Spring Tour

Anyone else doing spring tour? we (team frame-it-yourself) agreed to and the very next day we got our commission checks for significantly more than we were expecting, another (high-ranked) team (endless bummer) said no and the very next day got significantly less. Coincidence?

I'm curious to see if it will be any better with completely new management, if not- who cares, take the money and enjoy the free traveling.

I know several other teams aren't going to, but it would be nice to see a few familiar faces again.

- Team Take-the-Money

commission $$$$

hey,

has anyone gotten their checks yet? it's been a month and a half! what the hell is going on? i've called BTW a few times inquiring about our money, but they keep saying "oh, it should be there in a week.."
just wondering if anyone has any info?

ps: no more michelle, cindy, or denise.. weird. i think something big is going on in the headquarters. hopefully we actually GET our money.

$$$

So guys,

does anybody know if we're going to get another paycheck? I was under the impression that we were still getting a check for our last week of work. Or how do we get copies of our paystubs with the pay periods on them.

Sigh

Chip thought it would be a good idea to branch out from just renting trucks...

RYDER BRAND SODA POPS!!!
team endless bummer likes the idea

Last Sale Day of BTWFPT2010

It's with mixed emotions that we write this, while sitting at our last sale, listening to Under the Bridge. I thought I'd be happier that this was over. I actually just kind of feel like i'm going to puke. I know a few other teams are finishing today. Maybe we'll see y'all at the good ol' East Stroudsburg Budget Inn. Godspeed.

p.s. Today while having the same interaction with a kid that I've had a million times, something awesome happened.

Ol' Dunderhead College Student: I'd like to buy the poster in L16 page 11
Me: Ok, man. Just grab it out and bring it up here

Then ol' dunderhead brings this up: 

Holy crap. These kids are idiots. I offered him a free magnet for making me laugh and because he got really, really red when he realized his mistake. He declined and scurried up his stairway to heaven. 

Is there any other teams in minneapolis minnesota?

Is there any teams working University Of Minnesota: Minneapolis?  We heard a rumor that there was another poster sale. We'll be here into Saturday.  If there is any teams in or around Minneapolis, please post a message to the gmail account. We could meet up.

Team Dark Dark Dark Kitties

getting through

- team FOL, formerly raw moms

delousing

Can any of you veterans out there give some insight to us first-timers as to what to expect upon our return to Strousburg? Log books? Inventory (eek!)? How long will they keep us hostage? How drunk will I have to get afterwards to feel whole again?

"How much are the posters?"

an average 24 x 36 poster costs $1.58 per square foot.. so now when kids ask how much, we just tell em that. and then ya push the extended warranty on 'em! And poster insurance! and the old poster disposal service (for a small fee).

team Endless Bummer, formerly team Black Socks

good lord

the food network television program "cupcake wars" made my partner and I tear up this evening.  The mental state poster wars puts you into to is weird.                                                                                                      

              
In other news:  Our buddy who was hanging out with us has a space phone and we tried the RHCP Pandora experiment.  Results were not as dramatic as some reports I've seen, but it is an undeniable college kid crowd pleaser.  Not as entertaining as the wrinkled noses when you play the The Misfits though:  "I ain't no goddamn son of a bitch.  You better think about it baby..."                                                                                                                                                                 

take care everybody who's finishing soon.                                                                                                                                                                    -Devils on the Loose

Oh, What a day.

So this is what it is. Some firsts, sadly for this year.

-$325.47 in one purchase. plus a $10 tip for Sniffles and myself

-Cold hole cave/river jumping with woowoo master after they gave us crystals to focus our energy in. Then on the ride back a huge presentation about how Mt. Shasta has good crystal zones or something and because of that the water that flows down into humbolt and other marijuana producing counties there are good vibes and what not, i'm not really sure but i was really amused. and i think that sniffles was truly interested.

-Sniffles played the game that goes like this: i'm on poster tour and having the best time of my life and i can't believe i've been so lucky to get this job, i know it's cause of the companies ability to pick out the best of the best, and that i have such an amazing romantic relationship that is so full of love and connection and playfulness and understanding and being up front and honest and yeah for me fun. that my life is swimming down happiness river and there is glitter and sunshine and free ice cream and head rubs all day and sponsors are actually helpful and projections are all $50 everyday and life is beautiful. but then in reality this is bullshit and the opposite happened and life sucks and anyone can get this job and fuck.

Addition via sniffles request:
"i got dumped via text at a knights inn, in tennessee. Fuck. Shit. Like really how the fuck am i suppose to have fun. This is bullshit, no like really, this is fucking stupid. Why the shit do we do this year after year, i just don't understand what is wrong with us."-Sniffles

"I don't know what you're talking about, i'm having a blast and my polish girlfriend sends me emails. And we have another home-tel without a fridge and i love pizza." Smiles

"you're bullshit, complete bullshit." - Sniffles

"plus he's a coward"- Sniffles after 15 minutes of silence cause Smiles was scared to say anything.

BTW spells real good

Team Endless Bummer wonders where the monkey headphones cosine is. or the great wave tangent?

The College Kids + Ice Cream Phenomenon

What the fuck is up with college kids eating ice cream all day, every day? It's unbelievable. Today, before rubber-band-shooting practice, I started keeping a tally of all the soft-serve eaters that came through the salel. 15 before the clock struck noon. I stopped counting after the tally reached 50. Is there a correlation between twisty cone consumption and love of beer pong? The mind reels.

INVENTORY

Team Roncha here,

Does anyone have possession of the inventory list?  I know some teams have finished their tour.  If so possible, could you post it on the blog or on the google documents.

Also, for those who finished, did they ask you for your log books?
(we havent stopped at a weighstation or filled out any of the books.  The first day we took off our magnets as soon as we got far from the warehouse and we've been using them as floor mats)

Thanks

RONCHA RONCHA RONCHA

One week left...

     Last night I had a dream we hit projection. This was probably fueled from the fact that we missed our 100% by a fraction, despite staying late and begging the schools population of under 1000 to buy more. You know those small schools where you see the same people three or four times a day? It was one of those, made extra interesting by the fact that a huge population of the school was foreign. It figures, one of the alumni from this school was the jackass who invented the parking meter, so it sounds like they're constantly figuring out new torture schemes. Lure students from other countries into the middle of nowhere in the midwest...

 We did start taking new currency. Our sales have skyROCKETED.

