America 1982-Chapter 126 - 37: Then seize this opportunity

Tommy and Sophia stepped out of Tampa International Airport and got into a business van taking them to St. Petersburg, Florida. The driver, a local white man in a floral shirt, kept observing the young man and woman who had booked airport shuttle service through his rearview mirror with curiosity.

"Is it customary in St. Petersburg to scrutinize every tourist as if they were a Soviet spy?" Tommy asked after catching the driver staring at them for the fifth time.

The driver grinned at Tommy through the rearview mirror, "No, it’s just that, outside of February and November, it’s rare for visitors to demonstrate such discerning taste by choosing St. Petersburg for their vacation instead of heading to Miami."

Then the driver focused on driving, no longer chatty, and Sophia turned to Tommy, "I think you should reconsider. The local advertising in California is obviously a better choice." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"My gut tells me that Florida is the better choice," Tommy said, looking at the scenery outside the window.

The two of them had travelled from the West Coast of California to St. Petersburg on the East Coast of Florida, but not for a vacation, despite magazines saying Florida has the purest water and the most enchanting scenery in America.

They were there to discuss television commercials, advertisements for selling computer software on TV.

In the whole of the United States, there may have been advertisements for selling computers on TV, but never for software. It seemed that from the day software was born, those in the software industry believed that people buying their software absolutely didn’t need to learn about it from a television commercial.

The business van drove through Clearwater Bay, with its white sand and turquoise waters, and the large village of St. Petersburg came into view.

The locals in tank tops, shorts, straw hats, and chewing on pipes, some carrying fishing rods or farm tools, made Tommy and Sophia acutely aware that they had moved from the most populous and wealthiest state in America, California, to Florida, a large and poor state filled with African Americans, Cubans, and Central American refugees.

The home shopping club Tommy was scheduled to meet with was situated right here in St. Petersburg, which didn’t look much different from Warwick.

Holly, Jason, and even Sophia didn’t understand why Tommy chose to forgo the nearer option and regretted providing him with information on this company. Coming from California to advertise in far-away Florida was one thing, but the main issue was that the company’s television shopping programs couldn’t be seen in California at all; the broadcast was only local to Florida.

In St. Petersburg, between a burger joint and a car wash on Central Avenue, Tommy finally saw the advertisement sign for the home shopping club.

As they pushed the door open and stepped inside, all they found was a large hall about the size of two car garages with seven or eight people sitting in various postures, fervently on the phone. Had it not been for the wind chimes hanging on the door, probably no one would have even noticed Tommy and Sophia walking in.

Despite the air conditioner humming, the hall still felt oppressively hot.

"A toilet paper dispenser with a radio function? Buddy, whatever hit your brain to come up with such a product, but it’s a tough sell. Yeah, our viewers are looking for a bargain, not idiots with more money than sense. We have to rack our brains for ad copy, airing it three times a day, 15 minutes each, a weekly rate of five grand—that’s dirt cheap! We have to convince our viewers why they need to turn on the radio just to go to the bathroom. Are they supposed to be taught how to use the toilet through the radio? They might be done before even tuning in."

"We’re a home shopping channel, not an adult pay-per-view, and even if you sleep with me, you won’t get to run an escort ad! We’re not looking to shut down, but you can leave your phone number, I might call you after getting paid on payday..."

"How about a recorder with a camera function, think that can be sold? You got a patent? Who would buy a five-kilogram recorder and then lug it around to take pictures? Of course, if you’re willing to pay a high price, it’s not impossible, we can always accurately find all sorts of fools willing to pay..."

Sophia stared, dumbfounded, at the chaotic, foul-mouthed, and heavily tobacco-scented hall and said to Tommy, "This is completely different from the TV advertising company we saw in California. Are you sure it’s this place?"

"Of course it’s different from California here; it’s more direct and never hypocritical," Tommy said, looking around the hall.

Finally, a middle-aged man who had just hung up the phone walked over to the two of them and said, "We don’t need interns here unless you’re willing to work without pay and only need our recommendation letter."

"See, this is what I was talking about—no hypocrisy," Tommy remarked to Sophia with a smile and then explained to the man, "I’ve called before, Actor Software Company from California, we want to place a television ad here and have specifically asked for your partner, Bob Costa, to help us sell it on your show."

"Bob! You’ve got a fan!" the middle-aged man exclaimed after hearing what Tommy had to say, turning to bellow into the hall.

Soon after, a brown-haired Caucasian man around twenty-four or twenty-five years old walked over from a corner, looked puzzledly at Tommy and Sophia, then glanced at his colleague with an inquisitive look.