I’m always thinking about extra jobs to make extra money. Who isn’t?

Don’t you need extra cash?

Maybe I could get a surveillance gig, sitting outside a gas station in Jackman, watching for people who steal stuff inside and just drive away.

No. I would fall asleep. I could have done that when I was younger, but I didn’t know where Jackman was.

But now, I fall asleep watching police car chases.

One day as I was driving to Augusta to eat at a new Mexican restaurant, I was stopped at a construction site and this idea hit me.

I could be one of those guys holding signs. You know the kind, with yellow vests and helmets? All carrying SLOW or GO signs.

They’re of all ages and even women are among these sign guys.

Most sign holders seem to be heavy guys. Old guys with long beards who, I imagine, just lost their roofing jobs and can’t just go to the employment office and ask for a job on this paper or in a hospital, or selling shoes in a shoe store. A guy’s gotta eat.

Maybe they were lobster fishermen and fell overboard too many times.

Who knows what they used to be? I mean, you don’t grow up dreaming of becoming a sign holder at a construction site.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with holding a sign for a living. Protesters do it. I knew actors in Hollywood who, when jobs were scarce, went out and did that. It got you outside where you could improve your tan.

And now that the Hollywood strikes are over, all those actors and writers walking up and down in front of the studios still don’t have jobs. Maybe they’re up there on Ventura holding a sign and wearing a yellow helmet.

I stuck my head out of my car window and asked, “DID YOU HAVE TO BUY YOUR OWN HELMET?”

He smiled. I like it when they smile.

“HOW DO YOU GET TO JACKMAN?”

I’m scanning these fellows now and wondering if I could apply for one of those jobs. How much do you think they pay for that? Are they union?

There was one at the first stop, a big guy chewing something. I would not want to be that guy. He’s the one folks get mad at first.

“WHATS GOING ON? HOW LONG WE GONNA BE HERE?”

You’ve got to have patience with motorists liked that. I wonder if there is a class they make you take on how to stand here with a smile or angry eyes behind those sunglasses. And do they show you facial expressions to use? Some smile, some frown, or just stare at you.

Something makes me wonder: do you get to wear your expensive Ray Bans, or do they provide cheaper drug store glasses?

As it got hotter, I noticed that the older guy with the first SLOW sign was replaced by a younger Spanish-looking kid, and the old guy handed him his sign and walked down to the woods.

Was that his bathroom break? I mean, how can a guy in his 70s stand out in the sun when he has to go?

I got the GO sign and motored through. Maybe I’ll look into the gas station in Jackman. How DO you get to Jackman?

J.P. Devine is a Waterville writer.