Meet your vendor.
I was born in a small town in Romania. When I say small, I mean it was so small that we didn’t need clocks. We had two factories, and we timed our days with the morning and afternoon shifts.
I have one younger brother who is still in Romania. I’m sending the AC/DC edition [Ed#749] to him because he’s a big fan. It’s also the edition where I have my writing published.
I came to the Woden Community Service centre here in Canberra, because I had some financial challenges, and someone told me about the opportunity to earn an income selling The Big Issue. I love that The Big Issue has a social purpose – to empower people.
Fridays are my Big Issue days, so I try to keep the whole day for the magazine. I think of my time at my pitch as my time to advocate for The Big Issue and the vendors.
I also like to tell my customers interesting things that are in the magazine. So, for example, for the Wicked edition [Ed#750], I could report that the cinema I saw the film in was full.
I also know quite a bit about Anthony Hopkins [mentioned in Ed#750]. Not a lot of people know that he is a composer as well as a very good actor. When he was young, he composed a waltz called ‘And the Waltz Goes on’. It was performed by André Rieu. It’s true. Look it up.
While on my pitch at Corinna Street, I was offered a job in hospitality. I’d never done hospitality before. I started one day a week and now work three days a week. Some people assume that I’m much younger than I am. I once worked in academia, so I’m comfortable talking to people.
Now I feel that I have control of how much I can earn. I also feel happy because a few years ago I started running, and now I do the 5km parkruns. I’ve joined a second group and, after the parkrun, we do another 5.5km run. Running has helped me. It’s so good for your body, but also your mind. When you run on a beautiful day with the sun shining and the birds singing, it’s so lovely.
One Friday not long ago, while I was at my pitch, there was an accordion player nearby. I recognised that he was playing a Romanian waltz and I said to him, “I know the words of that song”. So, now we go together and I sing while he plays. I’m not a very good singer, but I enjoy it.
What I really love is the connection I feel with my customers. This is what selling The Big Issue has given me. I recently had this young person say to me, “I don’t have the money to buy the magazine, but I appreciate what you’re doing.” So that was very important to me. There’s too much fighting in the world. It’s more important to think of connection and how we can really connect with each other.
Florentina sells The Big Issue on Corinna St and Woden Town Square, Canberra.
Interview by Jen Vuk
Photo by Long Nguyen
Published in ed#754