Bleeding Perseverance - Episode 45

Autobiography Fridays

CHAPTER 19

A Minor Setback,

More Jobs In More Snow,

& Margaritas Galore

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Packed and ready to move on, Stephen would now be taking over the studio. I had taken Holmes, our last remaining cat, when Mom moved away, and now that I was leaving I left him to Tavara, Stephen’s girlfriend. She lived on a farm, and I thought it would be a nice place for him to retire to. I couldn’t take my Soloflex either, and since I knew a guy at work who wanted it I notified the company, letting them know he’d be taking over the payments. And so with a few boxes and a bag I boarded a Greyhound bus for Dayton, Ohio.

I had tried making arrangements beforehand, but because Mom had tarnished my credit years earlier I couldn’t find anyone in Dayton who would allow me to reserve and rent. So although I hated Mom’s style of moving somewhere without having anything set up, I didn’t have any other choice but to do the same.

I arrived in Dayton at night and told a taxi driver to take me to the nearest and cheapest motel he knew of in the area of town where the dojo was. The next morning I took two buses to the dojo just to find out that it was closed for a couple of weeks for renovations. No wonder there had been no answer when I tried calling. So I bought a newspaper, headed back to the motel, and started looking for a place to live.

Again I was in a Catch-22. For the places I could afford, I couldn’t pass the required credit check. And for the ones who would just take cash, I didn’t have enough of it. That motel was really eating away my savings, and after a week I knew I’d have to take Mom up on her offer and go stay with them in Salt Lake City for a while.

I had finally got in contact with Mrs. Hayes, but she said she didn’t know anyone who needed a roommate and just to be patient and that my time would come. Being the celebrities they were in the Ninjutsu world, I couldn’t just ask them for help, so disappointed but not defeated, I put my dream on hold and headed to Salt Lake City.

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Mom and the kids had found an apartment about thirty minutes from the city. The day after I arrived I went with them on their scheduled trip to the food bank. (As in a few bags of free groceries, mostly canned items. Ah, just like the ol’ days.) I still had a little bit of money left and helped out too.

That same afternoon I immediately started looking for work. There was a Japanese restaurant across the street from the complex and I really wanted to work there so I could start learning the language for Ninjutsu. But business was slow, so the owner had no work for me. A week and many applications later I was hired at a Subway Sandwiches. It was about a forty-five minute walk each way, but I didn’t care. I had a mission to accomplish.

My boss was a young owner and took a liking to me right away. I’ve always had the habit of rinsing dishes before washing them. Something he never knew anybody else to do except for himself. Everyday he’d comment on how impressed he was with my work ethic, which made it that much harder when I had to quit just a few weeks later.

You see, half of the applications I had turned in were at bars and restaurants with bars, in hopes of finally being able to put my mixology education to use. Well, one of the establishments ended up calling me. El Chihuahua Mexican Restaurant. Before I attended bartending school a year and a half earlier I had no idea how hard it was to obtain such work. Now I knew, because those who were lucky enough to find a position as such would have the potential to earn fast money. So now that I was being offered the opportunity, I just had to take it.

My forty-five-minute walk to work was now double, but that was fine with me. Even with the bitter cold of winter coming in, as long as I had my walkman I was happy. Daniel had recently been released from juvenile hall and soon came up to stay with us. He’d have to go back at the beginning of the year to resolve the issue, but at least he’d be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

When it came to El Chihuahua fast money wasn’t part of the job. My shift was from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., weekdays. And since it was a restaurant with no bar stools I had to depend on the waitresses to be honest with the tips, which they weren’t, as I was only being given an average of seven dollars a night.

And to make matters worse, 99% of the drinks ordered were either beer, margaritas, or wine. So yeah, I got pretty good making senorita Margarita. One time though I actually got an order for a Sex on the Beach. I was so excited! And proud as I put it up for the waitress to pick up.

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There was a gas station across the street from our apartment complex, Amoco, and the following month in December I noticed a Now Hiring sign in the window. At the rate I was going at El Chihuahua it would take me years to save up enough to get back to Ohio, so I applied hoping to take on a second job. I was hired and soon began working thirteen hours a day. Five at the restaurant and eight at the gas station, graveyard shift.

Now that we were in the winter months it started to snow. Something we hadn’t seen since Minneapolis. And we were no better prepared for it either. There was this one helpful tip I learned in such weather though, at least when it came to the job. Because of the freezing temperatures the gas nozzles would sometimes freeze up and not work. In order to fix the problem we had to place the nozzles on the ground for like twenty to thirty minutes, and then they’d be back in working condition. Guess it was something to do with the heat from the cement.

One night a guy in a nice car and suit came in. With the weather so cold I’d be wearing my jacket, which had my Shadows of Iga members patch on it. He asked me about it and we soon started talking.

Learning of my situation and goals he asked, “Wouldn’t you like a job where you only worked part time yet made enough money to train anywhere and anytime you wanted?”

Of course, who wouldn’t want such a job?! He then gave me his card and told me to call him if I was serious. His name was Boyce, and he sure looked and sounded like he was legit. I’m usually a pretty good judge of character, so sensing his sincerity I called him the next day.

A couple of days later he and a couple of his colleagues picked me up and took me to a diner to discuss business. Actually his colleague was the one doing most of the talking, going over different forms of distribution and such.

Remember, I’m pretty business-minded, so if someone goes over a plan with me I’m pretty quick on understanding it. What they were saying seemed to make sense, at least in theory, but they still weren’t coming right out and saying what exactly they did for a living.

It’s like they wanted to give information gradually, and said we’d discuss it more at another informal meeting. Well, I didn’t know their precise business, but judging from the common sense of the information they did provide me, along with how they carried themselves, this was a group I could see myself being a part of.

Our next get together would be in a few days, and wanting to fit in as well as prove to these guys that I was serious, I went out and bought a suit. Sure it was cheap at a hundred and forty dollars, but it looked pretty good. And I didn’t have one anyway.

The next time we met they seemed impressed with my enthusiasm, and after some more distribution talk invited me to go on a trip with them to Provo, Utah, where all my questions would be answered.

Talking to my boss at the restaurant about it, he was like, “I don’t know, sounds a little like, Amway. Are you sure it’s not ScamWay?”

Apparently, that’s how many people viewed Amway. As a scam. The granddaddy of pyramid schemes that didn’t really work except for the people at the very top.

Although I had heard the name before, I didn’t really know anything about the company. And since Boyce and the others never mentioned the actual name Amway, it was still possible that their business was something else. Either way, being the optimist I was I thought I’d at least continue to look into it

I didn’t mention the conversation with my boss to Boyce and the others. I wanted to see where they were going with this whole thing and planned to find out at the meeting in Provo. After driving for a few hours we finally reached our destination, where more people were dressed in business attire like us.

Once the meeting got started the head honcho guest speaker took the podium. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes of positive talk the company name came up. Amway.

I felt a certain kind of disappointment in the pit of my stomach,