My mother always said, “It pays to be friendly.”\u00a0 I’m not sure why she said that.\u00a0 Sure, she was always friendly, but she never made much money in life, so how could it pay? Even so, I figgered it didn’t cost me nothing to be friendly, so I usually was.\u00a0 Today weren’t no different.\u00a0 I got up early like I always did to catch the bus to get to work on time.\u00a0 Like always, I helped Jimmy load his mama onto the bus with us so he could drop her off at adult day care while he went to work.\u00a0 Jimmy had it much rougher than me.\u00a0 My mama had left us quietly in her sleep four years before.\u00a0 Plum tuckered out we figgered, ’cause she’d worked hard all her life to make sure we had the necessities.\u00a0 With those, we could make our own fun cheaply enough, and we did.<\/p>\n
After I got to work, I got my supplies and began my routine.\u00a0 First, took my rolling cart outside and picked up trash people had thrown on our property since yesterday.\u00a0 Food wrappers, cans, bottles, you name it.\u00a0 People just dropped their wrappers when they were done with them.\u00a0 Leastways, it seemed that way. Of course, I emptied the trash cans, tool.\u00a0 Lots more trash in them than on the ground.\u00a0 Once I finished making our company look good on the outside, I headed inside to begin making my rounds.<\/p>\n
I slipped into the first office and waved to Ms. Jenkins, who was talking on the phone. She waved back.\u00a0 I emptied her trash and pulled my cart to the next room.<\/p>\n
“Good morning, Pete!”<\/p>\n
“Hi!\u00a0 Mrs. Phillips.\u00a0 How’s that boy of yours?”<\/p>\n
“He’s trying to decide which college he wants to go to, Pete.\u00a0 I’m so glad he has so many choices, but he’s having a tough time.”<\/p>\n
“Don’t you worry none.\u00a0 He’ll make the right choice.\u00a0 You raised him up right.”\u00a0 I put her trash can next to her desk and made my way to the next office.\u00a0 I’m so blessed to be able to work with the people in this office.<\/p>\n
When I reached the restrooms, I checked to make sure\u00a0 nobody was in the ladies’.\u00a0 I blocked the door open and began to clean. If I say so myself, my restrooms are the cleanest in the building.\u00a0 “Be done in a minute, Ms Black.\u00a0 Don’t you fret none.”<\/p>\n
“Thank you, Pete!”<\/p>\n
I finished my mopping and twirled the mop, “Now you be right careful, Ms. Black.\u00a0 I don’t want you to slip and hurt yourself.”\u00a0 I closed the door behind her and pulled my cart down the hall to do the mens’. This floor didn’t have very many men, so nobody came in while I was working.\u00a0 I finished the offices at the other end of the hall while people were gone to a luncheon.\u00a0 That went fast.\u00a0 Then I did the next floor, talking to four or five people up there.\u00a0 By the end of the day, I pulled my cart out to the dumpster, emptied it, and pulled it back to the maintenance room and got it ready for tomorrow.\u00a0 I caught the bus back to my apartment.\u00a0 I like this job.\u00a0 People are so friendly.<\/p>\n
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