Meet your vendor
I was around 28 or 29 in 1996, and my mum had just passed away. My family kicked me out, mainly because of my mental health, so I moved from where we grew up in Brisbane to Melbourne. I was sleeping rough for about 20 years, and for around 15 of those years I sold The Big Issue. I had been staying at a men’s hostel, and there was a poster on the wall: “Come make money today” – something along those lines. I didn’t give it much hope back then. Nah, this won’t be around long. And then you blink and it’s been 30 years.
Of all the vendors I started out with, Louis is the only one still working. I remember him saying, really early on, “The secret is to smile at everybody.” If I meet newer vendors I’d tell them the same thing – just be there, be consistent.
The thing about this magazine is that it got me out of trouble. If I was ever stuck for money, I knew I could always make a couple of bucks or travel around Australia, and that’s why I’ve stuck with it.
I was sick of sleeping out all the time, having no money. I was reliving the movie Groundhog Day: wake up after barely sleeping at all, get evacuated, sell 10 mags, make the money, spend it, do it again. I said, “Well, what I’m doing isn’t working,” so I changed my way of thinking and went full-time as a vendor.
The magazine gave me a handle on my paranoid schizophrenia. When I was crook I was spending a lot of time on my own, and it’s not good for me – I need people around me. Once I started selling the mag full time, I worked it out: I didn’t have any symptoms, just through associating with people, talking to people.
I would not have a clue how to do the maths on how many magazines I’ve sold over 29 years. My biggest day ever was about 20 years ago, after I was on a special on Compass. It aired on Good Friday, and on Easter Saturday I went to Bondi Junction and sold 280 magazines in three hours. It went ballistic. Mostly I might do 20 each day, maybe 50.
When I was asked to be a speaker for The Big Issue Classroom, I went, Who, me?! I didn’t think my story was important. But, when you look back and start telling schoolkids about it, you do go, Oh wow, a lot has happened – sleeping out, being kept for two weeks in jail, spending time in boarding houses and getting into dangerous situations. Staying at a garden outside a casino and not realising their sprinklers turn on at two in the morning – not a good idea in winter!
I can’t believe The Big Issue is 30. That’s half my life I’ve spent doing this; I turn 60 next year. I don’t do the magazine anymore, just The Big Issue Classroom. I would like to retire sometime in the future. But, once you’ve done The Big Issue, it’s in your system – you can’t get rid of it. If I can sell this edition at Parramatta Station, I’ll be there.
David S is a speaker for The Big Issue Classroom in Sydney.
He started working as a vendor 25 years ago.
Interview by Eliza Janssen
Photo by Brent Lewin
Published in ed#763
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