Too Much Time Not Enough Money

So, around Halloween (also around my birthday) 2000 I decided I needed a job.  I had too much free time, it was boring.  And I needed spending money. Whatever I had saved up from working at Burger King would eventually diminish.  I told my friends Nick, John, and Maurice to keep an eye out for help wanted signs.  They said sure and John and Nick expressed interest in finding work as well.

There was a video rental store in Commerce called the Movie Gallery.  Movie Gallery was a chain rental place that existed back then.  I went in and applied and told my friends not to apply there.  You know, less competition.  I never got a call back.  Their loss.

I wanted work so bad.  I swore I’d never work in fast food again, so I didn’t bother applying at those places.  I saw an opening at a small hardware store.  I obviously didn’t get it because I’m not really a “tool guy”.  Once again, I told the dudes not to apply.

It had been a month since I began my quest for work.  We went to see the movie Unbreakable at Commerce Cineplex.  It was a small theater.  They only had three screens.  But the auditoriums were large.  They could seat 120 in the smallest to nearly 200 in the largest.  And the screens were the largest in the area.  Unbreakable was a genuinely good movie, though most of the people exiting the theater were disappointed. They were expecting Sixth Sense Part 2.  Going past the concessions on the way to the exits we saw help wanted signs.  It paid $5.20 an hour, all you could eat popcorn, free soda, free movies.  Perfect.  Once again, I told John, Nick, and Maurice that I had dibs.  Annoyed, John said, “you can’t keep doing that!”  I told him it was the last time. I was going to apply to Commerce Cineplex (sometimes called Commerce Shitaplex) and by God I was going to get hired!

The phone rang in my dorm a few days later.  I was called in for an interview that night.  Yes!  A few hours later I arrived and asked for “Doc”.  Doc came down and led me upstairs.  I had never been behind the scenes at a movie theater before.  Dark and loud up there.  We went to his office and we sat.  On the wall behind him was a nature scene wallpaper.  It was a jungle with a waterfall.  Looked totally tacky, but whatever. 

Doc’s real name was Larry.  He went by Doc because he previously taught some sort of Agriculture course at the University.  Doc was nice and affable.  Thing is, he could be me.  He had an upper Midwest accent though.  But if you whiten my hair, add twenty years to my age, and lose 40 pounds and he’d be a spitting image of me.

The questions were standard fare.  Why should we hire you?  What would you do if you saw a coworker stealing?  What challenges did you face in your last job?  Give an example where you solved a problem. etc…  Then he got to a question that caused pause.  He asked me how I define “integrity.”  I couldn’t BS.  I had to stop a beat and think.  I remember exactly what I said.  “Pride with principle.”  “Oh yeah?” Doc asked.  “Yes sir.  Taking great care to present yourself and your environment as top notch, but not doing so at the expense of morality.”  I think he liked that response because I was hired.  I was told to start in a few days.  Wear a black T-shirt and black pants.  I’d be paid 5 cents above minimum wage.  ON the way out, I saw a guy younger than me working there.  This would end up being Paul.  He wore a white button up shirt.  Heh, I guess they were lax on this whole black T Shirt requirement. 

I went to Walmart and bought black jeans and a black short sleeved shirt with stripes.  When I showed up to work wearing that Doc told me I couldn’t start until I got a black T Shirt.  I drove to Walmart ASAP and got a new shirt. Again.  Wow!  I almost got fired before even clocking in!  Turns out that young Paul dude was a manager.  Other than that scary beginning, work worked out well.  I’d stay on all the way until I graduated in three and a half years.  I didn’t remember this, but Eric, the top manager (and Doc’s son) once told me that I called him a “dick” on the first day.   When he told me this I laughed, “I must have been so comfortable with you, you put me at ease.”  He said he figured that, otherwise they have fired me quick.

I loved the place so much, I got Nick and John jobs there as well within a year.  That’s how awesome that place was.  Nick and I had gone to school in the same grade since way back in like the 2nd grade and we were roommates.  John was a year ahead of me, but he went to Bonham schools with me too.  And we worked at Burger King together and eventually all three of us would be roommates at New Pride. It wasn't a fraternity, but it was a family for three years.  Other than the pay, I loved the place.