I unlocked my toolbox, put away my keys and sunglasses in exchange for my trusty pen (always in my left breast pocket) and my safety glasses (propped stylishly on my head). I stood there and stared for a minute thinking about what projects I had already started last week and how to best prioritize my tasks for the day. This process usually sucks up the first 8 to 12 minutes of my Monday morning by the time I meander back to the coffee pot and prepare my first cup of fuel (appropriately dubbed by yours truly because of its strong taste and quick results). I am not exactly a morning person and I really hate Monday so the guys in the shop just steer clear of me until around 9:30, but not today. My co-worker Mike, who is big on intelligence but not so much in stature, makes his way to my box about 7:45. Fully aware of the risk he is taking that early in the morning, I knew something was up so I looked at him as pleasantly as possible and asked him, "What's up Mikey?" He smiled and replied loudly, "Good mornin'! How are you?" with his slight southern drawl from the Hoosier state. He has this little grin that most of the time people find generally endearing, but at 7:45 on Monday morning, I just wanted to put a brown paper bag over his head. To his credit, he does lighten up my day most of the time so I kept the bag in my toolbox for another day.
I gave him my typical morning reply, "Well, I'm here, that's good right?" This is where it gets interesting... Where he would normally chuckle and ask me about my weekend, his little grin faded and he looked around to make sure no one saw us talking. In a quiet, subdued voice he says, "Did you here?" to which I replied, "No man, I just got here about 25 minutes ago and no one has talked to me yet." He leans in and says, "They're layin' off again. I reckon they let a few go already this mornin' and they're aimin' to cut more loose."
As he's speaking, I immediately start thinking about the "debate" I had with my boss about 3 weeks prior about the company's broken promises of fair pay. Yeah, the "debate" that I lost which also alienated my boss and I from each other.
I looked at little Mikey and said,"Well shit. It's been nice workin' with ya then.... the boss is probably looking for a reason to dump me off" to which Mike replied with some words of encouragement about how I survived the lay-offs last winter and the company can't afford to let me go and blah, blah, blah. Call it intuition, a gut feeling, the force, whatever... I knew my number was about to be up.
So, I slammed the cup of fuel and decided to just start working and hope for the best. As I worked on my machine, I thought about the interview I was supposed to have last Friday (post-debate job searching) that didn't turn out so well. "Maybe I shouldn't have told that guy off" I thought to myself, but trust me, he had it coming (which is a story for another day). I thought about how graduation is getting so close and I just need to make this job work for 7 more months.
Around 11:30 my Supervisor Dave walked over to me and said, "The boss is lookin' for you. He's in the conference room." I looked up at him, chuckled and winked at Mike as I walked by and said, "I told you so."
By 11:45, I was out of the meeting and saying goodbye to some of the guys that I had built a rapport with in the past year. They were all real supportive and upset offering me references if I needed them. I shook more hands than a priest on Sunday. I locked up my tool box, told the boss I'd have to rent a truck and come back for it and ambled back to the car in a similar fashion to which I had came in that morning, but this time I was more disappointed and a bit surprised. This was the first time I had ever been asked to leave a job.
I took the next two weeks off of school to focus on finding another job as quickly as I possibly could. I had a few calls from headhunters, I sent out my resume to a few places but it's tough to get a part-time gig in the packaging equipment industry.
I called a member of my new family in Iowa, Don who is a Lexus Master Technician in the Des Moines area. He and I had met at my Mom's wedding this summer and talked for hours about cars, the industry and all of the boring shop talk that only my lovely fiancee had the patience to endure. He told me to call him when I was looking for work and he'd try to help me out.
I called in Don's favor and help me he did!
Don sent out an e-mail to a handful of local area Toyota/Scion/Lexus dealers here in Chicago and I got a call the next morning from the service manager of McGrath Lexus in downtown Chicago. "Come in Saturday and we'll talk".
The next day, my old boss called... "Hey John, I don't know if you've found anything yet but, if you haven't, business has really picked up and we'd like you to come back." I paused for about 1.5 milliseconds and said, "I'll have to get back to you. I'm interviewing with Lexus tomorrow."
Damn that felt good. Let him rot over the weekend and then turn him down.
So, after a 15 minute sit-down with the Service Manager at Lexus, all I have to do is pass a background check and a whiz quiz and I'll be wearing a Lexus uniform.
With a large thanks to Don, I am glad this story has a continuation and not an ending.
Check back in as I revive my blog, once again, and write about the adventures of student life and becoming an auto tech.
