Monthly Archives: January 2012

Work Ethic.  That’s the thing that gets you up ever morning and sends you on your way, that thing that keeps you from calling in sick when you’re feeling half dead but still able to walk – so you go in anyway, that thing that pushes you to do your job well, and enjoy whatever aspects of it you can…. At least that’s what it is to me.  I may be constantly distracted and a bit of a slob when it comes to my truck and my… well… barn, but my job, for the most part needs to be well organized, and functioning properly.

I’ve come to think of a job as a marriage of sorts.  At least 5 days a week you see these people every day, you often have to try to get along even when you’re mad at them because you’re right and they’re wrong, and every day there’s a new ‘honey-do’ list.  You talk about your family, your friends, and sometimes you go out for a beer.  My job is the only constant I have in my life… it’s something I must have, it’s something I must do, it’s something I tend to live…. When all else in life seems a mess, I still have my job.

Nearly 5 years ago I took on a job as an industrial painter at a steel fabrication shop out in the middle of nowhere, just north of here.  The building was a wreck, I was one of the few guys that didn’t seem to have a felony, there was only one other guy that didn’t own a gun, and I was one of only a few that had all of my teeth… In fact, the man I worked closest with, had only 11 teeth.  A former Meth addict and dealer turned drug counselor, I learned everything I never wanted to know from that man.  This was my first true blue collar job, and what a different world it was for me.   I initially had hoped  to learn welding, but I was quickly learning the ins and outs of the paint shop, and in time I realized I wasn’t leaving the paint shop, I’d learned too much back there.  From wheelabrating (a giant machine that hurls steel pellets at I-beams as they pass through, breaking off the millscale formed on the skin of the steel in production *yawn* (i know, i just thought I’d explain), to sand blasting (like having the power of God in your hand ! Blast pressure that could change a weather system), to a multitude of paints and coatings, I took in everything I could learn.

Sexy, Ain't it. I'm the one with the 'stache...

2 years into my employment, the owner built a multi-million dollar facility closer to Spokane.  We went from leaky roofs and drafty …. everything, to an incredibly clean, large, well thought out building.  The paint shop was top notch, and warm in the winter, which is more important than you can imagine.  Prior to moving to the new shop, I took on the position of Lead, which meant nothing more than i got to tell my trianer what to do now…. I think I only got the job, because I had a cell phone, and therefore the boss could get to me easier =-)  At the new shop I put nearly everything into place… The shelves and everything on them are all there because three years ago I put them there.  Through the years, as new employees have come and gone, I still fight to keep everything organized and clean as I feel it should be… which is quite the fight that can drive my boss nuts…

Now a quick word on the company itself… The owner built this company from the ground up, a good dozen or more years before I began working there.   Without any need to kiss ass, I think anyone would say that he’s a kind and giving man that takes good care of us.  Time off when we need it for emergencies, and doesn’t can us for missing a day (back to work ethic and lack there of)… I was shocked when I received a rather large bonus 3 months into my employment, and nearly every year, twice a year, even through the tough times we’ve all seen, we’ve received bonuses… Some of them were huge.  So I’m telling you all of this, so you’ll understand just how hard it is to be leaving my job…. I’m one of the few in the entire company that have never been laid off (it pays to learn everything you can in every aspect of a company… you’re the one person, then, that can do nearly everything, so they let you stick around =-) Even if they ARE tired of hearing you complain about other peoples (lack of) work ethic)

The first Spring we were in the new shop, Spring of ’09, I told Andy that I was contemplating going back to school but didn’t want to leave such a good company.  Was there anything within the company that I could train for?  He thought about it, and thought about it, and would pass by every few weeks and let me know that he hadn’t forgotten about our discussion, until the point came that he would pass by and, I’m guessing, had forgotten about our conversation (or so I tell myself so I don’t have to think that he just may not have been interested in having me around very long LOL).

The Second Spring, 2010, I told Andy that I was contemplating moving to Portland, OR, to be nearer to a city, culture, nature, the coast, and art… if I was closer to the art scene, maybe I would do more with my photography.  I asked him if he knew anyone down that way that could give me a job, he thought he did… and time marched on.  I wasn’t ready to give up my life in Newport, and wasn’t sure I was ready for the big city again…

The Third Spring, 2011, I approached Andy about Insurance. I wanted to know if I quit, could I buy 6 months of insurance.  He of course asked why I’d be quitting, and that’s the day I took one step closer to realizing that the PCT might actually happen for me.  He sat and listened as I described the Pacific Crest Trail, and, if I remember correctly, he said “that’s crazy!”… “I don’t understand it, but you’re young, so GO FOR IT!” And that’s when he offered me my job back when I wasn’t leaving for a year, and that job offer to return, wouldn’t happen for 18 months from that day… I was shocked.  I hadn’t counted on such an offer.  Although through the conversation he commented that I might find something else along the way and never return, but if I did, and there was work, I’d have a job…

OF course at this point…. although I knew, It seems I’d forgotten to mention one tiny little white wedding gown of a detail about the hike… But that’s a story for another day.

Fast forward to 2012.  My boss and I discussed leaving on my 5th anniversary, March 19.  But as things go, and now as we see things slowing down, the time for me to part ways may be sooner than expected.  Feb 3 will get me insurance through the end of Feb, and I’ll have the time to continue to attempt funding this adventure, hit the gym and trials, which i haven’t done much of, and modify 26 wedding gowns to fit me…. I’m looking forward to having the time to focus fully on the hike, and let go of my attachment to work, but it’s such a difficult thing to conceive.  I’m still walking around trying to train people, and ask them to do this, or do that, because it’s the way I like it done… But none of that matters, and I need to get used to it.  So in the last few weeks of work, they’re calling an end to swing shift, I’m getting thrust back into the day shift, and will have to learn to get up for work before 5 again.  To put this in perspective, I arrived home from work just over an hour ago, and typing this at 2:30 in the morning, no where near ready to hit the sack…

I hope the last weeks of work go smoothly.  We all talk of when I return, and I wonder if I ever will.  I have every intention, but when one dons a wedding gown and goes hiking from border to border, there’s a possibility life may change a bit…. Who knows… For now, I’m focusing on the hike, and all that lies ahead… but how odd it is to not know where my life will lead me as I hit that Canadian Border…