Monday, May 27, 2013

Funny Stories X: End of the series

Was having a problem adding this on to my Facebook page in the Notes section.  since the site wants to act up, I'll just post it here.  This is the very LAST entry of the series.  Of course, it took me FOUR YEARS to write it, lol, lol.  The series was based on experiences that I was going through in 2009, and to get back into my literary flow, I stored writing these snippets about my life.  Considering turNing them into my next book project.  I'll let you guys know how that works out.  ENJOY!!!

"Of All The Girls I Loved Before"


When people ask me about my time living in Richmond, sometimes I get asked if I have any regrets after having lived there for three-and-a-half years. Usually, I tell people that I regret staying there two and a half years too long, considering the sour taste that that place left in my mouth. But, if I have to be honest about regretting one thing about Richmond, it's about a particular lady that I left behind.

Wrote a story about it. Wanna hear it? Like a here it, here it goes...

For those of you familiar with my job at “Da Liquor Sto' ”, I was hating life something serious. The pay and the hours were crap, and my boss at the time was a fucking bitch. Luckily for me, one of my coworkers at the ABC store had a primary job working at one of the local hospitals. She knew that I needed the extra money, and that I wasn't getting it at the crappy job, so she offered to help me get a position at the hospital she worked at. I gladly jumped at the chance to get the hell away from that wretched job, and sent it an application. Considering the fact that I had applied to that same hospital once before and got shot down, I felt that my chances were better this time around now that I was being referred by someone who already worked there, and knows my work ethic. After jumping through a few hoops, and having a few strings pulled, I was hired part time as a PRN (glorified hospital kitchen gopher).

I have to admit, I loved that job! It wasn't so much the work, but I enjoyed my coworkers in my department. We came in, did the dirty work, and had FUN! Every morning while riding the bus on my way to work, I would always hear the theme music to the television showERplaying in my head. It was MUCH better than my liquor store job, not to mention that it helped to keep me AWAY from the liquor store. Every day my coworkers and I would joke and laugh, play around, and handle our business with getting the food out to the patients and hospital staff. Other than dealing with the occasional racist ass nurse (and some of them damn kids in our department), I loved that job. The paycheck was consistent, my supervisorTeewas cool as hell (not to mention foine!!!), I got THE HELL away from the liquor store, and I got to chill with my best friend at the job.

Let me stick with my best friend at the job for a minute...

“K-Dogg” was cool as all hell. Cat was all types of funny, and made me feel welcome from day one. If I ever felt homesick, I could always count on K-Dogg to make me laugh, reminding me of my peoples that I had back in NY. You never knew WHAT was going to come out of his mouth, especially if he started crackin' on people, especially our coworker Mr. Frank. Those two would go at it all day, every day, and keep us all in stitches. One thing about K-Dogg, though...he had a habit of pointing out certain habits that you have...

I never realized that I had a 'superhero stance' until he pointed it out to me. One day we're running food carts to the different units, and I was waiting for the elevator to go back to the kitchen to get the other carts. Apparently, I was in my 'superhero stance' while waiting for the elevator.

Yo, Kev...I saw Professor X on the third floor. He and the X-Men are gonna be battling Magneto. They want you to meet them up there to help out!

Okay mane, you know what...?!?! [Lip all upturned]

I also never realized how fast I can eat my lunch. Apparently, I can eat my entire lunch tray (entree, big bowl of salad, dessert, and large drink) anywhere between 5 ½ and 6 ½ minutes. Seriously. I know cause K-Dogg timed me! Several times!

Mane, Ima put you in them eating contests! We can win some BIG money. An I'll be your manager...taking my fifteen percent cut of your winnings!

Okay mane, you know what...?!?! [Lip all upturned]
K-Dogg liked and respected me a lot. He respected my political beliefs, and always gave me props for it. Of course, he would crack on me a few times, calling me the lost member of Public Enemy's S1Ws. He would be singing their song,Fight the Power, and imitate the dance moves that they would do in the video.

