Through November, sales were down 16 percent nationally, according to the Autodata Corporation. And right now, he and his colleagues are simply not selling cars. If he doesn't sell cars and collect his commissions, he can't pay his bills. His base salary can be as low as $150 a week. There is plenty of pain to go around in the US auto industry right now, but few are hurting more than that smooth-talking, gladhanding, oft-dread ed American peddler: the car salesman.

In the face of one of the worst car markets in decades, he and other salespeople are trying to stay positive - stay up, keep smiling - because the alternative would take them to a very dark place.

But the gray-haired, 58-year-old car salesman with nearly two decades experience refuses to get down.Ĭonrad will buy, Deyab says. But who knows? It's enough to make just about anyone despair, especially Deyab, who lives with his mother and brother in Westwood and for two months running hasn't sold enough cars to earn his bonuses. She eyes him, arms crossed, and even leaves at one point, promising to return. Not only is the dealership not moving many cars - just one by lunchtime - Deyab has spent more than two hours working to get a customer, Lisa Conrad, into a new Cadillac Escalade. Roughly 40,000 mailers have gone out, inviting people to come.īut by midmorning, salesman Robert Deyab is starting to worry. Some salesmen at Cadillac Hummer Saab Village of Norwood - and yes, they are all men - even come in on their day off, hoping to sell cars to the expected crowds. The Schmidts watched the live televised drawing as their number was pulled from the hopper.ĭaryl is retired from jobs at Control Data and Seagate Technology.NORWOOD - The day begins with so much promise. She hopes to one day use the money to help start her own business, either a restaurant or a bar, she said.

Her colleagues at Famous Dave's pressed her about it when she was at work the next day, she said, and they told all the tables in the restaurant about her good fortune. She doesn't plan to quit either of her jobs: She works at Famous Dave's in Coon Rapids and Taste of Pizza in St. She said she plans to buy a new car and to pay off her school loans with the money. Iskierka said she is pursuing a four-year degree in business marketing and management at Anoka-Ramsey Community College. 'She said, 'What?' So I said, 'I won a million dollars! I did! I did!'' 'I looked at the numbers online, then told my Mom, 'Oh my God, I think I won a million dollars,'' Iskierka said. Francis gas station, but couldn't find them after the drawing.Įventually, she found them stuffed in a drawer after coming home from work. 'I never thought I'd be so lucky,' said Iskierka, who found out she had won just past midnight on Saturday. The second million-dollar winner is 21-year-old Lindsey Iskierka, of Oak Grove, a 2005 graduate of St. The Minnesota State Lottery announced the winners Monday of its annual New Year's Day raffle, where participants pay $10 for each of 500,000 tickets.

'I'm anxious to see what's coming for next Christmas,' said Daryl Schmidt, who won with his wife, Jo. That's what brought the daughter-in-law of a Blaine couple to a SuperAmerica, where she bought a ticket for the Minnesota Millionaire Raffle and gave it to her in-laws for Christmas. Next time you whine about having to make an emergency run for diapers, you might want to reconsider.

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