What did you do before, he asked.
Which is a round about way of asking how did you end up here?
I’ve been called Undercover Boss.
I’ve been called a spy.
I’ve been called a few other things behind my back, only because I’ve heard people say, “That’s him.”
All of it for one reason.
What’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?
It’s not like I planned it.
More like something needed to be done and I did it, and this is the way the cookie crumbled.
I get mad about it sometimes.
Take a moment to have a pity party, which literally can only last for a few seconds because then I’m reminded.
Just because the first plan didn’t work, and this is where one ended up, it’s not the end game.
There is no end game.
There is only Zuul.
Who you gonna call?
Whenever someone asks me a question I don’t want to answer, I turn it back on them.
Usually with a smile.
Usually by asking the same question.
With a fun inflection.
“How are you doing?”
“How YOU doin?”
It works.
Every single time.
Because people, in general, don’t care about how you doin, they care for you to ask about them.
They don’t care how you ended up working where you are, they want to share their story with you.
And I have a lot of stories of my own, some worth sharing.
But I’m more interested in hearing someone elses.
There’s a reason for it.
I can write about fighters because I know them.
I can write about magic, and aliens, and spies and zombies because I’ve lived it.
Just kidding.
I can write about it because of all the things I’ve been in my life, a collector is the most consistent.
I collect stories, and accents and situations, which I can hopefully turn into something later down the line.
Like the guy asking what the hell was I doing working in a warehouse.
He was born in Sweet Home, moved to Chicago with his Momma and new Step-dad when he was three, lived on the Southside until he was eighteen, then went OTR to drive trucks.
Now he was forty something, hauling boxes on a pallet jack on the fifth floor of a million plus square foot building.
I wondered how he got there.
All shared with someone else in the break room at a table next to mine.
Where we connected over Pine Bluff.
Because he dated a woman from there.
And no matter where I go in the world, or where I’ve been, I’ve met someone with a PB connection.
It is a six degrees of separation mafia thing, and weird, but it’s worked.
He was trying to get hired on as a Driver for Amazon, but couldn’t do long haul anymore.
He wanted to work a regional route, and this was just to get his toe in the door.
Which is kind of how I started there too.
A little bit of head ducking, this has to be done, attitude while I was on the hunt for something bigger, better, different.
And still working plan B, plan C, and Plan Z.
Some work better than others.
Some just take time, which there is still plenty of, which I am reminded of often enough.
Tough to think of a ten year game when you are slogging through the day, or month.
Then someone comes along and you spark up a conversation and it makes the day go just a little bit faster, and a little bit better.
And you walk away with something new to say, or write or think.
Chalk that up to a W.
I hope you meet someone interesting this weekend.
10 Books You can Grab For Free
LUNAR HUSTLE - a sci fi adventure
Breach of Peace (Breach of Faith Book 1) (free)
Girl in Trouble (An Alex Mercer Thriller (free)
Bookshop Witch (free)
Accidental Magic: A whimsical witch (Free)
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LOL You really want to know? It's 70 years long. ....... You are correct, however, most people don't want to know how you are really doing. Try telling them the truth and the conversation will be exceedingly short as they uncomfortably sidle off to safer territory. Instead I ask other people questions about themselves. Most times they are all too willing to reveal their story and inner workings. You? Not so much. It's part of the reason I like you. I always want to know more, and you, you keep me guessing. There is nothing better than a mystery unfolding. My goal is to have a broader understanding of the person who peaks my interest. Lucky you. As for meeting someone interesting this weekend? I did. Where I live we have three dying Silver Maples, dropping huge branches whenever the wind kicks up a fuss. Where I have to park makes my beater vulnerable, suffering huge branches of dead wood landing on it. But this isn't what made the landlord opt to end their misery. Little girls playing in the yard did. What a guy! He's a good landlord. Fixes things when needed and leaves me alone otherwise. Just the way I like it. Back to my story... a young man was hired to administer to the trees a semblance of euthanasia, along with his crew. He is the man in the bucket, wielding a chainsaw like a pointing finger with one hand and manipulating the rig with the other to adjust to the best advantage to get the job done, manipulating both as if they were a sort of exoskeleton to his short fearless frame. It was almost like watching a prima ballerina do her stuff. Pure grace. Like a gawking yokel in a lawn chair, I parked my butt and watched the show, marveling at him as he got the job done. With each stroke of his knife (chainsaw) he rather daintily dismantled each of the trees with precision, acutely aware of the location of every member of his crew as he judged where the amputations would fall. His crew taking the larger pieces down to the favored 16 inch lengths for splitting and gathering up the leaves and twigs for further dismantling in the chipper. Watching this young man do what he did like a pro, a professional chef in his element, well beyond his few years, was pure joy. Watching him made me wonder if doing what he does so well was the result of learning the family business at his daddy's knee. He was born for the trees and it showed in every move he made. If the opportunity arises, I'll ask him for his story. They didn't get to finish the job that day, so with Arnie's warning, he smiled and waved as they drove off at end of day saying "We'll be back." I'm waiting as I write this for them to return. I got the feeling from another young man who showed up at quitting time, who seemed to be something of a supervisor, that they we're dealing with a difficult client elsewhere on another job, so maybe they are attending to that job first before finishing up here. We can wait, and I'm good with this. The show is that good. ~~~~~~ They are here! Perfect timing.
Thank you.