-Räwk▲Läwßzter

How to pass the time whilst striving for that 3%

I love the new 3-D prints. They really jump off the paper at you!

Team Endless Bummer, Formerly Team Black Socks

SNL:

I saw this and it made me think of the people we sell posters to.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/roomies/1173629/?__cid=thefilter
What do you think?

Bye Bye!

Well,

Our run is over. As far as I know, we will be the first team done. Our last two sales were cancelled, so I am on the computer outside JR's (Remember orientation?). I will be sure to get on here to let yall know how the exiting bullshit goes. The fucked up thing is, my partner and I have severe Stockholm Syndrome. We both know fully that this experience was completely fucked, and beyond the wall is run by horrible people, but we are sad to be leaving. We are even considering doing it again.

Stay strong friends, we will be thinking of you in my cardboard recreation of the Rider truck cab we are going to create in our apartment. we have driven far too many miles to give up our chip wagon.

Love yall!

Got some weird new restock in today...

 

- Team Frame it Yourself

ftw...what else is new?

can anyone make us feel better (or worse) about the fact that we talked to the sponsor of our last sale (5 days) only to find out that not only do we have NO storage room/space/corner but we also (as it stands right now) only have a half hour to unload in the mornings because we have to have the truck off the loading area before students get there (7:30 am). oh, did i mention the parking lot we've been designated to is across a river?

is there some sort of secret we have yet to unlock to make this bearable? can someone verify that this is doable/has been done? heck, who has it worse than us to remind us that shit can always go downhill?!

sincerely,
team FOL (fuck our lives)
(formerly known as team raw moms)

ps- the next freshman to ask me where the bathroom is, is getting directed to the nearest tree.

pps- sorry to whine - we're kind of wallowing in self-pity at the moment!

RHCP Radio

team wild dick here, again.

we did the RED HOT CHILI PEPPER'S RADIO experiment. what the hell?! we've gotten more compliments on our music selection than any other day. people keep singing along to every song and are stoked about it. we don't understand -- it's like this great poster secret. RHCP sells the goods. fuck.

B-I-N-G-O?!?!

alright, so we *might* have a BINGO, but we need your advice and see if it counts. here it goes.

1: "WILL THIS LOOK GOOD IN MY BATHROOM?" - in greensboro a girl asked me if the rubber ducky would look good. i said "yes!"

(1b) why dose everyone put posters in their bathroom? are they idiots? it's like shower...steam... hmm. Well I can't think of any unintended consequences that might pop up less than 24 hours after you sticky tack a thin piece of paper to your tiled wall, can you? So yeah, it'll look good for a little bit--kind of.

2: OUT OF PLACE CALIFORNIAN - in kentucky we saw a girl riding a skateboard, SHOELESS, with one of those knit hats with the strings that northern californians often wear. NO SHOES!

(2b)or not too be. I know that's dumb but I had something to say everywhere else, and hamlet is a damn good play.

3: BLANK (free space): FILL IN WITH MOST ABSURD ADVENTURE - in greensboro we went to a shitty dive bar to have some drinks after work. i get a txt from my (romantic - not poster) partner, "we need to talk." when he called he proceeded to dump me on poster tour :( - this also filled the "cry myself to sleep" square. i think getting dumped on poster tour is almost as bad as getting dumped on your birthday.

(3b) the other half of this team would like to point out that on the same day a friend of my family killed his wife and then himself at his wife's family's house which I think is way crazier than being dumped by your stupid boyfriend.

4: GETTING RAINED OUT OF A SALE - in dayton ohio we had an outdoor sale with no rain location. sure enough, it rains. i call up michelle and ask "what to do?" she said to put tarps on everything and "wait it out." we waited. it stopped. we sold posters. IT SUCKED.

(4b) the other half of the team would like to say that that ruled. We didn't do anything for a couple hours and it was really pleasant out despite the wind.

5: GETTING ASKED OUT ON A DATE BY A STRANGER - at a small kentucky school we had a very friendly helper that took a liking to the other half of this team. they talked alot and my poster partner joked, "imagine what would happen if this weren't a one day sale." NEXT DAY, we're at a new school and a girl approaches him.. "hey, my friend met you last evening -- she wanted to know if you had a facebook and wants to get in touch with you." it's not *technically* a date, but what do you all think? do we get the square? do we win?!

(5b) The other half of this team would like to add that that girl was totally cool. She was all like "I don't know why I went to this school it's in the middle of nowhere, really small, and Christian." But she went there because she's into making video and the program was tops. She was also working her way through school and totally bad-ass--handing me stacks of four poster books zip-tied together that I forgot to cut and not giving a shit. And yesterday as we left the school she waited to look wistfully as the truck pulled around and drove past--made me feel ten feet tall.Word.

and if we win.. WHAT DO WE GET?

thanks! - team wild dick

3/4 of a mil in a week..

rainbow horsies being bored again. while in the sales audit report, you can change the team number or view all stores results for today, and any day in the past as well. collectively for the last five days (9/7-9/1) we have made btw over $750,000.

projections

As a help to any and all of us who do this fun trip again, let's upload our projections to the google docs page and store them their for future reference. If they won't let us see them, then we'll start our own archive.

That said, would someone explain to me how to access that? Is it the same handle/pw as here? Just at gmail?

Thanks all...


ORB

Team Endless Bummer here, formerly Team Black Socks.
Well I must say that I officially FUCKING HATE TEXAS! It can go to hell and die of the aidscancer as far as I am concerned. Seriously.
I was walking down the sidewalk. The SIDEWALK, when a big dumb truck flyes by me doin about 55 and swerves up onto the grass and honks and passes about a foot from me. Seriously texas? At this point, if you're from texas, i don't want to know you. FUCK YOU TEXAS! And saying that Austin is cool does not justify the complete Down Syndrome retardedness of the rest of the state. Go ahead and secede texas. good fucking riddens.
ok, watching the end of the star wars marathon. gotta go.

steez T

even on our off days, we can't seem to get away from poster references. steaz tea? what does it taste like? the sweat of frat boys? the tears of sorority girls? stale beer? vitamin water? fuck!

We've reached the bottom

You know you've hit rock bottom when you get back to the hotel from the KFC buffet and the only glimmer of hope is that there just might be a star wars marathon on basic cable.

This is Rumble of Team Wolf Cry signing off.














I hope Chip remembers me when I get back....

OMFG!

I'm watching a chimp in rollerskates ride a fucking horse. Need I say more. I don't have a camera. This is great.

