MY
JOB AT KIMBALL UPHOLSTERY
Pictures
follow below...
During the summer of 1998, I got my first "foreign"
job working at an upholstery factory. I really enjoyed the job rather well,
actually; I worked as a temporary "trash boy." But not only did I do janitorial
services, I also did various "floating" jobs - some of which involving
delivering a load of fabric or cushion foam or boxing up the chairs or
fetching a special part and various other tasks. I was paid $7 an hour,
and I normally worked for over 9 hours each day (7 AM to 4:30 PM) so I
felt that I was getting paid really good (and I was!). When I said "foreign"
earlier, I meant that I had never really worked under anybody else except
for my dad, so this whole ordeal was all new territory to me.
I also read as much as I could during my lunch breaks
too. Well, as the story goes, I had been reading "Conversations With God:
Book 1" when this lady whom was walking by asked what it was that I was
reading. I jubilantly told her (with my mouf full) "Confersations Wif God!"
Now this lady.. she has red frizzy hair, and ever since I began picking
up the individual trash cans for each worker (they all worked at their
own little tables) every time that I had gone by this lady, she would give
me this look like "What are you doing here?" but despite that look, I thought
"Man! She would be a GREAT spiritualist! But isn't she? Isn't this a strong
sense of intuition coming through here? Nah.. she wouldn't be giving me
that funny look though." and I would proceed.. sometimes the thoughts would
nag for quite some time though. This was that lady that stood before me
now. She said "Oh really??" "Yeah.. it's pretty good - DEFINITLY different."
I responded sheepishly. She then turned and said "Here - come here, I want
you to meet somebody" as she walked towards the door. Quickly I picked
up my stuff and headed for the door with a bubbling elation that I had
the hardest of times controlling! Finally! Could this be? Is she.. what
I suspected her to be? No WAY!! Coowelll!!!
I stepped outside to see a younger man sitting on
what was apparently "their bench," eating lunch. She asked me my name and
we introduced ourselves. Her name was Ali, and his was Alan. She wanted
me to show this book to Alan and wanted to see how big of a kick he got
out of it. "Hmmm," I thought... Well, he didn't look at it much, and I've
forgot most of the conversation from that point on by now.. But we ended
up to be great friends. And was she a spiritualist? Well... that is debatable.
Later I found out that they were both "Apistolics" - he was 7 years into
it, and she 1 year. If you are unfamiliar, the Apistolic denomination is
a branch of the Pentacostal church, and it is VERY fundamental
in it's ways; it is actually one of the most what some call "Fire and Brimstone"
type church denominations that I've seen yet. (Ali later told me that some
actually regard the Apistolics as downright "brainwashing" evangelists)
As we got to know more and more of eachother... and our ways... *wink*
I eventually went down with her (she drove me) to an Apistolic revival.
The drive was at least an hour long, but during that time.. we talked about
things.. that I didn't expect to talk about. The Revival? Geez. That's
another story all of it's own accord. :-)
Our relationship.. outside of working with Kimball
Upholstery.. is a life drama in itself. Apparently.. (I never did get to
hear Alan's side of the story to most of this drama - not much that is)
When Alan and Ali met, they clicked together like boom. When Ali moved
down from where she used to live up north, she had the hardest time finding
a job. To make it a little shorter, she got hired by Kimball through bizarre
circumstances. That's when the two of them met. They hit off so well, that
it began to scare Alan apparently.. He was already involved in his church,
and I guess some soul-felt tugs were no-nos.. From that point on (wherever
that point hit at - definitly before I was employed though) Ali practically
devoted herself to Alan - painstaking - SACRIFICIAL devotion to him.. But
he was too afraid to do anything back for fear of sinning and being damned
to hell (see, he had been divorced once, but is now married again. The
thing I don't understand is: how could he NOT be damned to
hell if he's already been divorced and remarried?). It was at that point
where I had met the two - during this drama. Ali is really one of the most
sensitive persons that I've ever met too. *sighs* Well, back to her religion
envolvement though.. She had grown up Catholic (Greek Orthodox I think?)
and she never understood their services because they were all in a foreign
language. She told me that her parents would never explain church to her
because he was always "downstairs drinking coffee and eating donuts." She
also told me about how she was abused a bit as a child.. She didn't go
to church after she left home - she didn't feel the need to. Later when
she married and had kids (a girl then a boy) her husband left her. She
told me how her daughter was into the "things" and studies (spiritual things)
that I was into.. but only lightly (and I still don't know how deep she
got, sadly) - she read a LOT as a child. Alan came along and he introduced
Ali to his church, thus she developed into the religion that she is now
in.
