Car Pool Log: 2007 05-07

I was about to get into the backseat but there wasn’t one. The vehicle was a utility truck. I got in front and said good morning. In the body of the truck were shelves of manuals, machinery and tools. All of which, including Driver, specialized in elevator repair.

Driver made conversation. He asked me where I worked and I told him. I said, I take it you repair elevators. He laughed. He told me that his company has been short staffed for a while, that by Thursday he gets pretty exhausted. The job comes with perks though. He services Bill Graham Civic and was able to see Muse for free. “They told me that they would get me backstage and force me to drink alcohol.”

He followed the money into his trade. He didn’t realize (and neither did I) that you needed five years of schooling in order to become certified to fix elevators. “Had I known better I would’ve become a doctor,” he said. “You might as well, right?”

Just last week he came back from New Orleans. He went to JazzFest and partied along Bourbon Street. He said it was an amazing city, that the people were the nicest he’d ever come across. It took him a while to acclimate to being back. There had been so much devastation and the government didn’t do right by them.