We Don’t Talk To The Bitches Here . . .

 

To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury;
And refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy, not respectable; and
Wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think
Quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen
To stars and birds, to babes and sages,
With open heart; to bear all cheerfully,
Do all bravely, await occasion, hurry
Never; in a word, to let the spiritual,
Unbidden and unconscious grow up
Through the common.
This is to be my symphony.”
~William Henry Channing

 

Continuation of “We’re Going In the Wrong Direction.”

The next morning, I met Lenin at the office. We got there before The Genius, so we grabbed Lenin some breakfast. It’s pathetic, but we ended up taking three cars on our trip to the supplier. Lenin had to drive his rental because he had to be back in our town for a meeting on Friday. So he was going to leave on Thursday and drive home that day. I offered to drive The Genius and myself with my rental, but The Genius wanted to drive himself so he could spend the weekend in a town near the supplier. This didn’t bother me because I didn’t want to drive back to Ysleta to drop him off as I drove home on Friday.

Therefore it was a car caravan. We discussed who should lead the caravan. I excluded myself from the options because Lenin had seen the previous night how incredible my driving abilities were. The Genius was considering leading, but he was going to speed the whole way down there and I didn’t want to get a speeding ticket. Lenin is a “creative” driver, meaning he’s highly spirited when he drives, but he said he wouldn’t speed and he would lead. Thus began the four hour car caravan to the supplier’s place.

The first two hours we drove through horrendous rain storms and we lost The Genius on the highway. He found us after we pulled to the curb on a highway. Lenin was very patient, but I could tell he was frustrated. I was just thankful there was someone else there to see how maddening it was to interact with The Genius.

We continued the drive and I had to go to the bathroom. I spotted a sign for a rest stop with free restrooms in 58 miles. I called Lenin’s cell, but it rolled to voicemail. I assumed he was talking to people back in the office. He’s a terribly busy guy and as dangerous as it is, he talks on his cell and drives. I can’t say anything because I was doing it. I left a message telling him to stop at the rest stop that had the restrooms.

He calls me about fifteen minutes later, telling me that his phone never rang. I said not to worry, but I requested that we stop soon at a place with a restroom. He asked if I had any preferences and said anything with a clean restroom would suffice. I didn’t think this would be too difficult of a request. Mind you, we’re driving through the boonies at this point in time. We come across a small town and there isn’t much to it. However, there is a run down gas station. I figured Lenin would think this was acceptable and pull in. He doesn’t and we exit that town.

After we pass that town Lenin calls me, “I don’t know what is acceptable for you. I mean, McDonald’s, Phillips, Conoco, Burger King, Shell?”
    At this point I would pee in the woods, but I can’t really say that to my lead at work. He’s being generous and trying to be accommodating, “Lenin, I really don’t care. Just some place clean.”
     “Your idea of clean and my idea of clean probably differ.” I wanted to reach through the phone, grab him by the collar and say, ‘I have to pee so bad that my eyeballs are floating. I don’t care where we stop.’
     However, I refrain and he says, “How about when you see a place that suits you, you flash your brights at me.”
    “Perfect.” We hang up. About five minutes later we come upon another small town. We are close to getting closer to the town, but I don’t notice the town. I see a large sign for a National Gas Station Chain. I can’t tell if the station is clean, or not. I can’t tell if it is a hole in the road or a sparkling oasis in the boonies, put there so I could pee in cleanliness. I just knew I wanted to stop. We are about two miles away from it, so I blink my brights at Lenin. He doesn’t acknowledge them. So I continue to flash my brights at him. I don’t want him to pass this place. I must flash my brights at him for a good mile and a half. He finally puts in indicator on and I stop flashing my brights. We pull in and he fills up his car and I finally get to pee, and in a sparkling clean gas station.

The Genius couldn’t fill up there. He will only purchase gas from a Shell Station for one reason or another. Lenin was really cool about it and being very accommodating to him. We get back on the road. As we drive, we pass a large truck with multiple cars stacked on it. There is an incredible blue Mustang on it. Lenin calls me and starts telling me all about the Mustang. Our boss, Joe, is in love with Mustangs. He said that if Joe was driving with him, they would have to drive next to the truck for at least ten minutes so Joe could drool all over it. We joke around for a few more minutes and then hang up.

We continue to drive and come across this huge RV. It is a RV for a chain restaurant. You’re family could win a vacation with that RV and travel all over the country. To register to win, one has to go dine at the restaurant. Lenin calls, and I don’t even let him get a word in, “That’s it Lenin. You’re next vacation. You need to get that RV and take a big road trip. Throw in your friends and take off.”

