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Eric Church is one of the biggest artists in country music, but while he was trying to get his career off the ground, he held a job as a salesman — and he talked people out of buying from him.
“I had an awful job. I’ve had a lot of awful jobs…my worst one was when I first came to Nashville,” Church said in a statement shared by his record label as he remembered his worst job. “I got a job at the Shop at Home Network. I worked midnight, graveyard, midnight to eight.”
That shift meant that Church worked all night, stopping home before a day of writing appointments ahead of him “because I was trying to get a career started.” Around 3 or 4 p.m., Church finished writing sessions and had a bit of time to go home and catch up on sleep before returning to work at midnight.
“So the schedule was bad enough, however, what I had to do at the job…I sold knives from midnight to 7 or 8 a.m. And, anytime somebody calls you at 3 or 4am and needs 200 knives for $19.95, it’s automatically an alarming situation,” Church continued. “I knew they were drunk. I knew what they had done. They’d just come home from the bar, flipped on Shop at Home and said, ‘You know what? I need that.’ …First of all, some of these people you didn’t know whether you should call the cops. What do you need 200 knives for? Even though I’m selling them…what do you need them for?
“So the reason the job didn’t last long for me is that I was maybe the worst salesman in history because I ended up talking a lot of these people out of it. I’d say, ‘I’ll tell you what man, go to bed, call me, I’ll be here in the morning. If you get up in the morning and want these knives you call me back.’ Because I knew what was going to happen, you know.”
Church said “they got rid of me” after that. “…they were like, ‘You’re the worst. I can’t believe you’re talking people out of it.’ I was like, ‘Man I know…I’ve been there.’ I’d want some to talk me out of buying some of the stuff I’ve bought at 2 a.m.”
Luckily, Church’s music career worked out. The country artist has recorded tons of hit songs since his debut, including “Drink In My Hand,” “Homeboy,” “Springsteen,” “Cold One,” “Like A Wrecking Ball,” “Mr. Misunderstood,” “Record Year,” “Some Of It” and many more. His latest release is his massive tripe album project, Heart & Soul, with latest hits “Hell Of A View” and “Heart On Fire.” Find Eric Church on iHeartRadio here.