Employed

I have to have a guard card. That was a shock. I felt a bit conned in the beginning by the price, but now I’m leaping right into the biggest part of adventure….with my upcoming guard card.

Elite is a staffing agency that hires bottom line applicants and winnows them out by requiring a State of California guard card and requiring a deposit on the uniforms. Staffing agencies must be even further down the food chain than towing companies. Uniforms at National Towing were free to the drivers and were even cleaned by the company. Uniforms by the bottom employees are supplied by the employees. You bet I have black pants and a white T shirt.

Right away, I’m caught up in the structure. I have an “invitation.”

Next month on the fourth, all the prospective ushers, security, cashiers, registration, ticket takers and crowd control are invited to show up at the stadium Security Offices. Gate A, they said. Now if I hadn’t been there to set up a display for the AIDS Quilt, I would have no idea that the stadium had a Security Office. In at five, orientation, testing, and guard card guaranteed then out by ten thirty.

I see I will have to train for this. Deprivation. No more getting up at four and heading to bed by nine thirty. I’ll have to stretch myself to stay awake later every night…bit by bit. Minute by minute if necessary, and I will be earning a dollar an hour less than I was making when yelled at in the towing industry.

Aren’t baseball games mostly evening things? I can feel myself yawning now. The Padre’s new Petco Park is already a mecca for lookie loos. G and I are among those lookie loos crowding the dead end streets with our curiosity, and we like all we see but the yellow-beigeness of the walls. Bark Park, as the cognoscenti call it, has fascinated me from the beginning. Now in the evenings as they test the new lighting, my interest has remained right there with those flashing moving lights, newly mowed grass and newly hired friends of my kids.

When I saw an advertisement for staffing for the new ball park, I inched toward calling them back. I know what the work entails so I didn’t run. When I got to their offices today, at the right time, their tearsheet told me that they are contracted to other venues too. The Antique Show in Del Mar, Women’s Basket Ball at USD, or NASCA racing at the Cajon Speedway are some of the events scheduled. I’ve noticed those Elite red coats at the Convention Center also.

I don’t think life will be dull. Hopefully, just part time.