Thanksgiving

The last three days have been hell on me. The government took away my unemployment and I now have no more money coming in. After three brutal days and struggle that has lasted seven months and is still going on, I will say this.

I am so glad I went to Willow Creek church last night and heard the great Harvey Carey PREACH about giving thanks in strange places. I'm going to hold onto that message. I'm going to hold onto my faith in God's power to change me, not just my circumstances. I will give thanks because these are the times when people are tested and I'm getting that opportunity now.

I will never be perfect. I will not be the same person again. I'm going to a better man coming out of this desert, even if I don't know when time may come. Even in the midst of this darkness, I will not be broken!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Scrunched

I was really excited to work an NFL game. But since it was in St Louis, I had to get up early. Specifically, I woke up at 2:45 am.
I left home at 3:15 and made it to the Enterprise in Schaumburg just before 4 where I met up with my colleagues from the event staffing company. We crammed 14 people in a supposed 15 seat passenger can. I took the backseat.

I slept most of the 4.5 hour trip, listening to a few podcasts on the way. This was actually my first tune in downtown St Louis. We had to pay about a dollar each for parking. Considering we were working, I have no idea why we'd pay for parking. We walked into the annex section of the Edward Jones Dome.
As the uniform requirements stated, I removed my jacket and hoodie and put on the white polo shirt over my white t shirt.

My group was sitting in this area that between the rows of plastic chairs, concrete floor, and drab, industrial atmosphere, looked like it was right out of the DMV. In a roped off area of the room, I could see people sitting at round tables and eating. I looked closer and I could see a carving station we couldn't access. What a tease!

A supervisor I'd never seen pulled me up and I was suddenly facing everyone else. He also pulled three girls I didn't know. I had no idea why we were standing. Someone said it was because we were not wearing the right shoes. I didn't see that as my shoes were basically all black, unlike the girls.

Eventually we got escorted out of the room and out of the building into the 30 degree temps. It was around 9:15 am. I wound up working at a bag requirements booth, which are stationed all around the dome. Basically, this guy Jay had a megaphone and read a script about what was and wasn't allowed in the building. Clear bags and small purses a
Only, it's been an NFL policy since last year. Jay made the announcements. Meanwhile, I just stood there passing out tiny plastic bags to anyone who wanted them.

The temperature wasn't too bad initially. There wasn't much wind either, which would have made it really tough working outside. But the weather got worse quickly. Around 10, the snow started falling. Now I had no idea I'd be outside. I couldn't find my winter hat and I just had my gloves and a very light jacket. Standing there for all those hours, I was freezing. My bigger job was probably not catching hypothermia. Time just refused to go by. What felt like an hour turned out to be only 15 minutes.

At 12:30, we went inside to thaw out. My legs felt so stiff, but I couldn't wait to get inside that building. They walked us back outside and over to the annex building again. Other workers were turning in their white polo shirts and jackets, but I knew none of these people, so I wasn't sure what to do. I just went into my bag and ate my almond butter sandwich and apple. And I just sat down in the DMV, waiting for what to do next. I didn't really care what I did, I just wanted to stay inside.

A few of my fellow Chicago employees showed up and not too long after that, we we were told we could go home. We left around 1:45. But the aggravation wasn't over.

As we left, I realized my gloves were gone. Terrific. My new pair lasted three weeks.
On the ride home, we had one extra rider. Of course, they sit in the backseat. So we have four people smashed together like sardines for a five hour van ride back to Schaumburg. This wasn't working an NFL game. I never saw the concourse, never saw the field, never saw one play. We were treated like cattle today.