As I mentioned earlier, when I first joined the furniture industry I spent a short time on the road as part of my training calling on furniture stores. I traveled Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. In those days there were no GPS navigation systems for your car and cell phones were still kind of new. I was lucky if I remembered to bring a map.

It was a Sunday afternoon when the Wife and I rented one of the best movies I have seen in a long time, Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.” Just as Owen Wilson was sitting down with Earnest Hemmingway for a beer, I heard what sounded like a muffled jack hammer on the side of the house. I paused the movie, opened the door to the porch, and carefully crept outside. To my chagrin, a woodpecker was pecking away at my newly finished house. I shouted and he flew away.

When I first joined the furniture industry I spent a short time on the road as a rep calling on furniture stores. As I was in training I wasn’t given the best territory. I traveled Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.  It wasn’t exactly the best territory, but the customers were friendly, the scenery was beautiful, and home base of Portsmouth, New Hampshire was convenient. It turned out to be a good way to learn the business. Surprisingly I was paid well and, to be honest, I didn’t work too hard. I took a lot of time off.