I slept most of the day after your work, yesterday. Work ended at 10AM so I got a lot of sleep. Had a brief stint at the Fire Company in the late afternoon, then came back home for more rest. I had bigger plans, but energy and morale was lacking.
I woke up at 10pm and decided I needed some good nourishment. I went to Weis. I was gonna do other things but money is tight til Friday. Weis plays pretty good music for being a supermarket.
Weis had few customers, but many were there stocking the shelves. This was around 11pm. I'm not sure what it is but I always get a peaceful/happy feeling pushing the cart around. Being surrounded by food gives me joy. I consider the possibilities.
Watching the workers stock the shelves reminded me of my summer in 1994 when I did the night shift at Giant Eagle, down the street from my house in Pittsburgh. There were some characters I worked with...
Walt Bigballs
Old Walt lived across the alley. He must of been in his 50's. He used to sunbathe in the little backyard of his apartment in his underwear. We used to mock him (not to his face), me, my dad and my brother. He spoke like a dumb pollock. Occasionally he'd make weird noises while stocking shelves. Sometimes he'd sing. I think he had mental issues. I think he's still alive. I remember it was birthday once and a co-worker asked him what he did. I think he said he went down to Liberty Ave. This was a street notorious for street hookers and peep show booths.
Ziggy
This dude was another character. Another pollock with a limited education. He was a funny and we used to joke around. Occasionally we'd bust on Walt. We were supposed to go to a Pitt game but that never happened. He had a beard and missing teeth. I think both Ziggy and Walt liked to drink a lot.
Jeff
Jeff was the guy who trained who trained me. He was a big black dude. He knew how to run shit and was very nice as a manager. He and the other 2 guys mentioned of course saw me as this extremely naive kid. I was 18 years old, but skinny and looked about 14 years old.
There were other characters there too. I don't remember their names. One short fat dude would walk around and if he saw you, he'd compulsively ask, "you havin fun yet!?" I guess not unlike how I throw out repetitive phrases and questions. There was a very flamboyant dude with a shaved head and mustache. He worked in dairy a lot. He would speak of his boyfriend sporadically. Then there was big breasted black chick who I would think about quite often at that age. Some used to make jokes about if we ran out of milk in the dairy department we wouldn't have a problem.
Generally everyone got a long. It was a weird shift. Involving interesting, quirky and maybe some fV<ked up people. I felt like I owned the place walkin' around there. I remember they cranked a lot of Elton John and Phil Collins over the radio. Sometimes I would treat myself to pepperoni in the deli on lunch breaks. I ate a lot of shitty food on lunch breaks. I always felt physically warn out after work.
This was my first real job. (No, I didn't tare up the paycheck!)
I'm surprised I remember all of this.
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