Having arrived an hour early, Jack walked around the campus trying to locate the maintenance building. He wasn't quite sure what to expect. Most job sites of significant size had a modular building that they used as the main business building, but he didn't see anything like that around the campus. There was a vast array of buildings all constructed in different styles. Some buildings looked to be seventy years old while others looked brand new.
The grounds were very nicely kept. The grass was mowed and there were flowers planted everywhere. He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to work in that environment. He noticed a couple of students walking past. They looked so young and alive.
With the time quickly approaching his appointment time, he began to get worried that he'd never find the building. One of the men wearing a shirt with the name of the college on it stopped and asked, "Are you lost?"
Jack answered, "A little. You wouldn't happen to know where the maintenance building is, would you?"
The man pointed to a road and said, "Down there. It is a little squatty building with a loading dock on the one end. There's a garage next to it."
"Thanks," Jack said.
"Are you going for a key to your office?" the man asked.
"No. I'm here to interview for a job," Jack answered.
"So they are finally getting around to hiring a flooring guy. We've needed one ever since Al died," the man said.
"That's good to know," Jack said.
"You'll like working here. Good luck," the man said.
"Thanks," Jack said. He watched the man walk off to one of the buildings.
It took Jack ten minutes to find the building. He went through the main door. A woman was seated at a desk and looked up at him. She asked, "Are you here for a key?"
"I'm supposed to interview for a job," Jack said.
"Oh. Sorry. It is just that everyone who comes in here usually is after a key," the woman said with a smile. She said, "You must be Jack Dunne."
"I am," Jack said surprised that she knew his name.
"I'm Sue. If you'll have a seat, I'll look for Roy. He's around here somewhere."
"Thank you," Jack said thinking that was a pretty friendly reception.
A few minutes later, Sue came back. A large man with a full gray beard and a pot belly followed behind her. Sticking his hand out to shake, the man said, "Hello Jack, I'm Roy Marshal. Why don't you come to my office and we'll talk."
"Thanks," Jack said taking the man's hand. He had a firm handshake.
While walking to the office, Roy said, "We do the basic maintenance around the campus. Most of our work is the small stuff. We might replace the carpet in an office or fix a light fixture. The big jobs are contracted out, but there is enough work to keep us busy year round. Summer is pretty busy while we are repairing the dorms. We've got one plumber, two carpenters, and three electricians. We had a flooring guy, but he passed away about two months ago. We've got more men on the grounds crew who mow the lawn and keep the campus grounds looking good."
"Impressive," Jack said.
Entering the office, Roy gestured to a chair and said, "Have a seat."
"Thanks," Jack said taking a seat.
"I noticed in your resume that you know how to install carpet, linoleum, and tile. I called your former employers and they told me that you did good work. They all made the point that you were a reliable employee and that they would hire you whenever they had work."
"I do my best," Jack said thinking he should try selling himself a little.
"Your resume said that you also do a little light carpentry and sheetrock work," Roy said. He was desperate to get a man in to fill the opening. He had a backlog of jobs that needed to be done and the college was dragging its feet on getting the paperwork through.
"That's right," Jack replied nodding his head.
"Good. We like our people to be flexible," Roy said. Not used to interviewing people, he scratched his beard trying to decide what he was supposed to be doing. Finally, he said, "Our people usually wear work boots, jeans and university shirts. We provide ten shirts a year, but you can buy more at the university store. You'll have to provide the jeans. You'll also be responsible for washing your shirts."
"Sounds reasonable," Jack said surprised that the man had mentioned work clothes. He had never had to wear a job uniform before and was used to buying his own work clothes.
"The work hours are 8:00 to 4:30 with a half hour lunch break at noon. You have to punch the time clock when you arrive and when you leave. You'll earn time and half on the weekends. You get two weeks of vacation a year," Roy said.
"That's good," Jack said thinking he'd never had an employer talk about vacation before.
Having run out of things to talk about, Roy asked, "Are you interested in the job?"
"Yes," Jack answered.
"Good." Roy glanced at his calendar and said, "It will take two weeks to get your paperwork routed through all of the administrative offices. They'll send you a letter providing you with the details for the job offer."