-Team Take It There.

2nd annual naked bike ride in Philly

We saw a flyer for this and knew we had to do it. After asking a few strangers where we could get bikes,  we found an awesome dude at a concert who was willing to let two girls ride his bikes naked.  For a few shining hours we were not shameless sellouts driving a moving truck & hugging and kissing capitalism, but real people loving life & riding bikes, naked, among throngs of hundreds of other naked cyclists.

Live free or die

       

Best day off ever!

Bingo center square- check.

Courage comes from Suffering

       ...was the fortune the asiaking buffet offered us. This, our mantra, along with 'hat sauce' (apparantly an improvement from the borin' ol hot sauce) is the fuel we survive on. The biting insects in the motel BTW booked for us drove us away; they held a celebration marked with fireworks to herald their victory.

       The days blend together. I feel we are alongside our other comrades with the prospects of reaching our projections as possible as Michelle getting hit by a meteor. Students sink their tendrils into the posters with ferocity, flinging them between other pages and crumpling them upon the ground faster than our slacker selves are capable of attending to. Although one of the many uncomfortably polite students at the theological seminary upon finding a discarded poster brought it to us saying "Maybe someone decided they didn't want to buy it? I don't know why someone would leave it there!" She is not long for this world I fear.

       We try, and yet still, we find ourselves in defeat.

       You really haven't seen the bottom until you've seen the casino cover band singing "What I Got" by Sublime. Well into their 50s, and the guitarist oblivious to the equipment malfunctions silencing his 760th guitar solo of the night, the crowd of 4 tipsy midwestern moms danced on. This was the soundtrack to our gambling binge that, accented with bowling, free drinks, and mathematical strategies, was a resounding success. Warrant and Skid Row will be performing on 9/11. Never Forget.

       Our most hopeful moment was framing lil wayne and adorning him with a sign asking the apathetic collegiate youth for solidarity and support for our stolen comrade. Along with a constant stream of his verses from our speakers, sales of his visage skyrocketed.

Free lil wayne

Free all prisoners

Eric M. Taylor Center (EMTC)

Dwayne Carter NYSID# 02616544L

10-10 Hazen Street

East Elmhurst, NY 11370

www.weezythanxyou.com

-Räwk▲Läwßzter

Hello from the NY countryside

I know, I know, we're not on poster tour anymore, but I really just wanted to share with you our ridiculous experience of returning our truck to the warehouse yesterday.
It was very surreal -- when we walked in the door, chad, cindy and amanda were small talking and none of them said hi or looked us in the eye, they just started mumbling instructions about returning our computer parts. Then the proceeded to admonish us for having lost the boxes to our computer and receipt printer (watch out, y'all!), and then we got hasseled by Diane for almost an hour for the way that we handled our finances. The whole time, they treated us like scum and were rude and distant. And then, after we had returned everything and sorted out all our expense receipts, they asked us if we needed a shuttle to the airport and then, and only then, when we announced that we would be walking out to the road in front of the warehouse and sticking out our thumbs, did they show any ounce of compassion. Amanda said that she was about to start crying and walked to her desk with her head her in hands and Cindy and Chad made a display of concern. NOW they're concerned for us -- now, when we're about to do something we've done 100 times before and are totally at ease with, not when we called crying because we were working ourselves to death. Thanks, BTW.
We're wondering, though, if hitchhiking in front of the warehouse makes us a legend?

withholding pay

Hi All,

I am the dumbass Michele wrote that email about losing a college because I flipped the posters over and did not remove them.

While that email showed only how nice she can be (and the phone call our team got as well) there is another side to the story about being overworked, driving two hours between sales, Chad giving us bunk directions, and our sponsor not returning our calls and not being willing to go through the posters once we pulled them to make sure.

On top of all that, how are we supposed to make our projections when we have to pull 1/4 of our stock (including Johnny Depp smoking a cigarette, or an Art Nouveau drawing of a woman behind a champagne flute) some of them being our best sellers.

I won't bore you all with the details, but we got a call from Cindy saying we aren't being paid for that day and we aren't getting commission for it either. My contract is at home, but if anyone has a copy of their contract on them, could they check to see if it mentions reasons for having pay withheld?

I am so glad they lost that school. Fuck 'em!

ORB

YOU JUST PULL THEM OUT OF THE BOOK, DUMBASS

So this kid brings this poster up to the register...

and then he tells me "hey, I really like your tattoos."

Creepy? nahhhhh...

In other news... We met some oogles today outside of the super 8. Sonic asks them what is there to do around here and the one with the bloody face and nearly swollen shut eye says "not much, but my buddy in room 234 does some pretty sweet free tats *points to face* but other than that it's just drinking under the bridge" no, really. I couldn't make that up.

best interaction of the day...

blonde college lady wearing tie-dye: "ya'll got anything redneck?"

tails: "well, we've got a half naked ladys ass crack in front of a truck bed print?"

college lady: "yeah! thats perfect! he'll love it!"

So far my patience for people asking how to get a copy of L-whatever or dropping L-whatever on the floor is wearing poster-thin, and my patience for the no-barcode bullshit they're sending us from the warehouse is worn almost as thin as the ridiculous excuse for fair pay they've been running on us. 

but we may have hit a p-tour record with our 20 minute sale load-out today. win.

-team stickbug

payroll?

so we got paid today- $840 which i'm assuming encompasses $10/day for food. this was from 8/20-9/3. on 8/20 we got paid $200 - what happened to all the other days before- like orientation and the week before the 20th? we're confused! $200 would only seem to account for orientation - can anyone shed light!?

this is how you sell posters

we thought our technique of using a megaphone and skateboard was a great one,  but unfortunately our conservative uptight school thinks that skating is a crime and megaphones are unprofessional. the sandwich board kind of makes you hate your life -- but you know, that's poster tour. when we wake up each morning and look in the mirror we say "i hate my life."

FTW BTW! - team wild dick

PS: did anyone work at DAYTON  UNIVERSITY in OHIO last year? if so, please comment -- we need to talk to you to find out some crucial info. thanks!!!

What's this?

On short inspection under internet images I found this photo. Cindy explained to me that it was a campaign that they were trying out but were not sure if it's profitable enough. Apperently all of our damaged posters that we bring back to the warehouse are getting sent to their "friends" and sister company in the south. She said it is excellent PR and better yet the donations look good on paper for their tax right-offs. I'm just not sure Patty really thought this one out either. I suppose he's trying...to make eveyones life a living hell.

oh snaps.

