Chicken Man has left the building

    Well, it had to happen.  The PC repair business has slowed down a lot within the 9 months.  The boss had the three technicians rotating every other day.  Some weeks I would work three days other weeks I would only work two.  I started looking into other options and avenues for extra income.  Then after two months the boss came to a decision.  Since I was the senior tech with the most experience I would come in every day.  Then the second tech with the most experience would come in almost every day as needed and the third tech being Chicken Man would be on call from day to day depending on how busy we were.  After two weeks of basically not working the Chicken Man walked in and quit.  At first I was a little bummed because even though he would bother the shit out of me he was also a hard working tech.  Then I would think about the time he burned me in front of the boss.  I quickly changed my attitude about him leaving.   But as a person who had a mortgage to pay and a wife, and an addiction to golf like no other person I've ever met I did feel bad for him as a person and as a fellow human being.  Sure I've mock him, would give him nicknames like Kevin Colonel Sanders or Jabber Jaw and when referring to him for this site Chicken Man.  But dam it if I don't have a heart when a fellow employee losses his or her job, even more so than if I was the one on being fired.

    We also lost another employee.  He was actually was the first person (or fourth technician) to be let go of.  I never mentioned him on these web pages because he really did nothing to me.  The nickname chosen for him was The Bosnian Bastard.  The name came out of love.  He had this thick Bosnia Accent.  He was there maybe a year less then myself.  I remember one day in his three month training  period we were dispatched to a large hospital type of environment.  I had a small baggage dolly cart that was carrying my tool box.  Being that it was my first time out there I knew not where the elevators were so we took an escalator down.  It was the type of escalator that you had to be single file on.  So my Bosnia co-worker in training was standing right behind me as we descended. There were also maybe 3-4 old people lined up behind him spaced about 4 steps back.  My dolly cart was in front of me.  As the steps came to an end and leveled out the two tires of the cart just kept spinning between the escalator end and the two inch grade that leveled out to the floor.  The handle of the dolly stabbed me in the stomach removing any leverage I had on the cart.  The cart just rolled in in spot at the end of the escalator perfectly balanced as 5 people came down at it.  I'm frantic, I can't lift the cart up and off and I hear the old people yelling at me "What are you doing!!  Stop it!!"  Some, on the ride of doom turned around and began walking up the escalator like we all did as children, trying to reach the top but never making it.  So at best they stayed in one spot but in reality were  losing to the speed of this people mover contraption.  My co-worker jumped up and to the right and over the rubber hand rail to land on the lobby floor.  At that same time I  pushed the top of the cart as hard as I could tipping the tool case and the erect dolly cart into the lobby area.  The Bosnia Bastard moved all the equipment out of the way.  Just in time for the old people to exit.  We both got the stink eye, the dirty look, and the shake of the head from these people as they came off the escalator.  After they were out of the area, we both busted up laughing re-telling the story many times over.  It would be the one topic of conversation I would bring up over and over again for the next 3 years of working with him  Whenever I would train a new employee I would tell that story. 

    He became our go to guy for any type of European topic.    We looked at him like he was some kind of expert because he had lived and vacationed there.  He was 23 when he came to America and had nothing.  Now being he was 28-29 he was doing quite well.  He would tell us about the Bosnia war he was in.  And how he defended his city.  That his 4 best friends either died in the war or went crazy shortly there after.  When the academy awards gave an award to the best Foreign film from a film that came out of Bosnia about the war he gave me a copy.  After awhile we came to question his way of thinking about Europe.  We always valued his opinion because we had never been there.  And what changed my mind about how he viewed Europe is when he started telling me how he viewed America.  It was almost like he was anti America. 

    Even though he was now a citizen.  He thought that a lot of things that happened in America was bullshit.  He said that America puts out a certain image to the world and when he got here he learned that it was not such a great place.  Better than his country, yes, but not as great as the America PR machine had made it out to be.  About 3 months before he quit/fired (depending on who you talk to), I was in San Francisco with him.  At lunch we went to the near by food court and we sat down with some other IT staff who were also from Eruope.  They were talking about soccer and the upcoming world cup.  Then they started talking about Europe.  How great is was there, how much slowed down and relaxed it was.  Unlike the U.S. where it was fast and frantic.  No doubt they never have been to po dunk Kansas, Kentucky, Alabama etc.  This is the type of talk that I hear from outsiders that bothers me.  If Europe is so much beautiful and relaxed than America than fuckin leave and go back.  Oh, yeah, the job opportunities aren't so great because everyone is so relaxed they aint creating shit except for tourism.  I'm not saying that all of Europe is this way but look at these guys,  they all work in desktop support/Information Technology so their very nature of thier job is fast and frantic.  Get in, fix, get out, then off to your next ticket to be closed.  So why get a  work visa, hop on a plane, fly to a country you know nothing about except what the U.S. PR machine has told you, get a job, then try like hell to get a green card and possibly citizenship.  And when you achieve that, you attempt to do the same thing for the rest of your family.  Why can't they put the same motivation into getting a job their.  So when they are done with their hectic work days they can sit on a beach, relax, watch the sunset and talk about how great it is there.