women lifted their bottles, one by one, and put them away so he could empty the trash. When he was gone, they neatly set up their bottles again, and resumed business as usual.

They seemed to be having a hard day, and Dave & I considered mentioning to them that a trash can might not be the most appetizing way to display perfume and that they might perhaps want to consider investing in a folding card table, but they must have sold some bottles while we weren't looking, because after about two hours they waved goodbye to us, smiled, and tipped us sweetly before boarding the train to head to their next location.