In February of 2015, I knew I had to get out of the "Limo business" so I started applying to every job imaginable. If you name a company, store or restaurant, I probably applied to it. I was constantly on my laptop sending applications all over. I tried Costco, Trader Joe's, Lowe's, Sam's Club, Hertz, Wal-mart and Panera Bread just to name a few. I stumbled upon one job that was posted on Indeed.com...TruGreen. I sent in an application thinking "What do I have to lose?' I was called in for an interview on Presidents Day. I had no idea what to expect nor did I really know what positions were being offered. I originally thought it was as a serviceman. I was called into an office for the interview by a man named Mike McPartland. This past summer, Mike unfortunately died of cancer. Mike kept looking at funny during the interview and kept saying, "You look so familiar." As it turned out, Mike attended Smithtown Gospel. I never saw him there but being the church has over 2500 attenders I can't possibly know everyone! Mike put me through for the next interview and I was hired as a Sales Rep!!! What??? I was happy although I knew absolutely nothing about being a salesman. I gladly gave my notice at the limo company and my last day was March 12, 2015. I began my TruGreen career 4 days later.
Life at TruGreen was bizarre. We had two weeks of classroom and field training. I remember going out with a team of 8 of us walking, knocking on doors and struggling to make "contacts". I walked with one trainer named Todd. After my first 10 houses he looked at my honestly and said, "Do you know what your problem is, Dave? You are way too nice!!" Yes!! I knew that. What TruGreen wanted you to do was knock on doors and don't leave the property until you have a door slammed in your face, you are cursed out or you are thrown off the property. Let's just say being a sales rep was not my gift. Trying to sell lawn care products was a huge challenge. The only thing I liked about the job was that I could sleep in! Work started at 11am and ended at 9 pm. 5 days a week and we worked Saturdays as well. I was happy to be doing a lot of walking sometimes 5 miles a day. I was happy getting paid and getting a nice tan. I found it stressful trying to make sales, calling up total strangers on the phone and basically being told to "bully" people. If you know me, you know that's not my style. Even the guys I worked with were "rough around the edges". When they all found out I was a pastor, they gave me the nickname "Preacherman."
While many of my fellow workers made sales by being bullies, I made sales by praying to God. I did very well when we had to sell "Hort", which is a program where you have trees and shrubs sprayed for insects that are doing damage. I am still amazed to this day that even though I was awful at this job, I made it to number 7 out of 24 sales reps. Many of them were laid off. I was able to keep my job until September and all I can say is that it was because of God blessing me. In July, however, I had thoughts about moving to Pennsylvania to start a new life. I thought maybe getting off of Long Island would be a good idea. Getting away from memories of SGT and stating over might be great. But God had other plans! God opened some doors for me to preach as well as minister at a children's camp and at Ocean Grove, NJ. It was His way of saying He needed me here on the "Island." Seeing God's hand on my life was amazing. What happened in August of that year still gives me goose bumps but I'll save that for next time!!
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