... One Year Later

You know those TV shows and movies where the story leads up to a dramatic cliffhanger and the screen blacks out and the legend "One year later ..." appears.  (Alternately, writers use the "24 hours earlier", "One year earlier", etc.)  I've always felt that device is some thing of a cheat.  Like the filmmakers didn't exactly know where to take their story after building it up to a dramatic point; they seem to have decided, "Hell let's skip ahead a year and fill in the details as we go along".

While I think it's something of a cheat and cliche when used in film/TV, wouldn't it be cool if you could use that device in real life?  Magically skip ahead X amount of time to a given point in your life where everything has turned out fine.  I wish I could have done that over the past year.  You see, while you might view Halloween as a time to trick or treat, I'm afraid it marks a bitter anniversary for You Humble Narrator.  It was about a year ago that I became homeless.

Yes, things certainly did build up to a climax:  I succumbed to major depression, lost most of my possessions and money (not to mention my pride), was evicted from my apartment and literally wound up on the streets of Las Vegas with no where to go.  (If you'd like to read my tragic tale in detail, please refer to earlier posts of this blog entitled "HINJFCA"; you'll learn what the clunky acronym stand for.)

During the past year I traveled a path I could have scarcely imagined. I arrived at the Salvation Army of North Las Vegas with less than $100 to my name (if not for the generosity of a cousin I would not have had even that much).  I encountered circumstances and people I had only read about or seen portrayed in the media.  I effectively became part of a shadow society of beggars, drifters, and malcontents.  I sometimes marvel that I didn't simply fall in with many of those who have chosen to take their chances on the streets.

You might not believe how easy it is to make the choice to simply abandon society, cast away responsibility, and lose yourself in the anonymity of the streets.  All it takes is for a person to lose so much that making the effort to regain it isn't worth the effort.  Many have chosen to find comfort in the filth and danger of the streets.

During the past year I was a client in the SA vocational program.  I worked in food service for the first time in my life.  I went to culinary school and learned basic cooking and garde manger (well, sort of).  I made friends with people I would have not long ago deemed as undesirable:  Ex-cons, junkies, thieves of all sorts, hookers, and those with questionable mental stability.  I tried to learn as much as I could from them and about them.  In some ways, I think the process helped me learn about myself:  That I wasn't as fucked up as I feared I was.

Time made events into a kind of blur.  I applied for and was accepted for a job at the Grand Canyon, where I presently live.  I think the change in atmosphere from the urban jungle of Vegas to the rugged landscapes of the GC have acted as a tonic of sorts.  For whatever reason I've felt revitalized since coming here.  The work is somewhat tiresome but it's easy to save money, and I don't feel the day to day pressures of living in a large city. I like many of the people I've met here, especially those from overseas.  The atmosphere is, overall, agreeable.  I actually grew up in a village; now, decades later it seems I have found some degree of peace in another village some 7000+ feet in elevation.

 The experience of the past year has been humbling to say the least. I could never have guessed these events would have taken place in my life.  In some ways this experience has served as a time of re-examination and reassessment.  It has made me appreciate the things I previously took for granted.  In some ways it feels as though I have been broken down piece by piece, atom by atom, into my base elements.  And slowly, piece by piece, atom by atom, I am being reconstructed, re-forged if you will, into something new; hopefully into something better than before.

There are any number of lessons I could take away from this experience.  Here's one:  I guess if you really want to survive, you'll find a way to survive.  Forces unseen will somehow come to assist you if you really want to survive.  I say this because there was a time in the past year where I wasn't sure if I did wanted to go on.  I only wanted everything to go away;  I wanted the pain to go away.  Instead, the pain got worse. But I survived it; I'm still surviving it.  So somehow, at my core I guess I did really want to survive after all.

I'm still here.

Canyoneering 2 -- Beautiful Places On Earth

FYI:  Xan (from Xanadu) + Terra (Earth) = Xanterra

If you’ve seen the 1987 film “Matewan” you might recall that the story involved a group of coal miners who lived in a ‘company town’.   That is, they lived in housing provided by the company.  They shopped in stores owned by the company.  They were paid in scrip that could only be used within the limits of the company’s town.  In a sense, the miners had become victims of circumstance, owing their livelihood (if not their existence) to the all-powerful Company.  (If you’ve not seen the movie, it’s worth your time to see it, imo.  Follow the link(s) provided here and in the first line of this paragraph.)

