the job hunt

my dad is a working class guy through and through. when he decided to go to school to learn computers he did so still clinging to the promise he'd made himself long ago - to never get a job that required a suit or a cubicle.

i've never asked my dad point blank if he enjoyed the work he learned to do as a programmer, if he regrets not finding that long sought after job, but he didn't seem nearly as discouraged as my mom when his hopes were extinguished by pure financial necessity.

my dad's promise to himself is something i've thought about many times. he was also a draft dodger my dad. got himself hypnotized into believing he had high blood pressure and as a result failed his physical. something about the way my dad took a stand for things really inspired me. the decisions he made may not always have seemed logical to those around him, but he stuck to them.

it was strange having my dad at home so much of the time during his unemployment. it was like being in a foreign country - the daytime with my dad. he was distant, quiet and serious during those days, and i later found out that when the food was running low he was eating the least of it.

little did i know that this would be the beginning of the daytime with my dad becoming the status quo. the job he ended up getting, which he holds to this day, has him working the second shift.

-kmj