(no subject)
- I moved to the US in October 2016. I stayed a month in Florida then me and my partner moved to Colorado where she already had a seasonal job as a massage therapist.
- All I had at the time was about 5000$ in my pocket, the dream of becoming an OTR truck driver, and the promise of a job as a dishwasher in a Mexican restaurant in Vail. Me and the owner, met through Craigslist, agreed on that via eMail a few months before I left Italy.
- We found a room in a two-bedrooms in Vail for 1200$/month. The roommate was a 52 year old ski instructor. Chill guy, although slightly obsessed with younger Asian women.
- I missed my first day at the restaurant because they forgot to call me and let me know they were opening. So they wrote me an eMail scolding me for not showing up but at the same time apologising for their mistake. As a result, they raised my wage from $12 to $12.50 an hour. True story.
- I couldn't keep washing dishes though as it turned out my lower back hated me standing up and leaning forward for hours. I was thinking of quitting but couldn't afford it.
- Then I found out that our landlord was a very cool guy who, on top of being a nerd the same age as me who has read all the 40+ Battletech novels, he worked for the largest passengers transportation company in Colorado which moves people from the Vail valley to Denver Airport and back. He told me to apply.
- Despite not having an American drivers license yet, I applied and instantly got the job. Turns out in the winter they hire everyone who as a pulse.
- I still didn't have a license on the first day of training though. But my driving exam was the next day so I got an extension. Aced (?) the exam and finally joined Colorado Mountain Express.
- Had two weeks of paid training. Something unthinkable and unheard of in Italy.
- Two weeks later I had my qualifying run. That is your first day driving up and down the mountain and providing guest service while a supervisor overlooks everything you do. It was the worst snowstorm in months. And I was in it for 12 hours.
- I passed and became a driver. Not a truck driver, a van driver, but still a driver. Pay was $10 per hour plus tips. Most of our money comes from tips.
- 10 days later, I got into an accident. Not being used to automatic cars, I forgot you have to put them in "parking" or they keep moving ahead. That's how I smashed a gate with guests on board. While apologising to the guests, I hit a granite column partially hidden by snow. Those guests gave me a 40$ tip and phoned in the next day to praise the amazing Italian driver and pretending the double accident never happened. Another. True. Fucking. Story.
- They did not fire me. "We are going to give you another chance". Passed the drug test, I was back on icey hell of Interstate 70.
- That's when I started making Youtube videos (in Italian) It was meant as a way to mock another Italian guy I hate and it was meant for friends and family. But the Italian guy who I was mocking didn't realize he was being mocked and sent viewers my way. I kept telling my viewers that I hated them and that they were stupid, but being Italian they didn't mind and kept coming (1300 subscribers at the moment, but the numbers are going down). Anyway, the videos are not monetized as I refuse to monetize. I also use copyrighted material so even more reasons not to monetize. I love not monetizing. Once a commie, always a commie.
- We bought a car. After three months of walking 10 minutes to the bus, waiting 10 minutes for the bus, riding the bus for 40 minutes, then walking ten minutes to work, twice a day, at 4° Fahrenheit and at dawn or in the middle of the night, we decided to buy a Honda Element. 140.000 miles, 7000$. Expensive but what we ere looking for. Perfect to put a mattress in it and sleep anywhere. Not a problem so far. We love it.
- Then a winter passed. At some point I had another accident but this time it wasn't my fault and the on-board camera proved that. After reviewing the film the company praised me for how I managed the whole situation. By the end of the season I had made what by my very simple standards is a lot of money. Working an average of 12 hours a day with peaks of 16 and never less than 10. I also realized I loved the job. For the first time in 42 years I was working a job I absolutely loved.
- Finally spring arrived, and as a seasonal worker I got kicked out for almost two months even though they seemed eager to re-hire me for the summer season. In spite of my accidents, my weird accent that no one could recognize as Italian, my tattoos, my messy hair and unkempt beard, my personal ratings were impressively high.
- That also meant I wasn't a seasonal anymore but a "full time year round", which qualified me and the partner for company-sponsored health insurance.
- So I went to Italy to see family for a month and came back for the Summer. I missed them. I miss them. Moving them over here is the next big plan.
- So me and the partner moved to a new place. Still a two bedrooms, but this time we called the shots on the roommates and got a much better fit. The apartment itself was a beauty: literally on the Eagle river, in its own little canyon, surrounded by deers and bears. Another life long dream crowned.
- We got a dog because, apparently, of course. I wanted a cat. But of all the possible dogs that could ever "happen" to me I feel like I've got the best one.
- Summer was very slow. Which meant way less money (although we made more than enough in the winter to go through the slow summer) but also a lot of free time to spend in this gorgeous place. Summer also meant working more private services like filthy rich people's weddings and stuff like the C****** R*** (!?) super double secret Aspen dinner(s). I managed to drive around a few celebrities which, as you can expect, don't often tip that well.
- That's also the summer when the third season of Twin Peaks came out. Perfection.