3 kegs free local root beer on tap at our sale today. jealous much?

pandora's BOX

raw moms checking in again- we crossed off two more squares: skinny dippin' in lake menadota (sp??- somewhere in madison, wi!) and trading posters for things, but those things aren't very exciting/interesting- just food, but almost weed!

in other news, our sales were flailing miserably as we were barely breaking $600 by 2 pm and we are scheduled at this school for 5 days!- well on day number 3 of just breaking $1000 for the prior sales, we were at our wits end, contemplating ways to make anything more worth our while. in a rare moment of having more than 4 people at the sale, i thought to myself, we haven't used the RHCP pandora station since our first sale- i wonder if these broboys would feel more at home and inclined to purchase posters if horrible pop-rock was playing. so off i went to adjust the music bc we really had only been playing our personal music from the get-go. as the first chords of californication pumped through the speakers, it was like a chain reaction- a phenomenon i would never had believed had i not seen it with my own eyes. heads turned simultaneously in the direction of the speakers, there were nods in acknowledgement, feet tapped to the drum, lips began mouthing the words, heads bobbed and before we knew it, our sale was filled to the brim- a line 8, maybe 9 people long formed to check out- it was a RHCP miracle. people were throwing us thumbs up in appreciation of the music, compliments were flying left and right - the best worst interaction:
kid - "is this your music?"
me - "no, pandora"
kid - "aww man i LOVE pandora! but seriously, this music is totally legit"
me - ::sigh::
this may be a bit presumptuous, but we're thinking we may have unlocked the secret to poster tour. we plan to recreate our experiment today to see what the results yield. so naturally, we loled @ the post below us. other teams should try it and see if the response can't be duplicated! however, we're not optimistic about today because it is pouring rain outside and naturally, we are not in a prime location so people have no real reason to trek out to the building we're in. but, let's count our blessings, because alas, at least we're not in an outdoor location.

to help pass the time in slower sales and for our own entertainment purposes, we started playing games in the vein of super troopers (which we should have a poster for), like how many times can i say the word 'turtle' instead of 'total' or pronouncing w's instead of r's - like :"oh, you're looking for a pawamore poster?"...ah well.

keep the stories alive because we love to commiserate and laugh!
- raw moms

ps- has anyone perpetually gotten the question "how do you hang these on a wall?" REALLY?! i guess it's a good segue into "...we got this great poster tack right hurr"

UPdates -

people we met in some rando townie bar stopped by our sale. one in the morning brought coffee and smoothies which was great cause we were up till 4am. the second brought a fifth of whiskey and a fifth of tequila. then one of them saw one of us on the street, pulled over and gave us a bowl of homegrown tomatoes! 

We have come to hate Cindy personally. 

Had a sweet meetup last week with a team. Hot tubs and booze were involved obvs. 

If I have to hear one more kid freak over the tiny rainbow fish poster I'm gonna walk over and rip it up in front of their face. 

umm, exchanged booze for K2. don't recommend it. 

these kids basically have no personalities. we tried the red hot chili peppers pandora station and got more compliments on our music than...well...ever. it's not that i hate all of the music on the station (black hole sun anybody?) but it would not make me spend $120 on posters and "frames." now we're streaming the local college radio station and it's also just ok. soooo sick of indie pop 

does anybody else know if the commission percentages are per person or split? like, are we gonna earn 3% to split? 

good luck to Team RyderDie in regards to getting home and living a real life. Depending on where you're going maybe someone can help. Let us know if you need couches or ride shares. 

this weekend we are using our few days off to meet up with previously mentioned team in chippewa falls, wisconsin. we'll be in a cabin, with a kitchen and a deck and a fire pit. we'll eat stir fry and omelets covered in sriracha and indulge in real-life, non-motel living for 2 nights. oh hell yes. 

xoxoxo y'all

Team Beg Borrow and Steal (formerly the Golden Girls)

a few things

hey everybody,

is it just us -- or is nobody getting what they need regarding shipping? btw just tells us to "email them" and make "low/out forms" but seriously, how are you supposed to know what you need if the posters aren't even listed on the pages anymore? we've been out of so many things and its really hurting our sales. called them today and expressed this but they just gave me the rhetoric of emailing and low and out forms. we were outta sticky tack for a week! i have no idea what they are doing in the warehouse this year.

also -- how is inventory even going to work? some things aren't even in the computer or we can't find them. the company doesn't even know exactly what we have since we loaded our own trucks. like, we're a B team but have a couple of books that are A books and C books. we're worried about this all at the end. will we get charged? how will they know what is shrinkage and what is computer error?

anybody hitting their projections? we did the first two days this week, but now its a downward slope. we have an outdoor sale with NO RAIN LOCATION. they told us to "use tarps" and pretty much "deal with it." most asinine thing ever. we want to stick it through to get some money, but is this even worth it at this point?

also, anyone get the email that regarding our DOT LOG BOOKS -- if we take a "day off" we don't get paid! last year we just didn't even turn them in. i think that's the plan this year, or just lie in them completely. has anyone ever really gotten stopped by dot? have they even looked at your book? if you rent a moving truck you don't fill out a log book. in all the years we've done this, never gotten pulled over for anything (keepin' fingers crossed for this one).

just kind of stressed out. FTW BTW!

ps: how is biggie smoking a blunt the TOP SELLER from last year at a "very conservative" college?

Boredom

Made a lizard from masking tape, coffee cups, and love.

- Team Frame it Yourself

It's been awhile. But here are some of the past week's highs and lows...

We gave a ride to our helper in Indianapolis who got some free Clash swag. She thanked us for adopting her, it was her first day of college.
Maybe had mild heat stroke at one of our schools.
Hung out at the shadiest Motel 6 ever and won kisses in a game of quarters.
Going to Bible colleges means your books are empty. They told us to never have empty pages in our books but this is impossible when your sponsor tells you that people kissing is vulgar.
Some girl asked me if we sell the music and I told her to go home and listen to The Cure.

Today...

Actual exchange:
"Should I get a bookmark."
"No!"
"Why? I read all the time!"

Other actual exchange by the same girls:
"I'm going to get the brunette." (in reference to the pin up posters)
"No, you're going to get the blonde because I'm blonde."

After this the girl that reads all the time and was bossing her friend around told us that she knows what she's talking about and her friend really does want her likeness hanging on the wall of her room. 