Okay mane, you know what...?!?!? [Lip all upturned]

Other than being a great friend, the best thing that he ever did was to introduce me to her...

Let's call her “Niecey”...

Niecey was one of the cooks in our department. She was also a transplant New Yorker, now living in Richmond. She had moved down several years ago, from the Bronx, and has been in love with the place ever since. Funny thing about me an Niecey...? It took us a while to get together. When I first started working there, we basically had a hi/bye relationship, speaking to each other only when spoken to. She pretty much kept to herself, and I was just trying to feel everybody out (though I was lusting after our supervisor Tee). Not to mention...she wasn't even in my top five of women at the job that I wanted to hook up with (obviously, my supervisor was number one on that list). It wasn't until K-Dogg formally introduced us that we really started talking to each other...
Funny thing about that first meeting. I was working as the pot washer that day, and K-Dogg had gotten us to speak to each other, being on that whole New York vibe. She came over, dropped off her pots for me to wash, and then we had a nice little conversation. Then after our conversation ended, she walked back over to her station, and I noticed something...

????????????

Damn...she got a REALLY nice walk!

That was the beginning of me and Niecey. She was older than me by a few years (okay...more than ten), and was a widow. But the more I got to know her, the more attracted to her I became. And for anybody who knows me, I usually wear my emotions on my sleeve, and let my feelings be know. Hell, my supervisor Tee was one of the first people to encourage me to talk to her like that.

I tried to be discreet in the beginning, but me being me, that act of tact didn't last very long. I ended up kinda putting myself out there one day in front the rest of the staff. It was on one of our weekends that we had to work. Since work is slower on the weekends (depending on the patient count), we have more added time to relax and chill. I was running carts that day with Mr. Frank, while K-Dogg was rotated onto pots. I remember that I was walking around, trying to find something to do until it was time to go pick up the carts. I walked over by Niecey's station, and asked if she wanted me to dump her garbage for her. She just smiled her pretty chocolate smile, and said that I could go with her to dump it.

Hell...I just wanted to spend some time with her. Of course I went!

It's a bit of a trek to get from the kitchen to the dumpster. You have to go through a few twists and turns of the hallways, and a short elevator ride to get there. I was walking along side Neicey, conversating with her along the way. After we turned the second corner, somehow she ended up pulling up ahead of me. That's when I noticed her walk again...

Man...she has a really, really, REALLY nice walk. That thing was swinging EVERY which way!

You send me swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiining! Oh, you send me swingiiiiiiiiiiin!

Hey! If YOU would've seen what I saw....you'd be acting the SAME way too! I started having a Charlie Brown moment at the same time.

Wah wah,wah wah wah waaaaaaaah!

Whatever we were talking about, I soon forgot it, and was too busy focusing on her...walk. Of course, I gave the occasional “uh huh” and “yeah” to let her think that I was paying attention, but I was too busy focusing on her...walk. After we reached the dumpster, I made sure to let her walk ahead of me just a little bit so that I could watch that walk of hers. We make it back to the kitchen, and she heads towards her work station. I'm still focusing on her...walk...when she catches me. She continues talking, stops, turns to me, and responds with, “...Don't you think so?”.

I pause. I finally look up.

She stands there, looking me dead in the eye...trying to hide the smile that I know she wants to wear. Yeah...I saw you looking back there!

BUSSSSSSSTEEEEEEEEEEED!

What could I do? I came clean.

Okay, I gotta be honest...I ain't hear not one word you was saying...
Her response? “Uh huuuuuuuuuh...”
I'm saying though....I was distracted. Can you blame me?
Uh huh...okay...

Niecey just shakes her head, and walks back over to her work station...finally smiling. I go back to my own work area. But not before I hit her with this...

Hey Niecey...
Yeah...?
...You have a really nice walk!
She laughs. “You so silly!”
Hey...I like what I see!

Of course, I end up doing that in front of most of my coworkers. I actually had one pull me aside and ask me point blank if I liked Niecey. Quite obviously, I wasn't doing a good job of hiding it. The good thing about it though...everybody like it , and encouraged it. Of course, personally, I wouldn't have given a shit WHO liked it or not; the only thing that I cared about was that I really cared about this woman, and wanted to get to know her better on a more permanent basis.

