Backroom Conversations

Last night was an excellent work shift. There was still no room in the back but at least there was only one good sized truck (a fifteen-hundred). There were five us on crew today. I’ll throw out names so pay attention. We’ve got Sue, a tom-boy of a woman who comes off as bossy. There’s Ms. Sally a nice elderly woman who mainly sticks to taking care of the processing (ripping open clothing boxes and hanging the clothes on racks.) Then there’s Jamie, our resident atheist and cynic with sense of humor. We get along, yet we don’t get along. It’s weird. Then there is Tammy who is probably the most fun person to work with. She’s loud, opinionated, sarcastic, energetic, and has a broad sense of humor. Then lastly, there’s me. Since we had a relatively easy truck and a decent crew considering, we were joined by only one ICS member.

Remember Nate? Yeah, I had him working with me at the end of the line. Without some of the more homophobic members there, he really let himself go. I had a lot of fun with the sexual innuendo and banter. I’m pretty sure that he’s got me figured out. I just gave him too much for him not to. Even though he was only with us for about an hour and a half, his presence was felt until we left at midnight.

I nearly choked on my water when Ms. Sally figured it out. In the quietest whisper ever, “Is he… gay?”

When we were on break, Ms. Sally told us that Nate had come up to her. “He came up to me and said, ‘You know, I don’t think David belongs back here. He’s awful quiet when he’s around me.’”

I don’t know how he came up with that. He was the person I talked to the most that night!

So everyone starts teasing me about my new “friend.”

“Hey,” I said, “At least I’m attractive to someone.” What? I’m not taking any offense to their teasing. I sort of like the idea.

The last two hours of our shift overlaps with the overnight crew. I told one of them, Lauren, to beat up Tammy.

“Why?”

[pouty lips] “Because she’s teasing me.”

Tammy comes up and tells her about me and “my man.”

Lauren used to work with Nate, and I over a K-mart so she knows both of us. “Oh, I don’t remember seeing you two together [at K-mart.]”

Still trying to get some kicks out of this, I said, “That’s because we were discreet.”

“Well, now I’m not going to kick Tammy’s butt. You’re just putting gasoline on the fire.”

“Light me up, baby, and you’ll see some flames.”