The Tuesday following Labor Day I stopped in at Friday's to grab a bite to eat and avoid taking the earlier bus. So,after knocking back a few beers I had at least a half hour to wait for the next bus. I decided to take a peek at the job I left 3 years ago. The lights were off and the windows were blacked out. Modell's had finally closed for the last time.
When I resigned in disgust back in May of 2017 I hated the direction the company had been going for years. Though it is time for me to look back and reflect on when I first started, why I kept going back, and what made me finally leave. My agorist journey might have not begun without my experience with Modell's.
Back in December of 1997 I finally passed my road test and now I was able get around without bumming a ride or relying on the bus. The bus situation wasn't worse than it is now but there were less heading to Stony Point. I worked a summer job since 94 working for the town's day camp and I was miserable there. I felt like I was a punching bag for the kids and other counselors. While going to Rockland Community College I would periodically check the job placement office but prior to getting my license I couldn't get hired. What really held me back wasn't my lack of a driver's license but my crippling shyness. My attitude wasn't the greatest either. Eventually I got a call back from Modell's. It was probably February that I went in for an interview. I was so nervous. The guy doing the interview would be my GM and when his pager went off I jumped out of the chair.
They trained me in their Nanuet store which had been there for maybe a decade. My mom avoided Rockland Plaza because it required a left turn to get out of there so she did most of the shopping at the mall across from it. My best friend was the one that brought me into Modell's because he needed street hockey gear. Once I started working there I fell in love with the company. I didn't need to overpay for clothes at Macy's or Sears. I managed to balance work and school, most of the time. Come the summer of 98 I still worked at the day camp but when I found out that my wage was frozen I was able to quit. It was probably the first time that I felt like I was in control and free.
Now by the time I graduated from RCC in 99 I was frustrated with Modell's and going off to Oswego was a needed break. I would work there during winter and summer breaks and in 2000 I had gotten an internship with a radio station which led to my first job in the industry. I still worked at Modell's which paid for gas needed to get to and from the station. Though it was my dependence on Modell's that kept me from working at the ESPN affiliate the following summer because I couldn't give them a definitive answer on when I could work since Modell's didn't give me a start date.
When I graduated from Oswego I had grown tired of radio. While I was there I started gaining some traction online as Kev the Moron. Mp3.com back in 2001 was like Myspace before Myspace and I was constantly in the top 20 of the comedy charts and the sound effects charts as well. A lot of users were unaware that the site also had an adults only section. I had created another page for audio porn that I was going to use as a launchpad for a porn company called Guerrilla Pornfare. Like many of my creative endeavors nothing ever came of it.
As the spring of 2003 approached I realized that with my mounting debt, only a part time telemarketing job, and no prospects elsewhere I crawled back to Modell's. It was only to hold me over but it became a job I held for 14 years. I went from part time footwear sales associate to department manager. I had to take a demotion and then eventually promoted to receiving manager. I started to find my way to agorism but Modell's lost its way in the retail world. Many jobs expect you to cram 10 pounds of shit into a 9 pound bag, Modell's started to ask to put 20 into 5. Hours were cut but the amount of work associates had to complete increased. Many of the newer tasks were designed to inflate the ego of the owner. Long before his appearance on Undercover Boss he was obsessed with being a celebrity. The work that his father and brother did in building the brand was undone in less than two decades. Mitchell hated excuses from his store managers but was quick to cast blame on local teams for failing. The company was extremely lucky from the mid 90s through 2010 with the number of championships the Northeast acquired. On top of that the company became reliant on trends. From Razor scooters to fidget spinners if something was popular for 5 minutes Modell's tried to milk it for as long as possible while forgetting their core customers in the process.
As much pain as that company has caused me it's still depressing to see it go under. Their ending does have a silver lining for me. My initial plan when I left was to start my agorist business selling athletic footwear. I had bought the Brannock devices but I couldn't get the business off the ground. My friends on Facebook basically ignored me and wouldn't like the page I created. Maybe I'll gain traction with FMK-mart because now there's a need in the area for reasonably priced sneakers.