- As summer was about to end a few positions for Lead Driver (the trainers, and those who qualify the noobs) opened up. I didn't think I had the slightest chance having been with the company for just 10 months and with two accident on my resume. Not to mention that 36 people, all more experienced than me, applied for less than 10 positions.
- While waiting for a call about the job, I enjoyed my month off (did I mention we have TWO -unpaid- months off every year?) by driving. First my son came to visit and we went up and down Colorado and deep into the Rocky Mountain National Park where we stumbled on the de facto Governor of Colorado (the largest and proudest royal Elk I've ever seen).
- After that I took the Element on its biggest road test and and drove all the way from Vail to Houston and back. Almost 3000 miles, slept in the bed-with-wheels, loved every second. Except the fucking Texas heat in October. Met a lot of friends along the way and finally hugged people I've been talking to since 2008 but never met in person yet.
- I got the job. Behold the meteoric rise of the fastest to ever become Lead Driver in the history of Colorado!
- All of a sudden me and my thick accent were training Americans from all over the country, people ranging from 21 to 70 year old, not to mention the returning seasonal drivers, some of which applied for my same job and hated me for somehow mysteriously jumping ahead.
- The pay was not really much better as a Lead Driver, but the additional duties made things more colourful and eventually pave the way to higher positions.
- Then Halloween came, and I ignored it. And then Thanksgiving, which followed the same fate. But snow was very late that season so instead of being out there busting my ass on a van I stayed home more than I planned and bought about 18 games, mostly Visual Novels, on the Steam Autumn Sale. On top, of course, of the New Mexico expansion for "American Truck Simulator".
And this is where I am now. On a bed, typing on my laptop, waiting for the 16 hours shifts to come back while I have so much free time that I can actually stop and think about all that happened in slightly more than a year.
I think I have been so incredibly lucky. Granted, I haven't won a lottery, I haven't discovered unobtanium, I haven't found a cure for cancer nor I stopped the DAPL. Yet, for the first time in my life I am serene, I don't feel plagued and pursued by money issues, I don't hate my job, and I love all the things that I see when I get out of the apartment in the morning. My friends like to tell me that this is what I deserved, that I worked hard to get here, that it's what I've built in those previous messy years. But I don't think so. Sure, I worked to know myself well enough to be able to tell what I wanted and what I did not want, but it would be ridiculous to claim that that is all we need to find tranquility, serenity. I have been lucky in so many tiny little ways that I made a bullet-point list of it. So much could have gone differently and without any chance for me to change it. Instead, I rolled a couple of natural 20s here and there and as of now, 43 years old, things look amazing.
It could have been Finland, it could have been Scotland. It's the USA. I am cool with that.
- All I had at the time was about 5000$ in my pocket, the dream of becoming an OTR truck driver, and the promise of a job as a dishwasher in a Mexican restaurant in Vail. Me and the owner, met through Craigslist, agreed on that via eMail a few months before I left Italy.
- We found a room in a two-bedrooms in Vail for 1200$/month. The roommate was a 52 year old ski instructor. Chill guy, although slightly obsessed with younger Asian women.
- I missed my first day at the restaurant because they forgot to call me and let me know they were opening. So they wrote me an eMail scolding me for not showing up but at the same time apologising for their mistake. As a result, they raised my wage from $12 to $12.50 an hour. True story.
- I couldn't keep washing dishes though as it turned out my lower back hated me standing up and leaning forward for hours. I was thinking of quitting but couldn't afford it.
- Then I found out that our landlord was a very cool guy who, on top of being a nerd the same age as me who has read all the 40+ Battletech novels, he worked for the largest passengers transportation company in Colorado which moves people from the Vail valley to Denver Airport and back. He told me to apply.
- Despite not having an American drivers license yet, I applied and instantly got the job. Turns out in the winter they hire everyone who as a pulse.
- I still didn't have a license on the first day of training though. But my driving exam was the next day so I got an extension. Aced (?) the exam and finally joined Colorado Mountain Express.
- Had two weeks of paid training. Something unthinkable and unheard of in Italy.
- Two weeks later I had my qualifying run. That is your first day driving up and down the mountain and providing guest service while a supervisor overlooks everything you do. It was the worst snowstorm in months. And I was in it for 12 hours.
- I passed and became a driver. Not a truck driver, a van driver, but still a driver. Pay was $10 per hour plus tips. Most of our money comes from tips.
- 10 days later, I got into an accident. Not being used to automatic cars, I forgot you have to put them in "parking" or they keep moving ahead. That's how I smashed a gate with guests on board. While apologising to the guests, I hit a granite column partially hidden by snow. Those guests gave me a 40$ tip and phoned in the next day to praise the amazing Italian driver and pretending the double accident never happened. Another. True. Fucking. Story.
- They did not fire me. "We are going to give you another chance". Passed the drug test, I was back on icey hell of Interstate 70.
