RISE AXELBLOG

Fridays are that fun day at the end of the week.  All you got to do is get through these last hours and you will be birthed from the womb of occupation into the wonderful world of Weekend.  

What happens when those last hours never end?

Thats what happened to me yesterday; my Friday lasted, well, till Saturday.  

I started my shift at 7:30 am, with a cup of joe and a smile.  Who doesn’t like road trips?  Not this guy!  A day on the open road with friends is always a welcome treat.

But this treat would soon turn into a trick.  

Clovis to Ontario (The warm one, not Ontario, Canada), 242 miles…in a 26ft box truck.  Not the most pleasant of rides, but, spirits we’re high and we would not be brought down by sloth-like acceleration and the unexpected moguls of the I-5.  

Spirits, however, would be dented when we arrived at our pick up point to find our cargo, 30+ deluxe cubicles, still assembled and situated in a military-esque lineup.  I went to investigate these metal and carpeted beasts but soon felt overwhelmed, as if the cubicles we’re flanking me.

What was supposed to be a simple break-down, pack-up job soon turned into a 5 hour cubicle-decomposition.  Each one like an onion, forcing us to peel back layers upon layers of metal and wood and plastic and carpet.

Around 7:45pm we finished packing our cargo,  every one of us beaten and bruised, emotionally and physically.  Victory could not be savored yet, though.  We still had the treacherous trek back home.

4 hours felt like 40 as the Los Angeles highway infrastructure taunted our every move.  The 60 to the 71 to the 57 to the 210 to the 5 to the 99 to the 41 to the 180 to the 168 to the seatbelt around my throat to the contemplation of driving off the highest cliff we could be find to the…

…end.  

12:45am, Saturday morning, the weighed-down truck creeps into the parking lot with a trailer full of cubicle bones and a cab full of sweat, stink and fatigue.

I was scheduled to work 8am to 2pm; 6 hours.  This turned into the longest 6 hours of my entire life.

Thanks go out to Erik Lantis for being a sucker enough to drive the truck; Mo, for supplying us with ridiculous noises and references throughout the day, that, at one point had me crying; Rick for lunch and the opportunity to earn 8-plus hours of overtime; and Brandon for not kicking my ass when made stereotypical black jokes.

-Bradley Norris