These journals conclude in July of 2018. I developed carpal tunnel from swinging a hammer and using a pneumatic staple gun all day, 6 days a week. I was unable to write longhand or type for any prolonged duration without my hand going numb and having to take a break. I wrote a lot less but I needed the job and eventually grew to love it and do well. A new foreman came in towards the end of the summer, he picked up on my ability and eagerness to learn new things and then teach them to others, so I got quickly promoted and was primarily tasked with teaching new people, I would also fill in on any number of tasks when people were missing.
What started out as the most physically demanding job I had ever had and I was merely challenging myself to see how long I could make it became something I was good at and found meaning and value in. I found that many of the teachings of the Buddha, particularly about overcoming one’s own ego could be directly applied to the work. This became even more true when I was teaching, both in how I conducted myself as well as how I guided my students through learning the work and overcoming the same problems I had encountered when I started.
Beyond that, I met some incredible people. When I first started it seemed to be divided mostly along racial lines, but that started to change as new people started getting promoted, including myself who were against that and wanted to work with everyone and weren’t deterred by things like race or language barriers; moreover, were less interested in their own ego and more interested in teaching and sharing what they knew and actively enjoyed working on a team and sharing the burden of less desirable tasks. What our foreman called “Brotherhood,” I called “Solidarity” and there were enough of us that wanted the same things. Like often happens, upper management began dismantling and destabilizing that cohesiveness and potential threat. There’s a lot I could say about that job, but I’ll have to leave it for another time. I got fired right before a meeting where we would be voting on whether or not to accept management’s counter-offer to our proposed pay raise or go on strike.We proposed a 2 dollar increase, their counter offer was 5 cents. I would have likely been among the workers who voted to strike.
I discussed what happened after that to some extent in the piece “Being Homeless during Coronavirus/Covid 19 Pandemic.”
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