- That's when I started making Youtube videos (in Italian) It was meant as a way to mock another Italian guy I hate and it was meant for friends and family. But the Italian guy who I was mocking didn't realize he was being mocked and sent viewers my way. I kept telling my viewers that I hated them and that they were stupid, but being Italian they didn't mind and kept coming (1300 subscribers at the moment, but the numbers are going down). Anyway, the videos are not monetized as I refuse to monetize. I also use copyrighted material so even more reasons not to monetize. I love not monetizing. Once a commie, always a commie.
- We bought a car. After three months of walking 10 minutes to the bus, waiting 10 minutes for the bus, riding the bus for 40 minutes, then walking ten minutes to work, twice a day, at 4° Fahrenheit and at dawn or in the middle of the night, we decided to buy a Honda Element. 140.000 miles, 7000$. Expensive but what we ere looking for. Perfect to put a mattress in it and sleep anywhere. Not a problem so far. We love it.
- Then a winter passed. At some point I had another accident but this time it wasn't my fault and the on-board camera proved that. After reviewing the film the company praised me for how I managed the whole situation. By the end of the season I had made what by my very simple standards is a lot of money. Working an average of 12 hours a day with peaks of 16 and never less than 10. I also realized I loved the job. For the first time in 42 years I was working a job I absolutely loved.
- Finally spring arrived, and as a seasonal worker I got kicked out for almost two months even though they seemed eager to re-hire me for the summer season. In spite of my accidents, my weird accent that no one could recognize as Italian, my tattoos, my messy hair and unkempt beard, my personal ratings were impressively high.
- That also meant I wasn't a seasonal anymore but a "full time year round", which qualified me and the partner for company-sponsored health insurance.
- So I went to Italy to see family for a month and came back for the Summer. I missed them. I miss them. Moving them over here is the next big plan.
- So me and the partner moved to a new place. Still a two bedrooms, but this time we called the shots on the roommates and got a much better fit. The apartment itself was a beauty: literally on the Eagle river, in its own little canyon, surrounded by deers and bears. Another life long dream crowned.
- We got a dog because, apparently, of course. I wanted a cat. But of all the possible dogs that could ever "happen" to me I feel like I've got the best one.
- Summer was very slow. Which meant way less money (although we made more than enough in the winter to go through the slow summer) but also a lot of free time to spend in this gorgeous place. Summer also meant working more private services like filthy rich people's weddings and stuff like the C****** R*** (!?) super double secret Aspen dinner(s). I managed to drive around a few celebrities which, as you can expect, don't often tip that well.
- That's also the summer when the third season of Twin Peaks came out. Perfection.
- As summer was about to end a few positions for Lead Driver (the trainers, and those who qualify the noobs) opened up. I didn't think I had the slightest chance having been with the company for just 10 months and with two accident on my resume. Not to mention that 36 people, all more experienced than me, applied for less than 10 positions.
- While waiting for a call about the job, I enjoyed my month off (did I mention we have TWO -unpaid- months off every year?) by driving. First my son came to visit and we went up and down Colorado and deep into the Rocky Mountain National Park where we stumbled on the de facto Governor of Colorado (the largest and proudest royal Elk I've ever seen).
- After that I took the Element on its biggest road test and and drove all the way from Vail to Houston and back. Almost 3000 miles, slept in the bed-with-wheels, loved every second. Except the fucking Texas heat in October. Met a lot of friends along the way and finally hugged people I've been talking to since 2008 but never met in person yet.
- I got the job. Behold the meteoric rise of the fastest to ever become Lead Driver in the history of Colorado!
- All of a sudden me and my thick accent were training Americans from all over the country, people ranging from 21 to 70 year old, not to mention the returning seasonal drivers, some of which applied for my same job and hated me for somehow mysteriously jumping ahead.
- The pay was not really much better as a Lead Driver, but the additional duties made things more colourful and eventually pave the way to higher positions.
- Then Halloween came, and I ignored it. And then Thanksgiving, which followed the same fate. But snow was very late that season so instead of being out there busting my ass on a van I stayed home more than I planned and bought about 18 games, mostly Visual Novels, on the Steam Autumn Sale. On top, of course, of the New Mexico expansion for "American Truck Simulator".
And this is where I am now. On a bed, typing on my laptop, waiting for the 16 hours shifts to come back while I have so much free time that I can actually stop and think about all that happened in slightly more than a year.
I think I have been so incredibly lucky. Granted, I haven't won a lottery, I haven't discovered unobtanium, I haven't found a cure for cancer nor I stopped the DAPL. Yet, for the first time in my life I am serene, I don't feel plagued and pursued by money issues, I don't hate my job, and I love all the things that I see when I get out of the apartment in the morning. My friends like to tell me that this is what I deserved, that I worked hard to get here, that it's what I've built in those previous messy years. But I don't think so. Sure, I worked to know myself well enough to be able to tell what I wanted and what I did not want, but it would be ridiculous to claim that that is all we need to find tranquility, serenity. I have been lucky in so many tiny little ways that I made a bullet-point list of it. So much could have gone differently and without any chance for me to change it. Instead, I rolled a couple of natural 20s here and there and as of now, 43 years old, things look amazing.
It could have been Finland, it could have been Scotland. It's the USA. I am cool with that.