Why Eagles' Nigel Bradham quit his first job as a teenager

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Each week during the season, we’re going through the Eagles’ media guide to find an interesting nugget. 

This week, I chatted with linebacker Nigel Bradham, because of his unusual entry for a first job. 

Me: Your first job. It says, “Stocked frozen foods in the dairy section at Winn-Dixie.” And there’s a quote from you: “I quit after three days. It was too cold!”

Bradham: (laughing) Yeah. 

Me: (laughing) What happened there? 

NB: I mean, at that time, I hated the cold. They put me in like the frozen food/dairy section, so I was in the fridge all day. Like, all day. I kept telling them, “I don’t want to do this. Put me, like, bagging or something.” I was playing ball. I was like 15, 16. And I was like, “man, they’re not letting me do what I want to do.” I’m trying to get out of the cold section and they wouldn’t let me. They were like, “we need people in this section.” And I’m like, “I’m making minimum wage, I’m not …” You know what I’m saying? I’m not a full-time person and they’re just taking advantage of me, really. 

Me: So, did you know when they hired you that that was the job? 

NB: I did not. 

Me: OK, so you found out after. 

NB: Yeah, I was originally supposed to be a stock guy, bag person, pretty much. 

Me: Then you showed up and they were like, ‘Go in the cooler.’

NB: (laughing) Yeah. I showed up and they was like, ‘well, um, we’re short a lot of people in this department, so we pretty much just need your help here.’ And then they kept me there and I was like, ‘OK, y’all gonna hire somebody?’ Three days was too long for me. 

Me: How’d you quit? What’d you do? 

NB: I just didn’t go back. I just told them I quit. 

Me: You call them? 

NB: They called me actually. I was supposed to go in, I didn’t go in. I kept telling my mom, ‘I’m not going back to that place, it’s too cold. There’s no purpose.’ 

Me: Was mom mad that you quit? 

NB: Nah, she was not like influencing me to quit, but she was like, ‘If you don’t like it, I mean, it’s something you don’t like.’ 

Me: Did you get another job after that? 

NB: I did, actually, but it ended up being the next summer. 

Me: What was that? 

NB: I was actually working on docks, cleaning the boats. 

Me: That’s hard work. 

NB: Yeah. Just scraping all the stuff off and stuff like that. 

Me: Thanks, man. Appreciate it. 

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