The first thing I tell new Real Change vendors is that you have to talk to people.
Wolfgang Kubler predates me here, but I suspect he wouldn't have needed the advice.
"I talk to most anybody that passes by me," he says. And he does, in a barely noticeable accent that you can't put a name to until he tells you he was born in Manheim, Germany, to a German mother and an American father. His family stored food in the cellar in case of another war, and lived on the east side of the Berlin wall.
But Wolfgang made it to America at 22, and found it "a great place to be," though he missed the social life of a different culture. "In Germany we communicated more, we socialized more," he explains.
And it was the social aspect of Seattle that brought him here. After almost a year in Cleveland in the seventies, he found himself wandering the country, looking for a home. Alaska was too cold. Washington D.C. felt too full of the government. Police work in Georgia seemed like a good idea, but it never panned out. On the other side of the country, Seattle's waterfront and Pike Place Market, full of people, just felt right.
The interest in language and communication continued. He did a few years at North Seattle Community College, with the goal of becoming a translator in Russian and German. And in 1998 he walked in to Real Change, and found yet another job where his gift for talking would pan out well. Sometimes they buy, sometimes they don't buy; Wolfgang finds the people "really interesting" no matter what, and hands out free Real Change buttons to the kids.
If you want a paper, a button, or just a good talk, head down to Second Ave. and Pine St.
You'll find Wolfgang there, and you won't regret the trip.