"So I got the job?" Jack asked.
"Unless there's a problem administratively," Roy said with a grin. They had received only a handful resumes for the job and Jack's was the only one that met all of the criteria in the advertisement. That was going to be a problem and would slow things down a bit, but since he was the only qualified applicant the school would hire him.
Jack asked, "What about tools?"
"We provide all of the tools," Roy said.
"That's good," Jack said.
Roy looked across the desk pleased that the interview had gone so well. He had been in the position for five years and this was his first time interviewing someone to work for him. He said, "Not quite what you were expecting."
"You can say that again," Jack said.
Folding his hands over his pot belly, Roy said, "We're a laid back bunch around here. We do our jobs without interfering with the day to day business of running a college. You'll find the professors are pretty nice. The students are a great bunch of kids. I think you'll like working here."
"I'm sure that I will," Jack said. He wondered how much the job paid.
"Do you have any questions?" Roy asked.
Jack said, "I guess the only question I have is how much the job pays."
"I thought that was in the ad," Roy said. He leafed through some papers on his desk and found the one for which he was searching. He said, "$18.50 an hour."
"That's good," Jack said thinking it was the most he'd ever made.
Roy said, "Odds are good that you'll retire from here. This is one of most secure jobs left. When times are bad, enrollment goes up with people looking to retrain for new careers. When times are good, things stay the same. We've never laid anyone off."
"That's good to know," Jack said. He had thought that job security was a thing of the past.
Roy said, "I'll let you go. You should be getting a letter in a couple of weeks with the job offer. It will have some of the details about health benefits, retirement benefits, tuition reimbursement, and union membership. I know that it seems like this process is slow, but that's how it is around here. They follow the same process regardless of whether they are hiring a professor or a maintenance guy."
"Great," Jack said rising from his chair. He wasn't going to complain about how long the process took. He figured that he'd last long enough to be able to wait for the job without starving.
Jack returned to his house and went inside carrying a large bottle of name brand soda. It was a special little treat to celebrate getting a job. He wasn't sure what it would be like having year round employment like that, but he was anxious to find out. He poured a glass and took a seat. Getting out a calculator, he calculated how much he would make a year. He stared at the number surprised at how much money it was.
There was a knock on the front door interrupting his thoughts. He went over and answered it to find Claire there. She asked, "Did you get the job?"
"Yes, I did," Jack answered with a great big grin.
"That's wonderful. We'll have to celebrate tonight," Claire said with a grin. She figured they would bake a cake or something along those lines.
"The guy who interviewed me said that it would be a couple of weeks before the offer letter came in the mail," Jack said.
"I kind of expected them to hire you on the spot," Claire said with a frown. She had expected him to start working the next day.
"He says that it is lifetime employment. I'm not going to worry about it taking some time to officially send me an offer," Jack said shrugging his shoulders.
"That is still great news, Jack."
"Yes, it is. I'm going to be making really good money," Jack said. Rubbing his hands together, he said, "I hope that I'll get enough work done on the community house for us to use it before I have to start working fulltime."
"I'm sure that you'll get it done on time," Claire said with a smile. She knew that she could trust Jack to do what was necessary to help the commune. She didn't think that he'd turn his back on them now that he was getting better financially.
"I'll try," Jack said. The interview had been at one and it was now three in the afternoon. There wasn't enough time to pull all of the carpet out. He sighed and said, "I suppose I could mow a couple of lawns before dinner."
"Take the rest of the day off," Claire said patting him on the arm. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
"I guess," Jack said thinking it had been a long time since anyone had said that to him.
The rest of the month seemed to fly by with all of the activity in the commune. Emily had moved in with Sally and that had helped each one of them financially. Mary and Johnny moved into the commune by the end of the month. The infusion of a little extra money had really helped Clair and Gail directly. They had held a monster garage sale that had brought in over a thousand five hundred dollars.