There’s a parallel between the circumstances of the Matewan miners and the employees of Xanterra here at the Grand Canyon.  Let me be clear about a few things:  Xanterra pays its employees in good old-fashioned US greenbacks, not scrip.  People are free to come and go as they please.  Xanterra doesn’t ‘own’ the GC; the federal government owns the land which it operates through the National Park Service.  The company operates restaurants and hotels (concessions) by right of being the highest bidder to offer such services.  In fact, there are other companies here that operate other services.  An example would be DNC (Delaware North Companies) which operates the Park’s General Stores.

The parallels I speak of have more to do with the practical side of living and working in the GC.  All the housing for Xanterra employees is provided by the company.  As I explained in a previous post, almost everyone here shares living accommodations.  This can be a one or two bedroom apartment with up to 10 people in a unit, or Trailer Village where I live in a tiny, cramped room.  Most male employees will stay in the Victor Hall dorm while females stay primarily in Coulter Hall.

The cost of housing for shared accommodations is very cheap, no more than $16 a week, including utilities.  In fact, the cheap housing is a reason you can actually save a fair amount of money despite the near-minimum wage salaries.  It’s also a reason many people elect to follow the lifestyle of staying in the parks; it’s not unusual for employees to transfer from one park to another every 6 months or so.  You can find plenty of people who have done this for decades.  Interestingly (to me anyway), many of these folks look like burned out hippies and they all seem to be devoted NPR listeners.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

So most Xanterra employees live in company housing (including managers who qualify for separate apartments offered at impressively low rents taken directly out of the paycheck).  We employees also tend to eat at the company-owned restaurant and cafes on the property.  Foodstuffs can be bought at the General Stores, but the prices have horrendous markups since they cater to tourists as much as residents.  (And since it’s not owned by Xanterra, there is no employee discount).  We generally receive 50% off food prices at the company owned restaurant.  Given that prices are high to begin with (a hamburger  - no sides – will run at least $6 plus tax), it makes our cost only slightly less outrageous than it normally would.

There are no fast food franchises like McDonalds or Wendy’s inside the park.  Those establishments can be found in the neighboring small hamlet of Tusayan (pronounced, ‘To-Saigon’) the so-called gateway to the GC.  You’ll find a number of hotels in the area along with a gas station, several small restaurants and bars.  You’ll also find the same high prices found in the GC.  Even Mickey D’s is uncommonly expensive there.  (Several co-workers who moonlight at that McD’s say they constantly have field questions from angry tourists demanding to know why they have no Dollar Menu .)  There’s also a general store; but since it’s owned by DNC it has the same high prices as its counterpart in the GC.  If you live here you’re caught in a different type of tourist trap:  You’re a resident paying hugely inflated tourist prices.

The General Store -- with Major Markups

I’ll have more to say concerning the tourist trade in the next post.  In the meantime, you know the old saying, “Can't live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em?”  That pretty well sums up the employees’ attitude toward the tourists.

HINJFCA The Big 3-0

Wow, it's been a few weeks since my last posting. I had meant to relate how the job search process works at Salvation Army, so without further ado ... After finishing the Essential Employment Skills course (or graduating the culinary course in my case) the client is considered in Phase 2 of the Vocational Program. This means going out into the 'real world' and basically applying for jobs. Clients are discouraged to make contacts through the old fashioned method of "Hi, are you guys hiring?" or "Yo dude, got any applications?" or some such. Rather, clients are urged to make contact via means of talking to the boss directly (in my case, the chef) by means of introducing yourself as an honest guy offering an honest days work in return for an honest paycheck -- honestly.

In Phase 2 the client's work week is reduced to 24 hours (3 days) in order to facilitate their job search. Clients are expected to make five applications or efforts each week. Each effort is to be recorded on a sheet provided by SA which notes the employer's name, address, phone #, etc. Clients must also keep a diary of sorts that records all pertinent information as well. Failure to do so can result in disciplinary action such as loss of weekly gratuity ($15 in my case); or in the case of repeated non-compliance, expulsion from the program. I've seen a number of people let go through this manner. With 4 days off, the temptation can be too much for some people to simply f**k off. SA understandably doesn't want to keep clients around who simply want to hang out on their dime.

