The Adventures of Richard Garrettson
Chapter Five
The Darkest Hour
Richard walked into the country club like he had every summer and went to talk to the club manager, Mr. Grey. Richard knew that he would get the job because he had been a reliable worker in previous years, but to his dismay, Mr. Grey wasn't there. He walked up to the pool to investigate, perhaps if one of the pool or snack bar managers was there he could talk to them. He found Sam, the pool manager. He explained his situation and asked if he could have his old post back at the tiki bar. It was his understanding that he would start on memorial day bar tending.
Memorial day came and when he showed up, there were already two girls working the tiki bar. Assuming that they were over-staffing the pool for the memorial day rush, he took his post behind the bar. The two girls seemed surprised that Richard was there, given that there were already two people doing a job that can easily be handled by one, but he didn't let that deter him, he was back at his post, tiki-bar-tending.
Minutes later Sam came down and sent him home, he was apparently supposed to come in the day after memorial day to get his schedule.
When he got his schedule, he was only working twice a week, and as nice as that would be, it was no way to get back into a working routine. He ran into Mr. Grey and asked if there was any way he could get some more hours.
"Do you really want to work?" said Grey.
"Sure do!" replied Richard, thinking that he meant at the tiki bar.
"Good! meet me at the clubhouse tomorrow at 7 a.m. to start with the house crew," ordered Grey.
Richard wondered what he would be doing with the house crew but before he could ask, the conversation was over and he found himself walking back to his car. 7 a.m. was early, but how bad could it be?
He arrived at 7 the next morning and by 7:13 he knew how bad it could be. It turned out that the house crew sets up for every event that happens at the country club; weddings, graduation parties, concerts. On his first day Richard was taught how to set up the dance floor, then left to do it on his own. He set up many-a-dance floor in the following weeks and with each forty pound slab he screwed into place he hoped, that in some small way, someone would hurt themselves on the dance floor that night.
Vacuuming was a big part of Richard's workload. It was tedious, but sweeping up candy wrappers that young country club patrons threw on the floor had its own sort of, quiet dignity. Throughout the endless hours of vacuuming, the song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, by The Beatles became the soundtrack for Richard's day. He was stopped by a co-worker once because they had already swept the room that he was working on, but there were crumbs visibly scattered on the floor. "I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping... While my guitar gently weeps." Richard would think. Another time the vacuum was laboring because he was using the hardwood floor setting on a carpeted room, unaware that vacuums had settings, and was quickly set straight by a different co-worker. "With every mistake, I must surely be learning... While my guitar gently weeps." Richard sang to himself.
His schedule was the real kicker. He had Monday and Tuesday off, then he worked every other day from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., usually later. So if he would ever partake in social events with his friends, or take Begonia out on a date, he did so with the knowledge that he would be waking up at 6 the following morning. This simply could not go on. In a last ditch effort to continue on with the country club, he worked out a deal so that a couple days a week, he could work the morning shift on the house crew, then finish up the afternoon tending to the tiki bar. This managed to keep him from taking his own life with the vacuum cord, but working the weekend mornings was too much for him. He searched every job option available to him and decided to re-apply to a job at a local pharmacy with his friend Kevin. He had applied a couple of months earlier and didn't hear back, but when he saw the HELP WANTED sign still hanging in the window, he gave it another shot. He talked to the manager and set up an interview using his cell phone while he was hauling garbage up to the burn pile at the country club and minutes later he was in Mr. Grey's office putting in his two weeks notice. He finished his sentence and was finally free from the worst job he ever had. It was like the escape in the movie, Shawshank Redemption. He had to crawl through a couple of weeks of a poopy sewer job, but in the end he came out of the other side clean. Well, pretty clean, even though Andy Dufresne flopped into a little creek and it was raining, I'm sure he still washed his hands before eating.
Richard's interview went well and he and his new manager decided that whenever he got back from his family vacation, he would start his new job as a pharmacy delivery driver.
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