Jobber

"Jobber” means “an unspecified object,” as in “Hand me that jobber over there.” Once I was driving back home to Illinois from Nebraska, and I picked up a Native American couple from Michigan who were hitch-hiking from the side of the road. The woman was a little dull-witted, and her husband wasn’t far behind, but we got on famously because we were able to communicate through the power of music.
At that time I had an old beat-up guitar in the back seat, where the husband sat. Once we got going, he asked me if he could play the guitar. I said sure, and he proceeded to play “Keep on the Sunny Side.” Now, “Keep on the Sunny Side” just so happened to be one of my favorite songs at that time, and we all joined in. I flipped on a small tape recorder to catch the concert.

We were howling like a bunch of cats but having a ball. After the song was over, I took a drink from my Army surplus canteen, and I offered it to the gentleman. He said, “Sure, hand me that jobber, “ and I was startled because I hadn’t heard anyone say “jobber” since I was a kid. Go figure!

 As a postscript, I will add that on that trip I actually had *two* old guitars. The other one was between the legs of the woman in the front seat. It was a more recent vintage than the Silvertone, but it didn't play for poop. So when the gal asked me, "Can I have this guitar? I'll give you a solar-powered calculator for it," I said sure, and I thought it was a pretty good deal. I used that calculator for years, and I reckon she enjoyed playing duets with her husband.

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