Got Junk?

by Tom Acox

It is 2006, there is no recession and the author, Tom Acox, is working his way through graduate school hauling Philadelphia's junk out of basements, dorm rooms, and backyards.

Welcome to the world of “Got Junk?”.

Some of the customers divulge intimate divorce details; others pass on leftover pharmaceutical freebies; and then there is always the occasional live ammunition and skeletal remains found in a pimp's backyard.

Every home holds a different story. Sometimes, a house will even be holding Acox's new couch or entertainment system, .

It seemed like an easy summer job and turned into the author’s most physically and at times mentally grueling job. Bickering divorcées, grieving families, and the occasional scantily clad middle aged woman are just some of the folks Acox meets.

Junk list at a job at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of

Three black leather office chairs, two unopened bulk size cartons of Easy Mac, assorted cases of ramen noodles, jumbo roll of garbage bags, a live Pearl Jam album, four working televisions between twelve and twenty one inches. A fifty inch big screen (with a golf ball lodged inside). Four completely empty yet completely smelly mini-fridges, three filthy but functioning microwaves, roughly four hundred blank CD-Rs (three hundred in spindles, about a hundred loose), four unopened bottles of Merlot, a digital voice recorder, two neon beer signs.

263 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 24, 2011

About the author

After Tom Acox graduated from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA,
he authored a College Prowler guide to make sure all his favorite
college haunts would live on (they didn't, R.I.P Muddy Duck).

He has written for Metro Newspaper in Philadelphia and New York City and was even able to get a free meal or two as Philadelphia Weekly's Food and
Drink man in the street.

Currently, you can find him working on economics textbooks or
making whiskey in his apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Acox is a lover of BBQ, graphs, Mexican food, beer, statistics and cheese in alternating orders. He writes daily at www.theunqualifiedeconomist.com; occasionally at www.popblerd.com; and inappropriately at @ThatTomAcox. Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TheUnqualifie...."

Reviews

[jimtown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A somewhat fun and interesting journaling of the summer Tom spent working for 1-800-Got-Junk? He quickly learns the business, puts up with all the different personalities and discovers all the differing scenarios as to why people will pay to have you take their stuff away. As he listens to the soundtrack of his summer, he also scores many good finds of furniture and household goods. By the time summer was over, even though he was in great shape, his body and mind were tired and sore. He'd had his fill of catering to everyone. So the story and his job abruptly end.

Here is a fun, on target quote from Got Junk?:
"On my first day I had already learned that like newer cars, newer furniture tended to be made with lighter material. It was as if everyone in the 1950's had a pissing contest to see who could get their shit to be the heaviest, whether it was Fords or love seats."

[Barb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Memoir of a 1-800-got-junk worker. I picked it up because of the local color, but there really wasn't much of that. Maybe it worked better as a blog, but there wasn't much of a story there, just a bunch of vignettes.

[Denise Weldon-siviy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feeling an overwhelming need to clean out the garage...

This was a bit slower than I expected, but curiously satisfying. A little too heavy on the musical references, although the number of junked musical instruments was surprising. I felt really sad for the old woman junking a house full of organs.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I laughed at some of the ridiculous things that happen in this book but it also made me sad and kind of annoyed. People would rather throw away perfectly good things (think a several thousand dollar, nearly-new leather couch) because it's more convenient than doing anything else with it. I just don't get it. I would have liked a little more background on the company and perhaps a few statistics to put the author's experience in perspective.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more because I knew the area it was set in and graduated from St. Joe's in 2006 as well. I thought the vignettes were funny and even if I hadn't known who the author was I would have read it if I had stumbled across it. I don't know if I would have stumbled across it if not for mutual Facebook friends.

[Dave Ciancio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read. I laughed through the entire book. Loved the author's unique perspective on the Junk business, it's local players and constant references to music. You will definitely enjoy this book.