I wouldn't say that it was a whirlwind romance, but quite obviously, we were very attracted to one another. People had jokes about how I was always around her work area, just leaning around her, flirting, laying on the charm. K-Dogg caught me with a good one once; since sometimes some of the other cooks on staff give Niecey a hard time, I remember making a comment one weekend we worked about taking out anybody that was giving her a hard time during the shift. He started calling me “The Bodyguard” after that, singing Whitney Houston....

And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII......wiiilll alllllwaaaaaaaays loooooove yooooooooooouuuuuuu....

Okay, really mane?! You know what.....?!?!?! [Lip all upturned.]

Things were going pretty good, and it was obvious that Niecey was just as attracted to me as I was to her. Hell, when I wrote my first book, she was the first person that I showed it to. Despite our age difference, it seemed like I was FINALLY going to have somebody special in my life for a looooong time. But anybody who know about my life, knows that with the good, comes the bad. We ended up hitting a rough patch....

She did something that really hurt my feelings. Not to mention, the job started cutting my hours (officially, I was only a part-time employee), so I was only there a few days a week, working only three hours a day. That really hurt me financially, especially since I had finally left that wretched liquor store job. Not to mention, I was stuck working the evening shift with them damned kids.

If I ever really, really wanted to move the hell out of Richmond, it was right then and there. I wanted out of that place, like last year!
That particular hell lasted almost three months. I was miserable, financially struggling, and now extremely lonely. I stepped up my efforts to move the hell away from Richmond, and get the hell away from this darkness that I was experiencing. I hated having my hours cut, and I hated working with most of those kids even worse. It got to the point that I really, really wanted to walk off the job. I left New York to get away from bullshit like this, and here I was, basically back where I started.

After a while, my hours started to pick back up. Having had my hours cut, Niecey and I really didn't get to see each other. Once my hours started coming back, whatever issues that she had had about us were now nonexistent. Issues be damned, she wanted us to get back to the way we were. It took a bit of effort on her part; I still felt hurt from the way that she had treated me before, and wasn't trying to go through that again. But, slowly but surely, we got back into each other's good graces again. I ended up getting her a few gifts, and even asked her out a few times ( she said maybe...maybe is good; it's not a 'no').

But alas....it didn't last....

One of the jobs that I had applied for in Maryland finally gave me a callback. It paid me more money, it was full time with benefits, NO weekends (which ended up being a lie), and it got me the fuck away from Richmond. Suffice it to say, I jumped at the chance. Now I had to break the bad news to Niecey. Quite obviously she was hurt that I was leaving, but tried to brush it off, and hide it. EVERYBODY knew that she was sad and hurt that I was leaving, and I felt like an ass for doing it. She had already lost her husband, and now that she had finally opened her heart to someone else, I hurt her again by leaving. She was somebody who I could have seen myself with for the rest of my life. Looking back in hindsight, even if I already knew the answer, I should have at least asked her if she wanted to come with me. She deserved as much to have a say in a decision as important as this. I felt like I started something that I knew I couldn't finish, and cheated her out of something better in life, some happiness.

SO....

I gave my two weeks notice, made my plans to move, and said my goodbyes. I got the contact numbers of all the people that I was cool with, and left on my last day with my head held high. Though I don't regret moving out of Richmond, I do regret not trying to make a life with Niecey. I often think about her, and reminisce over our time spent together. Sometimes, I think about hopping on the bus, and making a surprise visit at my old job, just so that I could see her one more time. The least that I could do is apologize to her for the way that I left. I just hope that she's now happy, and in a good relationship with someone who deserves her....

.Or, still be single so that I can have another chance with her.

This has been brought to you by the numbers o9, and 10.
And Facebook.


Forever my lady, (ohhh, yeah!)
It's like a dream...
I'm holding you close, keeping you warm, (Ohhh, ohhhh)
If this is ecstasy.......

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