Luck

Copyright © 2020 by David Wright.

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Rev. date: 09/04/2020

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Dedication-

This book is dedicated to Milagros Diaz-Wright my wife and the reason I am able to wake up in the morning and face the day.

Luck, in the ways of employment I have none. I have been let go from at least 3 or 4 jobs over the past 26 years. I have just been let go from my fourth or fifth job three days ago after being there for nine years. To say I didn’t see it coming would be an understatement. I knew that others had been released from their positions over the past few weeks but, my firing came as a complete shock. My boss, for example, was bounced from her job two weeks before I was. Her sudden departure was met with surprise but, no despair. My expulsion with was met with shock, mostly by me, and despair. Some people in my office even cried when they found out. How did I find out you ask? Well, it was about 4:15 p.m. Monday when I was told to see the president of my union at the administration building. I had no idea why. When I got there I saw her at the top of the stairs looking as if she had seen a ghost. I went upstairs, she said something, I don’t remember what, and she led me to a room as if she were taking a condemned man to the electric chair. The room was empty except for the two of us and the feeling of dread we had dragged in with us. She then proceeded to give me a copy of my termination letter that told me of my fate. All feeling in my body ebbed as I read its contents. Why, was the only thing I could say as I sat there trying to get a hold of myself. She gave me an answer, I think, that was unsatisfactory to say the least. There was a phone in the room and I called my wife, Millie, to tell her the bad news, several minutes later in walked two people, the new head of human resources and the director of my division to deliver the bad news officially. I was so mad and confused that I didn’t even bother to stay long enough to find out why this happened. Knowing would not have made it easier anyway. I have spoken with my union president and she doesn’t know why because those bastards didn’t tell her either. Nine years of my life spent working for a school (whose name may or may not be mentioned) that when the going got tough the administration got stupid, getting rid of people when economic times call for it is understandable. However, getting rid of me, who doesn’t have an impact on your bottom line and have given their blood, sweat and tears to the place is simply…. STUPID! I’m too old for this shit (my apologies to Sgt. Murtaugh)!

Luck in love is somewhat of a different story. I am married to Millie, for a few months short of 30 years. She is not a saint but, she has the patience of one. I met her through a mutual friend. We went on our first date shortly after the girl I was going out with broke up with me. The rest is history. I knew about five months into our relationship that she was the one for me and that the she had the qualities I needed and didn’t possess, to propose. I must say, before I go on, I’m sitting on my couch alone watching television at 12:15 in the afternoon. God, I hate being unemployed! Now I’m writing this book to get my head together. What are the chances of this getting published? Zero? 1000 to1? I don’t know but, I’ve been told that when a door closes a window opens (or some shit like that). The window to write my story is open so instead of jumping out of it I will jump into writing this tome. Ok where was I… oh, yeah luck. Luck, it’s been said, is the residue of desire and favors the prepared. Oh, I just got a call from the president of my union. She informed me that she is getting my grievance ready and will be contacting the union’s lawyer and that the whole process of taking my grievance to arbitration will take months to get heard. Yay, me! She asked me if there were any letters or things floating around that would hurt my case. I don’t know but, with my luck you never know. Firms can be cruel and can bounce you from your job for no reason but, I’m in a fucking union damn it! I’ve been in schools and have come into contact with teachers and chair-people that have no business being near children, students, let alone have any type of position in a place of education keep their positions because of unions and tenure. Hard working people, like me, have large enema tubes shoved up there asses because they either don’t have good union support or no union representation at all. We are left to twist in the wind while horrible people continue to be employed. No luck here, there or anywhere for that matter.

My dad is here and he’s telling me about people who are millionaires by doing something great. Like a woman and a man making stuff from bee’s wax or the guy who in the line at McDonald’s who went from chump to champ by coming up with an idea for a junk removal business. Now I know my dad is just trying to help but, I’m not in the mood to hear about self-made millionaires. It was luck I tell you!! I guess one must make their own luck in order to succeed. He means well, my dad, but, still it kills the mood the self- pity party that I was attending. Oh, I just remembered that yesterday I was watching REAL Sports on HBO and there was a segment about a guy that was born without any arm and legs. He has been a high school wrestler, an author, a personal trainer and a motivational speaker etc, etc, etc. Right now I’m watching a program about the Haitian Women’s Teen Soccer Team and how they, after they lost a world tournament, had no home to go home to because of the earthquake that destroyed the country earlier in the year. They were left homeless and futureless and I’m bitching about a job I lost while sitting on my couch in an air conditioned house. Luck is sometimes just being in the right place by accident of birth. I guess in this case I’m part of the lucky sperm club but, I’m still not comforted by it though. Still I’m lucky to have my wife and children around me to help me through my situation. I must mention my children at this point because, despite both being teens, they are for the most part good kids. When the eldest of my two girls heard of my axing she got on line to Dick’s Sporting Goods Store and got me to on their website for a position as lacrosse stringer or something like that. I think I’m a tad overqualified academically but still that was a cool thing to do and I give her props for the effort. Luck? Still I need a job. I’m sensing theme here.

Now I’m stuck. I had thought about writing a book for awhile. I was in the bathroom, modesty prevents me from saying what I was doing, when I got the idea for this story so, I owe a shout out to the porcelain god for helping me start this thing. Well, like the mathematician who was constipated I worked it out with a pen so everything is coming out now. But, for how long just how long.

