it was supposed to be a casual part time job. i retired 5 years ago at 52 years of age. i invested the money i had when i sold the business and building, and was making a comfortable income, more than what i made working. the first couple of weeks i would go to the danforth on a monday or tuesday and sit at a cafe patio and watch the working world go by. it was like playing hookie from school. it was wonderful. i would travel all across the province of ontario with my wife, exploring all the little towns, enjoying the freedom and sometimes just going to where the road would lead us. my wife was still working, so with the combined incomes we didn't have a care in the world.
my cousin called me one night , "hey , bill, remember when you were talking with my brother about that driving job? that you would like to do part time to make some extra bucks? do you still want to do it?'
i said, sure.
at first, for the first year, there weren't that many driving runs. it was nice to get out of the house and do something. i wasn't quite happy with the amount of work, maybe an extra run a week would be fine. i met a guy named stephen on these runs and we became buddies. he saw how i would always show up early, was easy to get along with. he told me, if i wanted to make a bit extra, he could get me a job as location support personnel for the film industry. all you really do, he said, is sit in your car and watch over production vehicles. 200 bucks a shift, and you don't have to do anything, maybe lay down a few cones on occassion. EASY JOB.
i said, sure.
and at first, i was getting a couple film shifts ( night shifts ) and a couple driving runs and it was perfect. then my cousin stopped doing driving runs, and were short a driver, then another driver disappeared. since i was so reliable and STUPID loyal, i never turned down a shift, so one of the bosses, a 5 foot woman who is a total shark, was calling me frequently for driving runs. suddenly i was the guy calling other drivers to organize runs....and getting the bank drafts. suddenly i was the captain. the film industry all of a sudden boomed this year. my film boss, also a woman, was texting me constantly, setting up night shifts and i would never say no...because i am STUPID loyal....and i would end up doing a 7pm to 7am night shift on some film set in some seedy bum fuck location in hamilton and then drive to the lot for a driving run by 9 am the same morning for a run to ottawa!!! thats a 10 hour run at best. a couple times i've done 48 hour work binges. and boy, is my wife ever letting me have it. she is yelling at me and swearing like a sailor. "you idiot!! are you trying to kill yourself?? go to bed right now!! look at you, you can't even walk straight!!! you aren't even hearing what i am saying right now!!" and i would look at her with glazed eyes and go.." hhmmm?? "
and then THUNK!!! a kick in the shin. you know, thats one thing about my wife, she doesn't play "nice." even when we joke around, she is too rough and is a master of cheap shots. a couple nights ago she had ordered me a beautiful veal dinner, and she was looking for a place on the plate to put the dinner roll. "do you want the bread?' she asked, and i said, WITH A SMILE, " no, i don't want the FUCKING bread." ( i was joking, ok? ) and THUNK!! like wood hitting wood....she got me right on the shin and damn it hurt like hell. one day as i was leaving for work, and she was grumpy about it, i said, " but you really are happy when i am not here, right? you like it when i am not here. that way i don't bug you so much, right?" i don't even want to tell you what she did to me for that....anyways, back to what i was talking about.
i am working like hell, day and night. i have two lady bosses, who are serious business and very capable, relying on me. one is a 5 foot shark, the other is an ex budweiser girl and a total tiger. but you know what? i've never made so much money....between my investment income and the income from both jobs....i'll be able to retire AGAIN in 5 years. through it all, i've met some great people, especially the crazy guys i go on drives with. i haven't laughed so much in years. when me and those guys get together , its like being in high school again. i don't want to go to jail, so i won't tell you some of the antics we get up to. of course, 3 of them were laughing at me on one run when i was getting chewed out by the 5 foot shark on speaker phone because i forgot something. i was taking it, quiet like mouse and these guys are making faces and pointing at me while i am trying to keep my composure. buncha pricks.
but i have to say, just the other night, as i was coming back from a driving run to london ontario, it was a dark clear night, the lights of the city were approaching in the distance....and i felt to alive...so vital....and the world looked so beautiful. and i am just going to keep on going and taking whatever comes my way. i am positively radiating....everything looks so wonderful...it is beautiful. maybe i am just weird. sometimes even i don't quite understand myself.
