Today I told off a cashier who was trashing the president
I stopped to pick up some groceries on the way home from work tonight. It had been cold and blustery most of the day and I work outside. I really just wanted to get home, peel off all the layers of...
View ArticleTonight I finally got the chance to apologize to the cashier I F-Bombed
In early March I wrote a diary about losing my temper and swearing at a cashier who was bad mouthing president Obama. It was my first diary and it garnered quite a lot of discussion here. I got some...
View ArticleThere Aren't Any Good Days At Work Anymore
I used to really love my job. So did my co-workers. I don't know too many people who could make that claim with a straight face but when we said it, we meant it. Not anymore. I work for a...
View Article"You can't stay home sick today, there's too much work."
That's what my manager told me recently when I tried to call in sick. I was suffering from one my occasional migraines and, if you've never had one, you just can't begin to understand what it's like....
View ArticleI Go Into Peoples' Homes For A Living
I go into people’s homes for a living, from suburban McMansions to dumpy apartments. I see their family photos on the mantel; I smell what they’re cooking in their kitchens, and what they’ve let rot...
View ArticleMore Adventures Of The Phoneman
I stopped working for a moment, lit a cigarette and thought to myself, “How did I get here?" How did I come to be standing in a muddy ditch, chin deep in thorn bushes wiping mouse piss off my hands?...
View ArticleStories Of Death And Near-Death From The Phoneman
Winter, the season of death. Waiting for rebirth. There will be a Springtime rebirth to be sure, but in January life seems at an ebb; all is cold and gray and lifeless.Working outdoors the long, cold...
View ArticleMy Love Of Disc Golf
I've been playing disc golf since the mid '70s when me and my friends, the other neighborhood kids, would go through the cul-de-sac streets of suburbia throwing our discs at mailboxes and street signs....
View ArticleAnimal Encounters In The Life of The Phoneman Part I
As a utility worker I encounter animals, wild and domestic, on a daily basis. Sometimes these encounters are beautiful, more often they're annoying and sometimes they're seriously dangerous. Below is...
View ArticleAnimal Encounters In The Life Of The Phoneman Part 2
A while back I wrote about being attacked by a customer's dog while on the job as a utility worker, and how my company then proceeded to blame me for the whole incident. The following is a story about...
View ArticleMy cat (and best friend) has passed
Little Mister, the cat who was my best little friend in the world, died in my arms the other day. One minute he was fine; running around, meowing and just generally being a cat, happy to see his...
View ArticleTo Everyone Else Who Has To Work Through The Holidays
Maybe you're a cop or a firefighter or, like me, a utility worker. Maybe you're working a cash register at a gas station. Or selling concessions or parking cars at a sporting event. Or driving an...
View ArticleLearning To Climb A Utility Pole (Harder Than You Probably Think)
Pole climbing class was the final step in the process of getting hired to be a phoneman and it was clearly designed as a test of one’s willpower, a “weeder” class as we used to say in college. My...
View ArticlePlease don't ignore the health of your loved ones.
Enough time has passed that I can finally write about my father's death. He was far too young at 72 and died unnecessarily after brushing off the consequences of a fall in February. I was a complete...
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