began wondering about the city, learning the city as best he could. He saw the rich towns and the ghettos, but enjoyed and spent much of his time in the ghettos where he felt close to the other black people. He became friends with a man he called Shorty, whom he met at a pool bar. Shorty taught Malcolm how the black people in the city acted. Malcolm picked up the slang, styles of the blacks in the ghetto. Before long, He had his first zoot suit and conk. A conk is a hairstyle in which a black person's hair was burnt straight with lye to resemble the hair of white people. Malcolm landed his first job shinning shoes at a local ballroom and quickly moved into selling marijuana liquor and handing out phone numbers of prostitutes to the people who attended the dances. This was Malcolm's first experience with hustling, which would soon consume all of his life. Malcolm was transformed into a regular ghetto black man. He sold drugs, dressed like a pimp in zoots big hats and shiny colored shoes, and began dating married white women who went to the ghettos looking for fun with young black studs. He had completely changed from who he was as a bright class president in Michigan.
             Malcolm's last job in Boston was on a passenger train selling sandwiches and refreshments to the passengers. This work earned him free trips on that railroad line. He began making visits to Harlem New York. Harlem's nightlife was even more lively than Boston's and Malcolm was awed by it. Malcolm would frequent the bars in Harlem and meet all the black people he could. While spending nights in Harlem, Malcolm met black hustlers of all types including pimps, drug dealers, burglars, gamblers, and thieves; all of which had a big impact on Malcolm's personality. Soon, he grew a wild attitude with foul language and was fired from his railroad j
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