If someone asks me, "How much do the posters cost?" one more time I might take a dump on their chest.

Team Teenage Dream

Yesterday I caught someone caressing the Moulin Rouge poster. Today, in repsonse to the "oh shit" kitty poster someone said, "I feel like that all the time!" Seventeen days left.
-Räwk▲Läwßzter

Don't Worry!

Bad day? Listen to this!

check!

The day we quit our jobs and start despairing about not checking off any more bingo squares it happens: a young man comes through the line and starts questioning us about how long we're in town and, well, what time to we get off work? And then proceeded to ask one of us for our phone number (which of course this half of the team didn't have and had to give their other half's phone number instead). Let's just say that the date involved beers and talk of dreams of being a cowboy or a racecar driver and then proceeded onward to a ride through the country side in a souped up truck with no doors and no roof blaring Hank Williams. We'll leave it at that.
Now, on our last two days of work, we just need identical twin frat boys from California to come through the line, wearing snuggles t-shirts, sporting snuggles tattoos, and buying, of course, identical copies of the adorable gorilla, talking about Megan Fox's sweet leg hair. Then we'd be all set!
-ryderdye

Andy and his slide

So it's begun already to some of the members of team endless bummer (formerly team black socks). While deep in slumber at our home (motel) the thoughts of work began milling around in our subconscious.
However, not just a dream of the droll work day. It went a little like this:
It was the beginning of poster tour training, but instead of being sent to good ole East Strouds-bee, we were all shipped to an unspecified warehouse in rural Missouri. All the administration seemed to be absent, save for our only two bosses. Our bosses of course being Andy Warhol and Cindy. Andy was the eccentric, sprightly, young lad he was in his hey-day, and Cindy was Cindy. The dream did not really center around actual poster training. Instead it was a rigorous hustle led by Andy hurrying us all up and down a slide and set of stairs with duct taped cardboad doors at bottom and top of said slide. Never have I seen someone so excited about sliding. He was hoopin' and hollerin' the whole time. Think an anemic gay football coach leading his team through drills. During all the "training" larger than feasibly possible cargo airplanes were landing all around the warehouse to drop off the poster goods. I assume that the actual poster training was there but lost somewhere in the mad shuffle of sliding and aeronautics, because when I woke up I knew how to sell posters.
hope all you others wall the beyonders are doing well and keeping your jobs out of your dreams.

Gusty

Today at our twelve hour outdoor sale it was like this:

WIND (MPH)                                                           
   HIGHEST WIND SPEED    33   HIGHEST WIND DIRECTION    SW (210)      
   HIGHEST GUST SPEED    43   HIGHEST GUST DIRECTION    SW (230)      
   AVERAGE WIND SPEED    19.6 

We threw in the towel.

This is team Ryderdie signing off. for good.
A floater team will be here to relieve us soon, and then we both go back home. What a big breath of relief.
Keep on writing your adventures so we can read about 'em! And if you all decide to strike, we're still here to support you in any way we can!
Farewell!

new week, less hope

After the first day of the new week, how are folks feeling? Anyone feeling hope for making their money this week? I know it's early, but i think we are feeling pretty dismal about our chances, and are sick of convincing ourselves it could get better.  That's the deal with commission based pay, it creates a facade that we are in control of our pay and if we just worked harder it would be worth.  But we're sick of working harder and getting paid less than minimum wage. 
Who'se down for striking?  Who has nothing to loose, and who would risk what they might loose to stand in support? It's easier for the teams who arn't making any money to strike, because we have nothing left to loose - but for a strike to be successful we need the teams who are actually making the company money to join us.  We need enough teams that they couldn't find enough other teams to replace us. 
If there isn't enough folks to have an effective strike, the teams who would quit anyways could all quit on the same day as a giant "fuck you" and  feel some sense of solidarity with each other and vengeance against btw. (maybe with some collective statement that might make things better for future teams?)
Let's get a list of teams who are totally down and teams that would strike in solidarity.  talk more on the google document under the same login and password as this blog?

wedding bells?

Poster tour aint so bad! I almost got me a husband along the way! While loading at the end of the day I got two large fellers to help out. Turns out that they were prison gaurds going to some sort of prison guard academy. So I got to spend two hours with them learning about 3 diffrent ways to make shanks (melt your toothbrush and stick the razor blades smuggled from you shaving razor), various crowd control methods ( beanbag guns and pepper balls!) and aliens. Well, not aliens but one of  the dudes did work at area 51 or whatever the real name of the air base there is and would not answer directly when I asked if  aliens were really green ( I suspect they must be). When I tried to give them posters they flat out refused. The one dude said that he would gladly have accepted a date in repayment and that it was a pity that I was leaving that night. That was about an hour into loading with them.  During the course of the next hour officer friendly proceded to ask me if I would say yes is he did ask me out ( to which I dipolmatically answered um.... well... I won't say yes but I won't say no....) and told me he might come visit me at my next sale ( 4 hours away!). When he found out I lived  far away he said he would be willing to move! so, if there is a wedding you all are invited.

Puke. SheWolf

Payday

Has anyone else not been paid for the first full two weeks yet?

why is BTW so god damn white-centered?

Our new favorite customer:
him: "Do you have any sexy lady pictures?"
us: *shows him to book*
him: "um... no. not white girls and not clean-shaven girls"
us: "um... sorry. wish we could help."

your roots?

Team RyderDie here to report on some highlights.

Yesterday, one individual dropped $245 on posters/frames.   He wins the prize of biggest spender we've ever seen.  too bad it happened on a week when we had already given up on our projections... How much have y'alls big poppahs been spending?

Today, one giant middle aged white dude- the kind whose neck is bigger than their shaved head - bought a wu tang poster in order to get back to his roots. Upon further questioning, the only answer i got was "you know, where i came from, my roots..."  say what?? have you looked at yr skin color today??

Poster Celebrity tour.

