My First Day Laborer

I live in the ghetto, let's get that out of the way right now. On the plus side, I live above a bar named Rudy's Place. Don't know who Rudy is, but it doesn't matter. If it was named Irene's, muthafuckas would still show up. The negative aspects of living above a bar? Firstly, I don't drink... much. Secondly, it's a bar in the ghetto. Thirdly, its a loud bar in the ghetto. Fourthly, ghetto. I actually grew up running around these streets so living where I wreaked havok as a young cholo is comforting in many ways. Rather than run off another set of firstly, secondly's, trust me, there are many.

Talking of ghettos and dive bars, I want to get to the real subject of this first non haiku blog from myself. The building that plays host to myself and Rudy's Place is almost 100 years old. When I moved in, there was this old clawfoot cast iron bathtub. This thing weighed in at a whopping 400 lbs. It was in good shape, but it still had to go. I had been planning to get to moving it and after a short period of lethargy, the day had come. I had arranged for help, but at the last minute, my help was no where to be found. I had the truck lined up, but there was no way i was moving this tub by myself. I resigned myself to the fact that free help wasn't going to happen, so i cruised by the local hardware superstore in search of the perfect day laborer, hence forth referred to as "daylabe".

Now, keeping in mind this tub has to go down some stairs, I'm looking for some strong daylabes. It was a veritable meat market of them. I had witnessed before how the daylabe would swarm other vehicles in search of work. I didn't want to cause the same chaos so I pulled up not making any eye contact. After I parked, I saw this guy and tried to discretely call him over. After seeing me gesture towards him, he does the last thing I want him to do, sprint, full gallop, right at me. This starts the avalanche. The second, third and fourth guy to sprint up to me were all collectively about 6 foot tall. Yeah, no. The fifth however, although older seemed the right guy for the job. I felt like I was some john setting up a date, then remembered, daylabes don't sleep around.

We got back to my apt and tried to explain in my broken, crappy spanish how they should take it down the flight of steps. They looked at me, nodding their heads and in the end, they did it their own way. WTG.

After taking the tub to the local metal recyclers, I gave them a little more for their effort and because I got a bit more money than I thought I would. When I drove them back to where I picked them up, I thanked them and bough them couple waters too. In the parking lot, I was confronted by some passive aggressive betch who scolded me for supporting illegal labor, illegal immigration and illegal activities. If she would've said illegal one more time, I was going to pay the daylabes somethin extra to kick her ass. Seriously, I shined her on because she didn't help me move the tub.

Anyway, the reason why I felt compelled to write about daylabes is because while alot of people think it's a bad thing for them to loiter about like grandma snuggies, i beg to differ. At least they are dedicated to trying to earn some money by getting up early in the morning and standing around on the off chance you'll get chosen among the others individuals looking for the same opportunities. They're not going around, taking the easy routes like theft or dealing or other nefarious activities. They just want to work.

They want to survive. and the will to survive is a trait almost everyone has in their genetic makeup. Why should they be ridiculed for trying to survive? Most "Americans" have lost touch with their ancestry, but each and every American came from an immigrant, with the exception of Native Americans. Be it political, religious or financial, all of our forefathers came in search of something better. They could've laid down and died where they were, but their will to survive was strong, just as the daylabes. Next time you see a "huddled mass" wanting to provide a service, even if you don't need the help, consider what they could be doing to make money and be thankful.