Before I was a copywriter I defended copyright law by working as an Area Licensing Manager for ASCAP.  Essentially I did the same job as this piece describes, with some of the same results.  Full cups of coffee were thrown at me.  Insults were hurled:  ”Get out before I throw you out.”  My boss even got his front pocket torn off when a club manager tried to shove his business card into it.

I worked out of my home and covered four states using a phone, laptop and company car.  When people would accuse me of being part of the mafia, which did happen, I liked to either say, “if that’s true why am I driving a Ford Taurus?”  Or I would be a little more confrontational.  ”If I’m mafioso why aren’t you afraid of me?”

It was an interesting job.  Unlike the woman depicted in the article, it never made me cry.  But it did make me run to the shelter of my Taurus and make sure I stayed a few towns over on a couple of occasions.