Tales From The Darkside (Friday)

[85 Day Jerk]

I went back to the original crew Friday, and in typical fashion the ringleader of the brothers did not show up for work that day.  He must have gotten his paycheck in the mail.  The day went surprisingly easy and we had some good cloud cover so it did not get hot until after 3pm.  Since "Red" the amazing jive ass slacker was not present, we actually got some work done in a timely manner and that helped keep the Area Supervisor off our ass for a change.  He did however make us take just a half hour for lunch and the guys acted like it was gonna kill them.

With the absence of the troublemaking instigator I was able to explain to the younger guys what Bipolar Disorder is and how it affected me when I was their age.  I had to bat down all the typical beliefs and misconceptions such as..........

What drugs I must have done to cause it.

A bad experience or set back that made me "snap."

That because I have it, I could snap at any moment and start swinging on people.

By telling them this I have accomplished two things.  They now know that I am different from them, yet we work along side each other and that it is easier to just roll up your sleeves and get the damn job done, than bullshit and try to jive the boss with lame ass excuses.  Secondly, the first person to harass me and make degrading comments will get his well tanned ass fired since the crew chief was present, but I really don't want it to come to that.  All in all, it was a pretty good day and we even got to sit out a thundershower for a little over an hour.  Everyone went home in good spirits and the crew was even tripping off the decal I have on the back window of my truck. I am not as pissed off at them as I was earlier in the week.

For those of you that have never been to St. Petersburg Florida, I must say that it is one of the most segregated cities in the nation.  White people live on the Northside, while blacks live on the side south of Central Avenue, the rich Whiteys done grabbed up all the cool bayfront property, thus boxing them in to neighborhoods that have some of the oldest structures in the city.  I-275 only has 3 exits for the whole Southside, while the Northside has 7.  We still have a long way to go as a city.  Another thing about me is that I live in a 28 unit building right on the edge of downtown that has 6 bi-racial couples, a Morraccan family, and the rest are black and white 50-50.  Now what would a racist Southern Man be doing living here, hmmm?
Well, I gotta go because we have to set up the tables in the courtyard for another Scrabble marathon.

[85 Day Jerk]

Monday will be here before we know it and with it all the wonderful bullshit that goes on in the workplace.  So far Carmel, Starstruck and Lezli have been the only ones to speak of EXPERIENCE rather than spout off opinion like an overly sensitive car alarm.  That's a good way to describe the self righteous ones.  Most overly sensitive car alarms are installed by some insecure uneducated dumbass that can't even comprehend the installation instructions.  They do it in a hurry because they can't wait to show it off to the 'hood, and then for the next few weeks the whole goddamn neighborhood is woke up every time a cat jumps on the car or a gust of wind hits it.  That sort of shit went on all the time on my street until someone crawled underneath this assholes ride and cut the negative lead to the car battery.  Maybe that was'nt the nicest thing to do, but nobody got hurt and we all got some restful sleep afterwords.

I'm not trying to say that folks that only post opinions are not relevant, because they are, but when subject matter is as complex as this we are all afforded the opportunity to learn something and adults learning something through conversation is the only way we will throw off the yoke and harness of our bad habits and actually change the world we live in for the better.

WAIT UNTIL I START POSTING ABOUT THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS!!! [ This Message was edited by: 85 Day Jerk on 2004-08-30 03:35 ]

[webcrawler]

Oh, my EXPERIENCES well lets see there are so many to name. Being abandoned by almost all my white friends because I was branded a "nigger lover" and their b/f's were so worried they too would hook up with a black dude, Hmmm 3 racists skinheads coming from Flint to Detroit with baseball bats to beat the shit out of me and my b/f for the simple reason he was a skin that belonged to S.H.A.R.P. in NY, same racist skinheads stalking me in Flint because of who my friends and roommates were, let's see having some trailer park bitch at work tell me how sick it was that I was having a mixed baby (this all came out of the blue as she used to be nice to me and give me rides home), having my so called white male friends tell me how sick I was and that what I was doing was gross, people calling my kids half breeds, zebras, and white niggers right in front of us, the list goes on. Then I find this board only to find someone call me a wigger and other derogatory shit which totally surprised me since he was cool to me on another board and now the latest having some stupid comment by Brad talking about me getting pregnant.