Dave and Jack were at Mary's old townhouse fixing up some of the things that had fallen into disrepair so that she could sell it. While the market on all properties had fallen, townhouses and condominiums had kept their value a little better than houses. The property taxes tended to be a little lower, the initial outlay was less, and they were often a good choice for down-sizing from larger homes.
Dave stepped back from the wall looking at the paint job and said, "Well, the painting is done."
"Tomorrow we start with laying carpet and that will finish the repairs," Jack said looking around the empty room.
"At least we didn't need to use a hose to clean it up," Dave said making reference to their attempt to take care of the mold in Emily's house.
"Don't remind me of that little fiasco," Jack said with a pained expression on his face. They had ended up with water everywhere and very little bleach. The mold had bloomed overnight and they ended up having to scrub every surface with a concentrated bleach solution. It hadn't been pretty.
"It sounded like a good idea," Dave said chuckling.
"At least the wiring didn't catch fire," Jack said. He would never forget the sparks that had flown when the spray of water had hit an electric outlet. He couldn't believe they had been so stupid to try that little idea.
Dave laughed and said, "That was impressive."
"That was stupid," Jack said. Wanting to change the subject, Jack said, "At least this has been an easy job. It will look real nice with the carpet she picked out."
"She should get a pretty good price for it," Dave said hoping that was the case.
Jack said, "You've been keeping track of the expenses?"
"You bet I have. I've also kept track of how much time we've spent on fixing it up," Dave said.
"Why?"
Realizing that Jack hadn't been around when Mary had discussed paying them for their work, Dave said, "That's part of the cost of getting it sold. She set aside three thousand dollars for our labor. Mary agreed that half of the money would go to the commune coffers and we could split the rest."
"I wasn't aware of that," Jack said with a frown. He felt that they should be helping each other.
"It would have cost her a lot more than that to get someone else to fix the place for sale," Dave said.
Jack nodded his head and said, "That's true."
"We'll both get seven hundred and fifty dollars out of it," Dave said.
"At least I'll make my mortgage payment," Jack said. Jobs had become very hard to find lately and he hadn't heard back from the college about when he was supposed to start working there.
Hearing the relief in Jack's voice, Dave said, "That adds about fifteen hundred dollars to the repair fund. We should be able to get the roof repaired on the community house if we are careful with the money."
Jack knew a large number of people who were desperate for work. A few of them were trying to support families. They would appreciate any work that he could throw in their direction. He said, "I know a couple of roofers. I'll hire them directly to do the work for cash. We won't have to pay extra to get the work done."
"Good idea," Dave said.
"We had better get the brushes cleaned up," Jack said looking around at the mess on the floor. There was almost a gallon of wall paint and a half of a quart of trim paint left over from the job.
"You're right," Dave said bending down to pick up the paint tray he had been using.
Jack put the covers back on the paint cans and said, "We can use this in one of the bedrooms at the community house."
"Good idea," Dave said. The repairs on the community house had gone pretty quickly. With Jack not having many jobs, he was able to spend a lot of time fixing the community house. The sheetrock had been torn down, the frame reinforced, and the damaged wood had been removed. They hadn't replaced the sheetrock yet, but that would be done soon. A little scavenging through the houses had found all of the tools necessary to do the work.
"Waste not, want not," Jack said.
"Tried, but true," Dave said with a laugh. He carried the paint trays and brushes into the kitchen to wash them in the sink. He figured there were laws against that sort of thing, but what no one knew wouldn't kill them.
The two men went about the serious business of cleaning the painting supplies. Mary came into the town house while they were working. She looked around and said, "Wow, it looks great."
"Thanks," Dave said looking over at her.
"There has already been some interest in the place," Mary said. She had gotten a call from a real estate agent earlier that day.
Not quite sure that he believed it, Jack asked, "So quickly?"
Mary said, "I'm not making any money on it. I'm selling it for ten thousand more than I paid for it ten years ago. I'm getting back my down payment and some of the interest. I feel lucky that I'm getting out of it without losing money."
"How about if you had sold it three years ago?" Jack asked.
"I would have gotten double what I had paid for it," Mary said shaking her head. She had seen over thirty houses for sale between the library and her town house. Three years ago there hadn't been a single for sale sign anywhere.
