The Mop

THE MOP tells the unbelievable (and autobiographic) story of Alan Simpson,a young man trying to find himself amidst the seedy underworld of Sydney’s red light district at the end of the twentieth century.

A time in which he was young, stoned and carefree, where his friends were the hookers and dealers that worked outside, and his co-workers a motley crew of strippers, rent-boys, freaks and perverts. Where the villains are the upright citizens of the city and the heroes are prostitutes, drug addicts and queens.

The book records Simpson’s journey from innocent impressionable hetty-boy (the stores’ token straight male) to jaded and surly porn store clerk. More than just a collection of anecdotal scenes, The Mop is a comic look at one man’s bad luck, a first­hand account of one of the worst jobs out there, a behind the scenes view of a world most readers are unfamiliar with.

The Mop explains how a relatively normal middle class kid ended up in this world and what he did to escape it. It documents the lessons learned and the sights seen along the way, showing that friendship, love and laughter can be found in the most unlikely of places.

The Mop is written for every person that has ever walked past a porn store and wondered what goes on behind the curtain, for everyone that plucked up the courage to venture inside only to come face to face with the jaded porn clerk, for anyone who ever thought ‘My job sucks’.