Save your passive-aggressive insults. I can read right through them.

[GregFL]

St Petersburg, and specifically the southside, is one of the most sucessfully integrated areas in america.

Lakewood was mostly white when I was in middle school. Take a ride on the wild side my man and you will see this.

"Lakewood began bridging the racial divide in the mid-1960s. What has happened in our neighborhood since that time is what the St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Tribune call an extraordinary event. As integration progressed and the demographics of our neighborhood changed, Lakewood Estates became known as an excellent example of how people can learn to accept each other and live together as good friends and neighbors. We are very proud to be an example for all neighborhoods."

http://www.stpete.org/nnlak.htm

[GregFL]

Krystene, chill. YOu will not and cannot change racial opinions on a public website.

I have been in interracial relationships before. My current partner's father is black.  So what?  You, when you enter into these relationships, you make the conscious decision to put up with ignorance and prejuidice. Fight it by example and stop leading with it.  People calling your children names because of their color are reprehensible.

You are following into an old trap, lowering yourself to the level of those that are vitrol. Don't do it.



[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2004-08-29 16:16 ]

[webcrawler]

On 2004-08-29 16:09:00, GregFL wrote:

"Krystene, chill. YOu will not and cannot change racial opinions on a public website.



I have been in interracial relationships before. My current partner's father is black.  So what?  You, when you enter into these relationships, you make the conscious decision to put up with ignorance and prejuidice. Fight it by example and stop leading with it.  People calling your children names because of their color are reprehensible.



You are following into an old trap, lowering yourself to the level of those that are vitrol. Don't do it.







[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2004-08-29 16:16 ]"

Right you are Greg. It's very hard to not fall into it though. Reading all this shit is like reliving the shit I went through when I was younger all over again.

[GregFL]

85 day jerk
________________________________________________
For those of you that have never been to St.  I must say that it is one of the most segregated cities in the nation....... Another thing about me is that I live in a 28 unit building right on the edge of downtown that has 6 bi-racial couples, a Morraccan family, and the rest are black and white 50-50."
____________________________________________


See any contradiction in your statement here my friend?

Think again about St Pete.  Bi-racial couples, children, and families abound.  

Lets everybody let each other off the hook here. Recent scientific developments have discovered that race is nothing more than evolutionary changes due to climate adaption. There is no black gene, white gene, oriental gene that has been identified.  


http://www.nyhallsci.org/nyhs-pressroom ... _race.html



Fight over something that has some merit...



[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2004-08-29 16:37 ]

[85 Day Jerk]

Hey Greg, as an answer to your question................NOPE.  There is nothing contradictory about people fed up with the "black thang" and wanting to live a better life in harmony with others.  

You make it sound as if the Midtown and Southside no longer exist and has been replaced by Smiley Happy People like a demented REM video.  As far as Lakewood Estates goes, gimme a break.  Those folks would not be living there were it not for Affirmative Action and the lucky few who's families settled here years ago and started their own businesses.

I can understand your desire to "keep things mellow" but I ask you to consider my desire to keep things real. It reminds me of how bullshit things were in group.  Anytime someone tried to be real, they would get shut down.  My own family members liked to keep it mellow too.  I have'nt seen any of them since '96.  Ya know why they "Call it Mellow Yellow" don't you?  Because yellow is the color for cowards, people that just want to cover up the bullshit instead of trying to stop it at it's source through patience and understanding.[ This Message was edited by: 85 Day Jerk on 2004-08-30 03:36 ]

[GregFL]

Jerk, you are entitled to your opinion. The contradiction is in you saying St pete is segregated then proclaiming the building you live in is 50/50 divided. The rest of your statements about why Lakewood is not segregated stand on their own. Being a resident of the Lakewood area during middle and high school, I disagree.

Your racial views are your own. I would not try to change them. My point is, why is it necessary to argue about race on this message site?

You guys wanna do it...go ahead. This is an unmoderated forum. I just find it personally reprehensible. I am entitled to my opinion as well.

[85 Day Jerk]

Your statement about Lakewood Estates is not a qualifying statement Greg, for the simple reason that you lived there as a child and teenager.  Now if you are a registered homeowner there, okay, but you are trying to take credit for something that you had no part in helping create.  As far as segregation and separatism go, it still goes on to this day.  The so called "integration" is primarily due to the prevalance of apartments versus affordable housing.  I myself am 41 years old, single, and have never owned my own home.  I am finally establishing a credit rating nearing the 5K mark, but have'nt even DREAMED of owning a home just quite yet.