When team wild Dick realized that their poster sale was in the town where Orson Scott Card lived half of them freaked out. The other half said, "Who?"
But, they agreed that the two of them needed to go to his house so the first could be a creep. The first one wrote a piece of fan mail, and looked him up on the internet and wrote down directions from the sale. It was a 15 minute drive and the sun was falling out of the sky as we came into a clearly well off residential area full of big yards and stone paths. The middle aged white families were out walking their dogs as we pulled up to the house in our poster truck. "Is this it?" we said. "This is it," we said.
Half of us had butterflies. That's the half that grabbed the fan mail, stepped out onto the brick path and under the lattice archway to the front door--heart pounding.
That half rang the doorbell. And waited.
No sound came from the residence, and eventually that half dropped the note between the screen and main door, and shakily returned to the truck. "Wasn't there?"
We shook our head. When we got back out on the highway that half smiled so his face nearly lopped its self in half. I can't believe it.
We laughed.

highlights

has anyone else high point of the day been a 7-11 quarter pound hot dog?

Question: What Will Make Kids Stop Looking at Posters?

Choose your answer carefully:

A:  When it's monsoon season and it starts to rain like a motherfucker and you're scrambling to get all your stuff inside the tent by throwing books around and moving tables? (cos the ten tables BTW gracefully rented for you don't really fit inside the small ass tent they rented for you.  Oh yeah, they also gave us no chairs for our twelve hour sales)

A.2:  When you're soaking wet and your tent is leaking and crap is strewn everywhere and your sale is in complete disarray because of aforementioned rain and any rational person would realize that maybe now is not the time to be asking stupid questions about where the Pearl Jam poster is?

B:  When the posters are under a tarp?

C:  When you're closing and going down the line putting books on a cart, slowly approaching the obstinate straggler at the end who is apparently oblivious to the fact that the goddamn sale is ending?  Alternately, when you leave a cart of books ready to be loaded unattended for more than thirty seconds?

D: When you're stocking and you have a stack of posters on the book next to you, clearly signaling that things are being done with these posters?

E:  When it is so dark that kids have to use their cellphones to illuminate the posters?  (dark, because the sale was scheduled til eight and you've had no time to get lights or anything.  an added bonus is breaking a sale down in the dark)

F:  When you say "Hey yall, we're closing soon, but we'll be here for the next eight days."

G: NONE OF THE ABOVE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, we checked off a few squares:
-Stopped by DOT.  Had to buy some permit.  Pretty uneventful really, why the fuck do we have to pretend we're real truckers?
-Bros buying Snuggles x2
-Someone bought all the fucking Office posters!  What the hell?!
-"This is gonna look great in my bathroom!"  (Rubber ducky poster)
-(Not a  square but it's funny).  White boy buying every black powerish thing we have plus a hot babe poster.

Kicked it with a Cambodian trucker at our motel, he was pretty cool.  Gave us the downlow on all the logbook scams that every trucker does.  Told us in veiled terms about his sketchy life growing up.  Chatted about Cambodia for a minute; he was a kid there in the 70's, which is fucking intense.

In closing, another question:  What the fuck is the deal with Bob Marley???  Do people actually listen to him and think he's cool or whatever or is it just some "college, weed, yeah bro thing."  This is my third year and I still do not understand it at all. 

This is really long, sorry, I'm feeling the insanity coming on....

keep it real everybody,
Devils on the Fucking Loose

Get Your Balls Wet.

With Love From Funny Monkey.

purble place anybody?

anyone else playing purble place? we just mastered the comfy cake station game thanks to a completely dead sale. we've retreated back to being 6 years old. the sad thing is that it took us several tries to figure out why we weren't baking correct cakes :(

Jobs

Team wild Dick. Take that damn money.

shipping 101

so, for some reason BTW thought it was so important to ship us a box of 2, just 2 "the scream" magnets. guess this was a crucial thing, that we really needed 2 -- not the fact that we've been outta sticky tack for 4 days and are low on all magnets. most of the poster restock we've gotten doesn't apply to what we've sold. - team wild dick

JUST REAL FAST

Team Dangerous Pidgeons says:

FUCK ALL THE FRAME AND COMPUTER BOXES!

exploiting facebook?

has anyone used facebook as an advertising tool? I'm trying to figure out what would be the best way of going about it. Should I make an account for Beyond the Wall or for Poster Sale or something? And then make separate event pages under that account for each school that we go to? I'm kind of facebook illiterate but it seems SO much easier than fliering and chalking, and if I can figure out who to invite to the event, then it'll probably be even more effective. Ideas?

emergency bingo boards

So we were thinking...
it sounds like some folks are pretty hesitant about a full fledged strike, as other folks have more hope than I do about being able to possibly reach projections and make money.  What about an organized Slow Down strike?  We don't make any money until we reach the absurd numbers they have given us, but they are still making money as long as we are selling posters.  As individual teams, it makes sense for us to slow down and have fun on those weeks.  If we arn't making any money why work any more!  Instead, we could be eating well and going to bed early, or finding hot tubs, or going into the woods, or finding dance parties in random cities... or go on dates with all the strangers who are asking you out...

The next step is somehow organizing those weeks in some sort of collective statement.  "We won't work hard until you make it worth it."  Therefore we arn't risking loosing any more, because we arn't making money those weeks anyway... but our lovely friends at the Home Office arn't making any money either.  Maybe they would listen to us if they were loosing that much money in an organized fashion.

discuss.

this just in...

another first just occurred. i never thought i would see this combination let alone each individual transaction, but some north face-clad girl just bought a 3-d lenticular print (b-marley, obvs) with 'the end of an era' $32 beatles poster, totaling in at $60.08. ohhh college.

brainstorming sidewalk chalk ideas.

team vegenaise here having fun on our first day using the sidewalk chalk. we came up with a few good ones we liked. "poster sale @ blahblahblah. cause where else are you going to spend all of daddy's money?" or, "poster sale. a better way to pretend you don't live in the dorms." i dunno. lately our current method has been trying to heckle people into buying posters. anybody got any good ones?

ATTN: TEAM RYDE-ER-DYE

hey its team wild dick -- please check the gmail account asap (wall the beyond) for a message!!

BAM.

(done without help) wut wut.

- Team Frame it Yourself

smart audio?

did anyone else disable their speaker/microphone thing and get a message about some program called 'smart audio'? i didn't do poster tour 'cause i'm good at computers so that little message that popped up freaked us out! WAS THIS DIRTY SPY INVASION RUMOR TRUE?!

let's band together!

kangaroos

Team Räwk▲Läwßzter here, with apologies for our silence. The funny thing about working so many hours for under minimum wage is that you lose track of the days.

In lieu of the lunatic asylum museum, which was out of our way, we attended the missouri state fair, which was thematically comparable. The mood was superbly captured by this sign:

…and this, a grown man boxing a kangaroo. I shit you not.

