2001-09-22 | SHOW US YOUR CANS

"it's always funny until someone gets hurt.... and then it's just hilarious...."-FAITH NO MORE

so....there's this lady that comes into the warehouse i work in about once a week. she comes in to collect cans to take to the recycling center so she can buy god knows what. hopefully that's not her only source of income.

she is very old and her husband died a couple years ago. she is definitely lonely and kind of crazy. she says things that would make you want to strangle a normal person, but with her you just answer them. she's seen alot more then any of us have.

i usually help her smash the cans because she has a hard time with it. i say i smash about 50 each time she comes in. it's very disgusting. i don't know where she gets some of her cans. sometimes, after we smash her cans she tries to give us stuff. like these gross taffy candies she said she got from the swap meet. one time she tried to give me some sweet potatoes wrapped up in a paper towel. i wouldn't eat something like that from anybody, let alone someone who digs through trash all day. she does have these imitation oreos sometimes from the phillipines, which are safely factory wrapped, but i'm still kind of cautious about it. they're pretty good, though. she gave me this corn snack thing last time. i tried one and almost threw up. some of the guys actually liked it. i'm very health conscious about stuff like that. i'm surprised i even tried one. it was sealed, but it was from the phillipines, and looked very generic and not too appetizing.

the last time i smashed cans for her, i actually had a pretty decent conversation with her. i didn't actually say anything myself. i just listened to her tell me about her family and her life and what she does now that her husbands not around and stuff like that. it was a very nice moment. one that makes you feel all warm inside. then one of my bosses came by and i had to get back to work, or at least pretend i was working. i kind of wish i could've kept talking to her for a few more minutes. she's never talked like that before, and who knows if she ever will again. that might of been her freshest day in years, where she remembered everything, and wanted to talk about it, and maybe i was the only person that day willing to listen. who knows. i feel bad for this lady. sometimes she falls over when she gets up too fast after picking up cans and putting them in her plastic safeway bags. i had to help her up one time. i often think what would happen if she dropped dead while i was helping her. i wouldn't know what to do. i don't want to be stuck in that situation. i guess i could handle the calling an ambulance part, but as far as the rest i'd feel helpless. she's pretty old, though, so she probably could go at anytime. it's sad....if she stopped showing up again, i'd probably just forget about her. no one would know she died. sadly, alot of people i work with wouldn't even give a shit. as much as she irritates me, i'll always remember the little talk we had that day. i'll have that to think about her. so if she dies, i'll feel worse then probably anybody else at my work. i wouldn't cry or anything, but i'd feel something. i would hope i would. i have a feeling i maybe wouldn't care much either, but i'd be a little more compassionate then my co-workers. anyway, my story doesn't have some great, defining point or anything, it was just something different then what i normally talk about. i hope i didn't bore you.

love, jon

- premature ejaculation | tantra +