What does Rodney Matthews do for a living?
Other than being the next Bachelor in the alternate universe where we’ve chosen to reside?
Like Clayton, Rick, Greg and many other guys who have the job flexibility to come on The Bachelorette, Rodney is a Sales Representative.
Rodney previously worked in Medical Sales (another Bachelorette favorite) but, according to LinkedIn, he currently works as a uniform sales rep for Cintas. Although we were unable to independently verify this, we found no reason to doubt that claim. However, we did find out a lot more about the world of uniforms–and Rodney!
While Rodney’s job title is sales rep, he’s not just selling uniforms. He’s also selling the company’s uniform services. Many businesses (especially those with high employee turnover) rent their uniforms and pay the uniform company for weekly laundry service. Uniform rentals are a $16 billion industry employing over 119,000 people in the US, but they still have some major gaps. (Like, button-down uniform shirt boob gap major.)
While we were relieved to see that there are more options available than when we last wore uniforms, there are still a lot fewer choices for women than men. For example, there are nine rental options for men’s pants versus three for women. The Cintas website generally treats female employees as an afterthought, which is especially irritating considering many segments of the uniform-wearing service, medical, and hospitality industries are majority-female.
As a Sales Rep, Rodney is likely to be among Cintas’s happier employees, but—like most of the textile industry—Cintas has come under scrutiny for union busting and their treatment of their (disproportionately immigrant and female) workers in their laundries and manufacturing facilities.
What did Rodney do before he was a sales rep?
Like many Bachelorette contestants, Rodney was a college athlete.
Rodney played Division 1 football for the Fresno State Bulldogs. But even when he was a big man on campus, Rodney kept it super humble and positive (at least on Instagram).
Unfortunately, while teammates quarterback Derek Carr and receiver Davante Adams would go on to the NFL, defensive tackle Rodney suffered a major knee injury his junior year and only ended up playing in three games during his two years on the team.
As devastating as that must have been, Rodney maintained his love for the game and he went on to coach for a high school team
What did Rodney do off the field at Fresno State?
Rodney majored in journalism and interned at a local TV news station.
Although his passion appears to have been sports reporting, according to the resume on his website, “either sports or news is fine.”
Rodney’s broadcast reporting demo reel from college is still on YouTube, although we really think he ought to make an updated one. We’d love to see him on our TV screens again, even if he is talking about sports.
Watching Rodney on The Bachelorette, his confidence and on-camera presence has grown leaps and bounds since college. We bet he’s even learned to pronounce “multiple sclerosis.”
We think Rodney would shine as one of those field reporters they send to cover cat fashion shows and stand in high winds. The man is game for anything!
(How did they get that last shot? Is the camera inside the copier or is Rodney’s face pressed against a glass window???)
xo Your Nosy Friends, Division 1 Snoops
PS If you watched Rodney’s reel and feel inspired to help him achieve his goal of promoting MS awareness, we recommend checking out the Can Do Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. It’s rated 94.46/100 on Charity Navigator!