My first real job after college was at a personnel agency in the city, New York City. I needed to work because my father was pissed that I graduated in May and did not look for gainful employment until November. If I wanted to live in his house I needed to work. A lesson for those of you out there: don’t ever look for a job in desperation it will not end well. Well I looked desperately for a job and came up with the one at the personnel agency. I got the position in November and was out of the position by February. Ah, that was fun. The aim of the job was to place secretaries and the like into companies who needed them, easy, right? Well, nobody hires during the holidays and since I got paid on commission I didn’t get paid. Since I didn’t place people, or, to be fair, enough people I got the boot. Now to be fair I was not the best employee so luck good or bad had nothing to do with my firing so I don’t know why I’m putting this story in here. I guess I’m just nostalgic. My job at the bank now that was unlucky!

I worked in the personnel office of a now extinct bank in New York. I had two bosses that I reported to both of whom were Black women. I bring this up because they were the first Black women to screw me and not in a good way. One in particular was the office manager that I reported to directly. She oversaw my probation period during the first few weeks on the job. Anyway, to make a long story short she fucked me over when she claimed she didn’t know I was hiring people during my probation period which I was not allowed to do. She knew about it all right but, when it came down to admitting it to the V.P. she clammed up. I was given more probation time because of it. Now I didn’t get fired from that job but, the stage was set for me to leave. I did tag the boss’s secretary but that had problems attached to that so leaving was a good thing. Or was it? My next trip down the occupation rabbit hole was when I got entangled with a university in Brooklyn, L.I.U. Another Black woman would be the bane of my working existence there as well. Now before you think I have a thing against Black women let me just say this… I do! Anyway, back to the story. I was at that job for only one year and did not get the chance for another year because they didn’t renew my contract. Now at this time I was engaged to the woman who is the mother of my two daughters. Ok I’m going off script here. I started writing this epic tome with pen and pad. I was going to copy it into a word document word for word. Well, that may happen but, for now I’m going off script.

Now I’ve realized that I’m a few pages into the book and I haven’t told you how I met my wife. I’m going to remedy that. I met my wife through a mutual friend. Her name is Casey (no it’s not but I don’t want to get sued) and she was someone I met years ago lost contact with then re-met her and began a friendship there after. I must say that in the time that we had a friendship going I was trying to make it a bit more than that. I stayed around her going to her gigs (she was a keyboardist in a club rock band) with the hopes of making her my girlfriend. She was newly divorced and was not into starting a new relationship so I played cool and bided my time. Well, at one point I felt the time was right to ask her out on a date. Well, low and behold she was going out with somebody! WHAT? It turned out that a friend of hers set her up with some guy and they began dating. Now the moment of truth, do I stay with this girl or do I make my move on out of there? Here is where fate steps in. In the past I would have moved on but, something told me to stay and remain friends. I met another girl and began dating her.

We were going out for a few months when Casey wanted to introduce me to her friend. Decency prevented me from meeting her friend because I was dating someone else. Anyhoo, the girl I was going out with broke up with me. Tears did not flow but, beers did. I was having a party with Casey and her boyfriend in attendance and I asked her for her friend’s phone number. Are you getting this? I got it, called her, asked her out on a date and married her a little more than a year later. The luck involved with this scenario comes because I did not end up either dating Casey or starting any relationship with her. I love her as a friend but, from what I’ve been told about her psychological state and from the way her marriage to the boyfriend ended (not well let me tell you) I was lucky not to have gotten involved romantically with her. I was also lucky not to have ended my friendship with her. If I did, I would not have gotten the phone number of the woman who would later become my wife. This would be a good place to introduce her to you.

Her name is Milagros, Millie for short. Her name means miracle in Spanish and that’s what she was to me. If she wasn’t born I probably would not be sitting in a house, employed or otherwise, writing this epic tale. I also would not have my daughters who are good people even though they drive me crazy sometimes. Millie is a doctor and is currently owner of her own practice. She is busy and out of the house most of the time so her situation is more stressful than mine. My situation does not alleviate her stress levels at all but, she, at this time, she is still with me. It was she who got me going when I lost my job at that university and has been by me for all the downs and ups that have happened over the past 20 years. As said before, she is not a saint but, she has the patience of one.

I just went to my oldest daughter’s award night at her high school. She is graduating in a few weeks and this ceremony honors students who have done outstandingly in the fields of academics and social service. She, Arianna, is part of one of the best academic classes in her high school’s history. I’d tell you what award she won but, I don’t know the name of it. She got 100 dollars along with a plaque so it’s all good I don’t know the name of the award. My youngest daughter, Vanessa, is a puzzle. She is very smart but, very ditzy. I’m sure she will go to college but, I don’t know if it will be Harvard or clown. I know this all seems random however, when your mind is reeling from being suddenly unemployed what do you expect! Still luck plays a part with my children. I live in a pretty nice area on Long Island and it is also mono-chromatic and privileged if you know what I mean. When Arianna was in sixth grade her friends were involved in blowjob parties; which is kind of fucked up if you ask me. The fact that my daughter was not involved in this sorted little venture was very lucky because you know how kids want to be part of the group especially girls. When