It has been over a week, almost 2 weeks now since
I have heard from either one of them (that is to the time of this writing:
8/12/98).. I plan on calling up Alan sometime - because him and me would
debate often on how the stuff that I was studying was all "wrong and evil"
and the likes. That is a whole other branch though... and it was quite
an experience. I hope... -maybe next summer I can continue this drama.
I can't tell you how often I was there to try and help Ali.. and try to
tell Alan what she needed (even though Alan was NOT to know that I had
known what Ali had told me - I had to choose my words and conversations
with Alan carefully).. But he refused to act and acknowlege. I don't know
if anything will ever happen.. As with all things, I leave such dramas
in the hands of God and in the hands of those souls who know what their
doing. Sometimes I did get a little bit too involved, but I knew how to
step back for a while. Anyways...
DID YOU READ ALL OF THAT?
Hey cool! (yeah right) if you did, you must either REALLY like me or you're
REALLY bored. *grins* Here are a few pictures that I took at work...
This is Ali... doncha love that look? :-)
This is Cheryl. She was one of my sub-supervisors, and she was
the most fun and have-fun type person that I knew at Kimball. She was absolutely
great! Very caring, a mother of 2, and she just had a great attitude! Thankyou,
Cheryl! (sorry for the bad pic.. hehe)
This was a shot that I took of one of the loading docks - this
one for what's called the "Poly room," which is where the gal there glued
on the foaming to the back of the wooden frames. My job was to deliver
those frames with the poly on them (and sometimes just some extra foaming)
down to my area - 2A. Cheryl, in the picture above was standing before
one of the DCC terminals in area 2A. In some later pictures, you'll get
a glimpse more of area 2A.
MELVIN!!! Oh my buddy.. actually, this guy was a real grump at
times, but I think he was jealous of my age and jubilance. :-) He was the
other trash guy for the factory. Little booger him.. I was only there for
one week when he took off for S. Carolina for 2 weeks! And lemme tell ya
- one person simply CANNOT do that entire factory alone! It's just not
possible. When he came back (thank goodness he DID) we sort of agreed that
he would do one half and I would do the other - which saved on us having
to run into eachother and doing eachothers jobs and getting all confused.
This guy really was a great janitor! And he talked LOOOTS.... Booger butt
him..! But I just HAD to love him! :-)
This is Alan - the masculine one. :-)
Ali and Alan together.... Awwww! :-) I don't yet understand Alan's
funny pose in this picture either- as he never did seem to be a caffine
freak at all.*shrugs* Buuut.. working in that factory, `sweatin buckets
will make you thirsty I guess...
Me!! :-) I always ate on the concrete so I could face the both
of them when talking. I like this pose in this picture... it is rather
appropriate I feel... strange. :-)
The Oz man... Ozzy! :-) I love this guy - I really do. He was/is
different. Actually he was much into choir and theater as I was during
his high school days, and we talked about All-State and different school
plays every now and then. Now whenever I would run low on things to do,
I would always go to Ozzy and ask him "Hey Oz, need me to box any chairs?"
and he would either shake his head or say "Sure! You got time to do some?"
And ohhhoho! :-) I LUVED
boxing chairs! Mainly because I didn't have to WALK much to do it.
Plus, I got to use my head and dexterity to get the suckers put together
with speed and accuracy. I really do like this guy! :-)
This is Denise stuffing her face. :-) No, she isn't a pig or anything,
just got a bad photo that's all. :-) She was another sub-supervisor, like
Cheryl was.
Kurty!! :-D Haha! This dude was my main supervisor guy who was
basically in charge of the entire area 2A. His name is really Kurt, but
I had to try SOOOO hard to keep from calling him Kurty. He's quite a bit
more serious about the job than some of the other people I know, but he's
still a great guy! :-)
Alan eating Chinese food on my last day at work. (Ali took this
shot) Yup! I got to drive to the Chinese place that day in Ali's car to
pick up the food - which was TOTALLY cool because driving is a big luxury
to me, not to mention somebody else's car! (I did not have my own vehicle,
my aunt drove me to and from work each day)
A different pose of Alan and his Chinese food...
This time, it's MY pose with the Chinese food! :-)
I didn't know this guy very well, but I took this shot anyways.
I delivered most of the "poly" to this person's line (line 23) that you
see in the background; each line usually composed of 3 people. Below the
yellow tray that you see in the foreground was where I kept my lunch sacks
and such.
Go back the the Cove