We joke around about it and are just taking the piss with one another. It was a nice break to the monotony of the trip.

We finally get to the major city outside of the Supplier’s city. It’s lunch time and we are driving on the highways. I’m almost tailgating Lenin because I don’t want to get lost. The Genius is trying to keep up, but he doesn’t seem to really care. Lenin is giving me hand signals through his back window as he drives. At one point in time, I get all five fingers. Five miles, got it. A little later I get two fingers, exit in two miles. This is what I like about Lenin. He’s creative.

We finally reach Supplier’s Town. We grab lunch at a sub shop and then go to supplier. We spend the afternoon there and don’t leave until about 5:30. Lenin finally sees how screwed up things are with the supplier and I think he is honestly blown away. He hides his feelings.

After the supplier, we head over to the hotel. While we were at lunch, Lenin reminded me of a restaurant that he went to in the major city next to the one we were in. I said we should eat dinner there. He had talked it up and everything, so he agreed. Once we checked in, we asked The Genius if he wanted to go to dinner with us to said restaurant. He said he was going to crash out. His baby had been up all night the previous night, he’s a bad liar. He went to go spend time with his friends in this town, but I wasn’t going to get involved in it.

I asked Lenin to drive because I was going to have an alcoholic beverage. We drove the thirty minutes to the restaurant and just chatted the whole way. He was fun to talk to and we listened to the radio, like we had in Seattle. Turning it up for good songs and changing the station with bad songs. He gave me his impression of the situation in Ysleta and of The Genius.

We finally reached the restaurant and there was a life band playing. At this restaurant, you sit at row tables, next to people you don’t know. The servers bad mouth the patrons and make giant hats out of butcher paper. One girl had a hat that said, “Easier than community college.” There was a guy with a hat that read, “STD free since 2003.” It was quite funny.

Lenin had told me all about this resturant after he had run a marathon in this town. The server was very nice to us. I ordered a glass of their Pinot Grigio and Lenin ordered a large beer. He ordered ribs and I ordered catfish. Lenin and I always have this problem when we travel. We’re fine in the car talking to each other. Maybe it’s because we have the radio to talk about. But whenever we sit down to have dinner together, he can’t look at me or talk to me. It’s kind of awkward. It was hard to carry on a conversation in that restaurant because there was a live band playing.

Well, they brought our food, your plate is a piece of butcher paper and your dinner is served in a tin bucket. It’s a lot of fun. The food was good, but I had to give Lenin a hard time. I informed him that the servers were all being nice. As our server walked by, Lenin stopped him, “My friend here is a little disappointed. I told her about how mean you guys are to the customers, but she hasn’t seen it.”

The server looks at me and then looks back at Lenin, “It’s because we don’t talk to the bitches here.”

Lenin and I were rolling. It was hysterical. Then the server looks at me and said something equally as rude about Lenin, but I’m not going to write it. It was derogatory to a group of people. However, Lenin and I both laughed.

His beer came in a big, fancy cup that he could keep. He offered to let me keep it twice, however, I declined both times. He had told me that he had quite a few of them, but I said it was fine.

We walked back to the car and got on the road to go back to Supplier’s Town. We talked and got on the highway. However, there was a major accident on the highway, so Lenin pulled off and had the GPS unit give us directions to Supplier’s Town avoiding the highway. We start following the directions, but it dumps us off in a really bad part of town.

I don’t say anything because it wasn’t his fault. However, the further we get into the crappy part of town, the more concerned I become. It’s getting darker and darker and we drive through this part of town where there are fifteen guys standing around by this car. This isn’t meant to sound bad, but there were fenced in houses with padlocked gates and very scary dogs. I looked over at Lenin, “If I was in the car by myself, I would be freaking out by now.”

Lenin’s response, “I’m not in the car by myself and I’m thinking about freaking out.”

We manage to get out of the crappy part of town and end up taking the back roads to get back to Supplier’s Town. We joked and talked the whole ride back. It was a lot of fun and a good memory.

We get back to the hotel and part for the evening. We got to the supplier’s the next day and Lenin was only able to stay for half the day. He had to get back to our home town because he had a meeting the next day and needed to turn in the rental that evening. He left and honestly, I was so sad to see him go. Not just because I had a major crush on him and wanted him around, but because I had missed so many people from my office. My time in Ysleta made me realize how lucky I am to work with the people I work with.

I’ll write more soon.