We also went to Knob Noster, and thought, hey, Rock Lobster in Knob Noster. Ha! It was pretty.

But this feels like nostlagia at this point, as we surrender our moments to our five day, fraction-of-the-projection sale. We’ve learned two new games- ‘flying your display boards like kites’, and ‘how long can you keep your truck parked in the fire lane?’ (two days, apparently).

I dig for some anecdotal comic relief but have a memory of only long, hot days, uninterrupted by those “college kids say the darndest things” moments. Instead of making me laugh, they assemble, pant, and retreat, leaving the poster books mangled. As if “footprints with the lord” and “jack johnson” so resembled a fresh kill they had to spend a few minutes chewing on them just to be convinced that they are indeed merely posters.

Here at the america’s best value inn, I’ll be looking for employment opportunities. The staff always seems relaxed and, without a doubt, the pay and the hours are better. But wait, what did I hear about a strike?

Fuck yeah.

Get your balls wet.

-Juice of team Räwk▲Läwßzter.

big on jesus

team raw moms just made what could have turned into a most serious party foul- after feverishly unloading into our super awesome lockable room [diligently] the night before our next sale, exhausted we hopped into our [so far] faithful truck (whom we've endearingly named 'boris). as we sped down the completely unlit country roads to our hotel that was a solid 25 minutes away from our sale, we were listening to a scary book on tape to really set the mood. the author was detailing the characters' luggage which made me think of our own luggage........which was sitting on the curb outside of the building where our sale will be tomorrow. YIKES! (we took them out first to get them outta the way) thankfully, and i mean THANKGODFULLY when we got back to the campus our luggage was still sitting on the curb. wheww, we narrowly escaped impending disaster with that one.

other than that, when i looked up information on the city that our sale was taking place in, the very first (and only) thing that came up is that it is proudly the birthplace of the republican party. as part of our hotel's  guest manual, there is an entire section dedicated to local church locations. suffice to say, we're a little out of our element. thank fuck its a short sale.

while we were simultaneously unloading and sweating profusely, one of the dining hall employees (who seemed maybe a little slow) asked us if we carried a poster of the rapper 'gucci' who neither me nor my partner had heard of. after mistaking a box of magnets and postcards for hackey sacks (sp?) she asked us if she could sell her homemade jewelry line at our sale. hmmm...

another funny/aggravating thing that has happened was at the end of our last sale. we had been at the school for a while and made some friends and began recognizing faces. there was one girl who had shown up every day of our 5 day sale and bought copious amounts of posters on each occasion. sometimes she would show up more than once a day, but surprisingly never inquired about our student helper signs. on one of these occasions she debated for ~10 minutes on whether or not she should purchase two packs of poster tack or just one. in fact she was so perplexed and indecisive that she called her mother via cell phone to ask her mother's opinion (momentarily holding up the short line that had developed). fret not BTW, she indeed ended up with two packs of tacks and 4 posters, just in that round alone. at around 6:55 pm on the last day of our sale, we were getting things ready to begin loading all of our wares into Boris when said girl showed up offering her help for these free posters we had advertised. not only did she manage to be completely useless and absolutely annoying, but after our other student helpers had loaded every last thing into the truck, she said "so should i pick out my poster now??" WHATTT ::vein above eye pulsates:: my partner was more apt to deal with this situation than i, so they went out to the truck where she was offered any poster that was easily accessible. this girl then persisted about needing a specific poster (palm tree/beach-scape) until she managed to frustrate my partner into moving shit around to get this poster. yeeeesh.

tomorrow we hope to make our projection because the number seems somewhat reasonable, but this entire city has a population of 6,000 and the school has a population smaller than our projection number. for now, were going to fall asleep to the soft hum of ghost hunters on the tube and bask in the wonder of having gained an hour by crossing into the central time zone.

hoohah hoorah!
-RM

Poster Job gets Sexy? Only in my head

Ragin Rae on the loose here!

I've overheard some funny responses to sex posters that make me chuckle.

Guy and girl looking at the astrological sex position poster:
"WHHHHHAAATTTTT...this poster match sex positions with yo sign. Wow. Scorpio go hard."
girl: "So do Aries."
"I don't know bout that.......oh................yeah...............Aries go hard. Aries go reallllllll hard."

Random quotes from sorority girls looking at the periodic table of sex positions:
"OMG! Iwanthis!!"
"What's going on there?" "duh. 69"
"Ewwwww...that's so grosss"
"I've done that one."

Also, saw a guy say hi to a girl who looked at him with a blank face, walked away, then turned to her friend and mouthed "i think i fucked him last night"

Also, we just got the Jonas Bros poster and Team RaeRay sat lookin at it for 20 minutes oggling over their hot teen velocity.
Reminds me of the huge crush I developed at training.
I will only say this: they are nicknamed "Easy On The Eyes"
Thanks for getting me through the night EOTE.

umm what?

it took me five minutes to explain to a girl what a thumb tack was today. she asked me how to hang her framed poster, i told her to use a tack.this is how it went...
me: oh you can just use a nail or a tack
girl: i don't know what a tack is
me: you don't know what a thumb tack is?
girl: no
after a couple of minutes of explaining what a thumb tack was  she finally realized..."oh are those those thing with the sharp part at the end and the colorful plastic on the other end?"
yes.

seriously??she was wearing a sorority shirt and asked me for a pink poster....or any poster that had pink on it. ugh.

Malcom X's best album yet?

Hey fellow poster gods, team Sit Under Wolf Pack here. We are proud to report that we are knee deep in Bingo and are keeping a sharp eye out for all of those highly coveted squares. We X'ed out the easy ones early on (meeting up with another team, a non-ironic mullet, etc.) but are now delving into the more sacred boxes. Yesterday we hit three in a row... Firstly, a smooth talking undergrad came in searching for one of our more gaudy Marilyn Monroe posters, only to pull down his t-shirt and reveal the EXACT image on his left pectoral. And then, he one upped himself by showing that her famous mole was depicted on his tattoo with an implanted pink rhinestone! He gets double points for that one. Next came a set of identical twins, and then a set of fraternal twins, and then a whole gaggle of tanned and giggling girls who could have been twins, but also could have just been duplicates (it is hard to say). The day ended with a Led Zepplin lover buying the aeroplane print that was also silk screened onto his t-shirt, making three X's for the day.
Our "wild card" square is currently reserved for our very favorite customer yet. She came in and bought a Lil' Wayne poster (no surprise there), the hip-hop tree print (with the expertly photo-shopped  color gradient), a Malcom X poster, and the "fish without a bicycle". When my teammate commented on her eclectic taste she responded (and this is verbatim), "Well, I figured since I bought three black rapper posters, I should get a fourth poster that is a little more white and feminine". Yes. Verbatim. And though I have to agree that Malcom X would have cut a mean hip-hop album, I would venture to call the fish poster a bit more feminist than feminine. But I guess that is what college is for... to teach one these subtle differences.
In any case, we hope you all are well and happy. Signing out!