The huge market of available apartments has allowed people of all walks of life the opportunity to live wherever the hell they want to live, but apartment dwellers are not truly free.  We cannot afford to be smug and content with our pompous aires because we simply live too close together.  As far as my being racist, get real!!!  I am however completely intolerant of assholes who play the race card in all their daily affairs and who try to "get over on da man" on the job at every opportunity.  

Getting back to the first post, the black gentlemen that I work with are comprised of a 49 year old that lives in a roach infested apartment above Crescent Lake Park, a young man with no skills whatsoever who lives near Bartlett Park (where most of the fires were set in '96) two young men from the Greenwood Area of Clearwater, (drugs, violent crime) and lastly a white guy in his mid fifties who lives in the Uptown area (prostitution, rampant domestic violence)

Yeah it's negative to talk about, but my name aint Candy Sweet-tits the tourguide, and this aint freaking Disneyland.  These guys all live in their own respective hellholes and they bring their hatred and negativity to work with them each and every day and I posted my frustration with the situation on this forum.  I had the AUDACITY to actually use this board as a tool to gain some valuable feedback so that I don't quit my job, or get in a fistfight with one of the work crew.

Guess what?  I got some real bad news for you all.......................................................it worked!   THANKS EVER SO MUCH, Love 85 Day Jerk

[Anonymous]

lakewood is primarily single family residences, and I refer you back to the article I linked you to. Lakewood has been held up as a model integetrated neighborhood for years and years and used as an example thruout the country as such.

Jerk, never I said I created it and never took credit for it,just pointed it out.

Also never said you were a racist...you extrapolated that out of what I said all on your own.

sorry your job sucks...hope it gets better.

Have a great day.

gregfl forgot to login.

[85 Day Jerk]

Hear Hear, well said.  I only wish I could find a link that can play the most wonderful "TROUBLE EVERY DAY" by Frank Zappa.

I think the most memorable part of the song is during a bridge, where he says, "Ya know people, now I'm not black, but there's lots of times I wish I could say that I'm not white."  

Maybe you can download it off of Kazaa.  It is also on his greatest hits CD entitled "Strictly Commercial."

[GregFL]

Grew up on Zappa. You know back then, everyone thought you were weird when you liked him, but damn, he could play the guitar and lay down some warped lyrics.

[85 Day Jerk]

We got rained out Friday for a couple of hours.  I was soaked to the skin, first from sweat, then from rain.  The crew chief was kind enough to have us all pile in the work truck and drive around listening to ghetto music with the a/c on full blast as the rain pelted the windows.  We shared each others germs until the rain let up.

By the end of the day I had started sneezing.  I woke up Saturday with a sore throat.  Sunday morning my tonsils were kicking out blood along with wonderful butterscotch.  I did some home remedy treatments and prayed I did not need anti biotics cuz that whole scene can put you out of a hundred bucks or more pretty damn fast.

Called the temp agency and said I had an upper respiratory infection.  The bitch was unfazed, and did'nt even respond when I mentioned us having to ride around in a freezing work truck in wet clothes on so I just kept calling the Paving Dept. every day to tell them I was still sick.  I was really scared that Kelly Services would not put me to work over this, but by the grace of God, another woman from their Countryside office called and informed me not to worry, that they had found a suitable replacement for the Sidewalk Crew.  So here I got all worked up over a bunch of crap that I have no control over and it all came out okay in the end.  I guess I still have issues with faith.  Lack of faith is one of my greatest faults.  I put myself through alot of unnecessary turmoil over a bullshit job that I should'nt have been doing in the first place.  If my doctor had known I was out in the heat doing hard labor she would have kicked my ass because profuse sweating on lithium can cause kidney failure.  I just hope the next assignment is a little more well suited for me.

So I'll close the book on this one, I hope we all came away with something we can use in our daily lives.  This topic was pretty intense at times on both threads, but I think will stand out as one of the most memorable.

[thebaker]

I have enjoyed reading your posts, and I am very glad that you are getting a new job.  Please let us know how your new job is going.