When the weather was bad we would team up in the dump trucks and go out and clean the drain basins or in the winter we would spread salt at the intersections of the streets. I was usually teamed up with a big black man named Robert. Robert had his hand in a lot of business’ in the central part of town. He helped out a lot of people that were in a bad way without jobs or they were drunks. He would pay them to do jobs like painting and other odd jobs. He pointed out several people to me that were a doctor and a teacher and a former business owner that had become drunks and lost everything that they had. It was a lesson I took to heart. Robert was very different unlike anyone that I had ever known. We would be driving down the street and he would wave at every oncoming vehical. I asked him if he knew everyone that he waved to. He told me that you knever know, it could be Jesus walking or driving down the street.
On my way to ’Climbing To The Top!’ I learned a lot of lessons, but the lessons that I learned from Robert are lessons that seemed to be long forgotton by most people. I learned to be humble and praying while you work can help you to feel better about what you are doing, that people from all walks of life can be brought to their knees from the evil of drugs and alcohol. That if you have a job to do, then do it well. If you sweep streets, then sweep streets like Michelangelo painted paintings.
I worked on the street department for about a year. I really liked being with these people, people from all walks of life. Meeting people in the neighborhoods where I worked. Most showing their appreaciation for what jobs we were doing around their homes. Sweeping streets, throwing salt, or cutting grass at a vacant lot, all jobs that were appreciated with glasses of water and small conversations.
Chapter 8
One day when I came home from work my mother called and told me that she heard that Coca Cola was hiring, and that I shold check it out.
The next day I called in using a personal day and went to Coca Cola to apply. I had called the day before and had an appointment, though when I drove by I saw picketers, men with chains and signs stating a strike. I returned home and called the man at Cokes office asking him if I was to cross a picket line? He assured me that the strike was going to end that day and that I should return the next day.
The coast was clear no picketers were around I made my interview. The personnel manager interviewed me and asked me a question that I’ll never forget. Have you ever worked so hard that your earlobes hurt at the end of the day? He told me that the job was that hard. I told him that I was a Marine and that I could take pain and that I could make a career out of the pain. I was hired!