Where did all the fun posts go?

I know there's some serious business under foot, but I still want to hear everyone's stories about their days.
team Ryde-r-dye has gotten lazy as fuck these past few days, once we decided to fuck our projections for the week. We've been sleeping in (kind of), working 10-5, taking ample breaks for snacks, phone calls, reading books, and going on walks, then sneaking into the cafeteria or cooking dinner with friends, and watching bad netflix movies (finally saw Battle in Seattle. Wow.) Last night our friend who works for a catering company catered a late night fancy dinner party.
We've been consistently coming in at 1/3 of our numbers (only because we stopped trying entirely) (prior to that it was probably 2/3). My internal work ethic is rebelling agaist the slack-assing that has been occuring within the walls of our sale and I keep finding myself compulsively restocking our books, even though our business is slim because we've failed to do any advertising. Damn my upbringing.
what have you all been doing?

maybe to long of a well winded rant.

so really let us start off by giving beyond the wall an outstanding ovation. please, please everyone together now, hurray!!! 

the reason behind the applause and where i'd like this story to start... Beyond The Wall has given Team Pillow Fight the opportunity to attend a wonderful school where douche-baggery has abandoned the gender dichotomy the dude-bros so aggressively put into place and spread it though out all sexes and transitions, the kid i've been calling "The Michael Jordan Delux", the "J-lux" for short whom bought a singular michael jordan poster but was wearing a Michael Jordan shirt, shorts, socks, sandals, funny little backpack, and a visor. Let me repeat ALL SPORTING MICHAEL JORDAN in some area of the said article. Then my teammate whom i shall refer to as Tails, went thru this conversation:

DB: How much for these posters?

T: (looks them up and says whatever price they were)

DB: And how much for your number?

T: Umm, well that isn't for sale.

Which i think is a mostly standard version of that conversation but i was going to leave it up to the comments page for the best ways to respond to the "can i have your number" question. for starters you could say, i don't receive incoming calls, i only have a pager, i'm in love and we never fight, because of my outstanding circumstances i don't have time to eat, sleep, party, relieving myself via random hook-ups with stupid ass college students that i think are likely younger than my little brother. but moving forward, the hardcore kid that wouldn't shut up about nothing and shamelessly plugging his friends online jewelry  store for hardcore kids called plugyourholes.com which i haven't been to cause a few years ago i was set back on my trust meter when someone showed me two girls one cup. fake or not i listened to the cutest girl i know scream for minutes in the kitchen covering her mouth. but if anyone wants to risk going there feel free cause i'm curious but fuck trusting kids at a college, really for anything. any one ask for directions? that's a fun game. 

what else has beyond the wall given to us, ah yes, the lunatic asylum (they showed Tails the morgue!) where we got to meet up with Team Wolfcry, whom were creating a paperwork scene that looked mostly like what would happen if El Nino were to team up with a handful of pokemon and fight Eminem and Ken Shamrock in a game call "Let's Throw Paper" in their room. But ups on the stereo system, tell me when Van Halen is coming to town. I swear they have the set up to accommodate for that. and yes to keep theme to this post we can call me Sonic, so it's true that Tails accosted me with both hands and a mouth full of spewing words through the door, down the hall, stairs, hotel, parking lot and into the Ryder truck. Thanks Chip for providing a temporary sanctuary, it is now tainted.

anyhow, here is something completely surprising. today we reach projection and ten percent, fucking got us. but let's just hold back a second for victory and analyze what really happened. today sounded awful and held nothing back in getting that to us. the only good part was the sale started at 11a.m. kind of nice. but here's where the bowl of wet dicks came as the appetizer for us. who has had the sale where you set everything up where the  sponsor says to just to have to move it all again? well we had half of that but with a side of raging rivers water park. the tents we were using cause, oh yeah, it's an outside sale had filled themselves with water from the previous night and needed to be emptied cause they were a safety hazard. so we had to do a double load truck move bullshit for like twenty feet so that the water could be pushed out the top and make the ground wet. so we move and then Sonic has to help push the tops of these tents with a giant metal stick and i use stick cause it was the farthest thing from a pole i've ever put my hands on. and as the group of us, in the middle of the sale, start pushing underneath the tent to release all the glory that came down last night stupid fucking college kids just walk underneath like sticks and ladders aren't a fucking clues as to what is about to happen. and fuck if i'm going to warn them but their friends sure will. DAMNIT. so we push the water and that is that. move all the tables back under the tent and commence with the sale.  but then like all sales that are going to be more fortunate than failures you never know they are coming, so why would we have enough change to proceed without any impedance, that's right cause we didn't, fools. and why would the school have a place to get change or why would anyone who works at the school know where in the school to get change or why didn't someone just say so so that i didn't go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and then to the back not even two blocks away. thank you part time security guard sleeping in the lawn chair instead of watching the, the, whatever the fuck you were supposed to be watching. next up on our list, rain, why not. but only long enough to make us move completely cramped under the tent and disappear for the rest of the day. thank the fuck you. and then the power supply after four hours of being the raging beast we know them to be, didn't just threaten to quit but with a towering beeeeeeeeeeeepppppppppp stopped being friends, didn't burn the bridge but set off more explosives than all the Rambo movies together and went to bed. fuck that. especially since right after that we found not one, not two, but three outlets that were in our range of use. moving forward simply, student helpers = three forks at a dinner placemat = fucking useless. and then the heat wouldn't let up. and kicked out ass all day, all day, and all day. then it was time to pack up and go to hometel. today was great. i would keep on keeping on but i'm going to poison myself into sleep and hopefully wake up tomorrow and do it all again. 

but the part where Beyond The Wall really took the time and warmth in their hearts to show us they cared, they hooked us up with a Days Inn that is right next door to a Red Roof Inn. 15 miles from the school with a hotel next door. Thanks for the supreme upgrade. goodnight and goodluck.