Of those five efforts, one can be an online search or application. Ironic, because so many businesses today will only accept applications over the Internet. I expect that number will increase in the coming years I'm told that the time limit for finding a job is 3 months max. That figure seems to vary according to the client involved. I know several people who have hung around 4-6 months before they found work (part-time at that). Others have gotten the boot within 2 months. Then again, they might have been causing trouble I didn't know about.

(If you commit various violations like using excessive profanity or being too aggressive to staff or fellow clients you're subject to being 'written up'. Write ups are usually initiated by staff or security, but clients can write up fellow clients as well. The latter case is given low priority since the violation reported is often something on the order of "X didn't say hi to me this morning", or "X never paid me back the $5 they borrowed", and so on.) Too many write ups from the staff can result in expulsion. Again, the tolerance and punishment for certain violations varies from client to client.)

Believe it or not, some clients cheat(!) when it comes to their job search efforts. (Not your humble narrator, of course.) Some clients will simply search out businesses online or from the Yellow Pages, and fill in the pertinent info from that source. A contact name can often be found on a website or with a short phone call too find the name of the manager in charge of hiring. (This is not intended as a guide for cheating SA, btw; it's just stuff that happens) The caseworkers claim that all contact info is verified but I've never heard of that happening.  But the staff is overworked as it is without having to chase down their clients' job leads.

I myself have been concentrating on fast food restaurants.  This is mostly because there's a chance of a quicker hire and opportunity for advancement.  Unfortunately, Mickey D's, Burger King, et al tend to hire only on a part-time basis with the idea of proving yourself worthy of full-time hours.  Don't like the practice but I understand the logic.  One manager told me he has any number of people come in and get the training, then bolt after a couple of paychecks never to be heard from.  This is often done by teenagers saving up for a car downpayment or video game/electronic gear.  Junkies/alcoholics and other substance abusers are also perpetrators here;  they'll get clean long enough to get the job, then leave when they have enough cash for a couple of fixes.

To further update to progress of various former classmates and fellow clients: One guy recently got a gig with a small Italian restaurant, while another (the guy who shouts/sings "It's your love, Lord!") landed a job with the Cheesecake Factory. No word on if they allow Gospel singing on the job. But if this guy gave thanks whenever he evacuated his bowels, he must have really rejoiced when he got this job. Another guy got a job with a VFW outpost -- this after he took off for a weekend without telling anyone (including SA staff) and reportedly got so high he was detected by radar. He was found out, but allowed to stay when most other clients would have been dismissed for the same violation. (This is an example of the varying punishment/tolerance I cited earlier.)

Another fellow got booted from SA because he could no longer afford the rent.  After you find a job, you're transitioned into Phase 3.  This means you're a client in name only and no longer required to show up for roll call, turn in time sheets, or adhere to any other such rules.  However, once you have an income you are required to pay rent to SA.  It's not bad, usually around 30% of the gross.  But the arrangement makes some clients think twice (it has me).  While you are moved to a two-man dorm room and granted freedom from many client strictures, you still live under SA's roof.  That means no drugs or alcohol, no fraternization with the opposite sex -- or the same sex for that matter -- and no excessive noise, profanity, etc. 

SA sets up a savings account for the client and automatically deducts 30% off the top.  The rest of the money goes to things like a bus pass, food, clothing and other essentials (rent comprises 30% of the amount left over from these deductions).  In effect, the client must surrender their paycheck to SA, who doles it out according to this arrangement.  It's not a bad thing, but many don't like the idea of signing over their money to SA.  Still, it seems to have worked out well for many clients who have gone on to lead stable lives.  Then there are guys like the aforementioned who may never get the message.  This guy got three paychecks and blew (pun intended) all the money on lap dances.  When he was short on rent, SA showed him the door.  Can you blame them?

The strangest and perhaps most tragic story of a client literally losing it all involves an ex-classmate and friend who did something many of us found unbelievable.  But to find out what that act involved, you'll have to tune in for the next installment ...  

Late shout out to Marvel's The Avengers for shattering box office records across the globe.  You humble narrator knew it all along, of course.  SPOILER ALERT:  The shadowy character was Thanos.  Always wanted to do that!

5 Westerns Worth Their Weight in Locoweed!

Follow this link for a list of westerns that went from home on the range to home of the strange!  My own exclusive take on the matter, published by Associated Content.  No assembly required.

5 Way Out Westerns

If you have any thoughts about some Way Out Westerns, drop me a line.  Or a lasso.  Or a line with a lass.  And so on ...