"That's a shame," Dave said.
"None of us can see the future," Mary said shrugging her shoulders. She sighed and said, "I can't believe that I let this house get in such bad shape over the past ten years."
"Part of the problem was the low quality construction. I went up and examined the roof. They really used cheap materials. They are going to have to replace it in five years," Jack said disgusted at the quality of work he had observed.
"I couldn't have afforded that," Mary said. The fees for taking care of the town houses had been going up every year. Last year they had to repair the pool and that had cost a small fortune. She had never heard of a pool cracking. She said, "It was getting too expensive already and the Home Owners Association was increasing the fees annually."
"I can imagine," Jack said thinking about how a few financially well off owners could drive up the fees beyond the ability of others to pay them. The low quality construction would have resulted in a lot of repairs being necessary.
"Hopefully it will be someone else's problem soon," Mary said knowing that she would be happy when she had finally gotten this particular financial burden off her back.
Dave didn't have a problem with being nosy. He asked, "How's the money situation for you? I mean, it can't be good with paying the mortgage on this place and paying Claire rent."
"Claire is being very understanding," Mary said. The elderly woman had given her a break on the rent until the town house was sold. The hundred and fifty dollars a month that was going to the commune was actually saving her money. Her food bill had dropped significantly.
"That's good," Jack said knowing that Claire was the kind of person that would help out Mary.
"I'm really enthused about the commune," Mary said. The most significant change had been the change in her lifestyle. She wasn't sitting at home lonely every night. Instead, she was over at the communal house helping with the cooking and sharing gossip with a dozen people every night.
Mary had joined in the activities within the commune with a passion. It had quickly reached the point where she was contributing more than anyone else with the exception of Claire. Jack said, "We enjoy having you as a member."
"You wouldn't believe how lonely I used to be living here," Mary said. She had thought that living in a townhouse would have some social aspect to it, but the weekly parties had disappeared within four months of her moving in and the neighbors rarely talked with each other.
While scrubbing one of the brushes clean, Dave said, "It is amazing how busy I've become since we started the commune. I used to sit around the house doing nothing. Now I feel useful again."
"Claire was saying the same thing last night," Mary said. All of the little old ladies were busy all of the time. Frau Shultz, the oldest member of the commune, was busy keeping the communal house clean. Despite the construction that was going on there, it was clean enough to eat off of the floors -- at least metaphorically speaking.
"There's nothing worse than sitting around the house with nothing to do and no money," Jack said.
"We're going to have some more for you to do," Mary said with a smile. She was so excited with the idea of what she was doing that she could barely restrain herself from shouting it out to everyone in the commune.
"What?"
"Johnny and I are working out the details for applying for a solar energy rebate. He spent the past week working out the numbers. We'll get the majority of the cost of putting up solar panels on the community house paid for by a grant and the rebate. We'll also be able to sell our excess energy to the power company. With the rising energy prices, Johnny feels like it will pay for itself in five years," Mary said. The brochures said there was a ten year pay-off, but that assumed that electricity didn't double every other year.
"Really?" Jack asked intrigued at the idea of beating one of the large utility companies for a change. His time without electricity had been miserable.
Nodding her head, Mary said, "We're going to present the plan at the next commune meeting."
"I don't know what to say about that," Jack said. Money was still tight and he wasn't sure how people would react to investing that much money into a project like that.
"I like Johnny. We're a good team. I'm pretty good at finding opportunities and he's great at coming up with ways to exploit those opportunities," Mary said with a smile. Johnny spent a lot of nights alone in hotel rooms and was using that time to help the commune.
Jack said, "The more we can do for ourselves, the better off we are."
"You can say that again," Dave said. The time spent fixing up the town house had allowed him and Jack to discuss a lot of topics. One of the things that he had come to appreciate was Jack's belief that they had to look out for each other. He agreed that no one else had their interests at heart.
