Tommy Has a Forking Job!

Things seemed to have been going okay for our neighbor Tommy for a while. Hick had put quite a bit of time into trying to help him find a job last year. We were able to provide him with a car. Tommy found work at the local rat poison factory, but it only lasted a couple weeks. On his own, he managed to snag a job at the Space Museum, filing things and giving tours. However...a couple months ago, Hick heard from his friend/our neighbor Buddy that Tommy had lost his job.

"He said he only has $270 left, and he doesn't know what he'll do when that runs out."

As you might imagine, we've been worried about Tommy. But, as Hick said, "It's on him now. He's got to find a way to survive. He done pretty good on his own for a while."

Last week, Hick was working over at his Freight Container Garage when Tommy stopped by. "He came to ask if I had a pair of work gloves, like I gave him when he was cutting down trees on his land. So I gave him three pairs. He said he got a job at the produce place. Remember, how I said they're always hiring, and Tommy didn't think he could do labor like that? Tommy said he's sorry for not giving us any more payments on the car, but I told him, 'That's okay. We said you can pay us back when you're able.' He said he's been working for six weeks, driving a forklift!"

Tommy told Hick, "I work with ex-cons and Mexicans. There are a lot of people that come and go there. They just fired an ex-con last week. A lot of women come and go. Maybe I can find myself a girlfriend! One gal likes me, but then I found out the ex-con that got fired was her boyfriend! She still likes, me, though. And another one kind of likes me, too."

I told Hick that compared to their other employee choices, the women who work there probably think Tommy is quite a catch. No ex-wives. No kids. He owns his own home, plus acreage. He has a car that runs.

Hick added, "And he isn't an ex-con or a Mexican." Not that Hick was being snobby or racist. Only meaning that Tommy won't get hauled back to jail, and that he can communicate with them in English.

"Tommy said he worked 69 hours the first week. He gets $8.00 an hour, time-and-a-half over 40 hours. It blows my mind that he's driving a forklift. I asked if he had training, and he said they took them in a room for a video. So I asked him how to get on a forklift. He knew about the 3-point stance, which is what OSHA wants. So I guess he paid attention to the training."

"That doesn't surprise me. I think Tommy is kind of like The Pony. He has no trouble remembering FACTS, it's just the common sense that seems hard."

I see Tommy whizzing by in his car every day, like he has someplace to be at a certain time. So I guess everything is still okay on the job front. One less person for me to worry about.