Mary wasn't sure that she agreed that strongly with Jack's pessimistic outlook, but she had to admit that life was getting better at a much greater rate than she had believed possible. It was more than an increase in standard of living, but an increase in quality of life. She was active, social, and engaged in living for the first time in years. The standard of living measured physical goods and not the intangibles. She said, "Well, we are still working out the details, but it looks good. We might be able to rollout the concept to every house in the commune."
"I hope it won't be a tough sell," Dave said. He wondered if it would increase the real estate taxes that they would be paying. He was going to have to bring that up to Johnny and find out what the young man knew about it.
"I'm worried about how we'll pay for it," Jack said. He was still awful tight with money and would be until after a couple of paychecks from the college.
"Johnny and I are going to donate some money towards the project," Mary answered. She viewed it as an investment in the future. Johnny saw it as a way to help his grandmother.
"That's nice of you and him," Jack said thinking he had been right about Johnny joining the commune. Although things were better, no one was in a good economic position. Most of them were still living on the verge of losing everything. The social support helped deal with the constant money pressure and relieved the depression which had become an integral part of their lives.
"Real nice," Dave said tossing the last paint brush into a plastic bucket they had used to hold the painting equipment. He looked around and said, "Well, tomorrow we lay carpet."
"That's great," Mary said.
Jack returned home and found a letter from the college in the mail box. Excited he opened the letter and read it. The letter informed him that he had to call and make an appointment to fill out some paperwork. Once that was done, they would establish a start date for him. Smiling, he said, "I've got a job!"
He sat down and read the rest of the letter. He was shocked when he read the attached section that covered the job benefits. His dependants would get free tuition. Although he didn't have any dependants, he realized that wouldn't always be the case. Considering the cost of a college education, that was a great benefit. The retirement program was part of the state retirement program and that was pretty good. In addition to that, he would be able to put money into a retirement account. Upon retiring, he would have his savings, the state pension, and social security.
He had full health benefits although he would have to pay for a portion of them. He didn't mind that. He would be fully covered for health and dental. There was a vision plan that paid for eye exams and glasses every other year. On top of that was a disability insurance that would pay if he were injured and unable to work. He had a feeling that he could get used to having benefits like that real easily.
He looked over at the clock and realized that it was a little too late to call the college. He put the letter down and went to his bedroom to change out of his clothes. He noticed the stack of magazines and picked one up to look at. Staring at a picture of a naked woman performing oral sex on a rather substantial cock, he said, "She's pretty."
The past two years had been spent worrying about money. All of those worries had suddenly disappeared with the arrival of the letter. He stared at the picture thinking that he couldn't remember ever being so horny in his whole life. He said, "I need to get laid."
He dropped the magazine back down on the stack and finished dressing. He went out to the kitchen table thinking that it was time for him to straighten up his finances. He wasn't sure when he would start working or when he would get his first paycheck, but the end of his money nightmare was in sight.
Abby pulled into the driveway and got out of her car. She was wearing her Taco Emporium uniform. Nothing made her feel worse than wearing that outfit. She felt like it announced to the whole world that she was a failure. She had never met anyone who wanted to work in a fast food restaurant as their career goal. While others were experiencing improvements in their quality of life, Abby's financial situation was still in a downward spiral.
She looked over at the garage and noticed that Ella and Frau Shultz were waving to her. Tired, she didn't really want to talk to anyone, but she headed over to them anyway. She hadn't even reached the garage when Ella said, "Jack got a job."
"That's good," Abby said thinking that at least Jack was getting somewhere.
Frau Shultz pulled on Ella's sleeve and said some words in German. Ella rolled her eyes and then looked over at Abby. She said, "Frau Shultz said that now is your chance."
"My chance for what?" Abby asked.
"To get Jack," Ella said as if the answer was obvious.
"Why do I want to get Jack? What am I getting him for?" Abby asked.
Ella shook her head and said, "Jack got a letter from the college today. He's probably in a very amorous mood about now. You can get him."
"We don't have that kind of relationship," Abby said. These old ladies were pushing them together every chance that they got.
"You can have that kind of relationship," Ella explained patiently.
"Why would I want that?"
Ella said, "He's got a good job. He's a good man. You can't do better than that."
"I don't love him," Abby said shaking her head.