Glen Morales

Essay Two

September 20, 2017

Julia Intiwiwat

Blood on the Delivery Trucks

I woke up to my alarm clock going off at six in the morning on the dot, I had to wake up

and go to work. I turned the alarm off and laid in my bed as the sunlight started to barely creep

through my window (LIGHT 1). I laid there thinking about how much I hated my job, delivering

new furniture from house to house was not my cup of tea plus I absolutely hated driving all day

long (OBS 1). My job required me to drive from county to county delivering heavy furniture

from my truck to a second floor or if I was unlucky a third floor. Im not sure how but I finally

dragged myself out of bed, got ready and tried to head out the door or else I was going to be late

but my mother stopped me before I could rush out. She stopped me and offered me a cup of

coffee that she had in her hand, I could smell the coffee it had to have been a strong dark roast or

something (SMELL). I had to accept my mothers coffee because it was just the right thing to do,

I took a sip and just like that I was wide awake, energized and ready to start my day. The coffee

was quite delicious (TASTE) but before I could tell my mother that she started hitting me with

21 questions, she asked if I had a long day at work, if I was going to be home early, she asked

what a mother would ask. I told her I was going to try my best to get home early and I could see

that made her a little happier because she gave me the biggest smile I had seen in days (SIGHT).

I had been talking with mother for a few minutes before my obnoxious phone began to ring, I

hated my ringtone it was a very annoying upbeat jingle (SOUND), I saw that it was my boss
calling just to see if I was on the truck yet. I knew it was time to go because he had called I gave

my mother a huge hug, it was very comforting I will never get too old to hug my mother

(TOUCH). She gave me a kiss on the cheek (KISS) as I closed the door behind me.

I walked outside and the sunlight slapped me, it was brighter than I anticipated it to be

(LIGHT 2), I began to drive towards the furniture warehouse to pick up my truck and start my

deliveries, while on my way to the warehouse I realized how much I hated driving even my

personal car (OBS 2). It took me about 30 minutes to finally get there, traffic wasnt too bad. I

got to the warehouse and my boss, Tomas, was already waiting on me. I could see that the truck

was already on and ready to go because the head lights were on (LIGHT 3). I parked my car and

walked up to the truck, Tomas was my coworker and my boss. I greeted him and we both hop

into the truck. I didnt like Tomas very much, he would often threaten me and his other workers

that if we ever missed any days or had a little accident of any sort while delivering he was going

to fire us. He was very ignorant to the fact that his workers have families they have to feed and

cant afford to lose this job, he controlled us with threats and would sometimes hold our checks

for up to three weeks. He wasnt the best boss, he was very controlling (CONTROL 1) but I

didnt let it bother me, I just did my job and went home at the end of the day.

We began our deliveries, as we got to the first one I got off the truck to knock on this

customers door and verify that we had the correct information and see where the customer

wanted us to put the new furniture. I knocked on the door and a few seconds passed before a

thin, middle-aged man opened the door, the man was on the phone screaming at whoever was on

the other line. The man had his free hand on his head as if he in distress (BL1) he looked rough

as if he had not slept in days and had done nothing but work. He looked exhausted as he

introduced himself as Alex and told me to give him a minute as he cleared up some financial
problems. Alex had uncombed gray hair, a stained blue work shirt and was in his boxers (BODY

1), I could tell he was going crazy. I overheard Alex scream into his phone Ive been trying to

fix this problem for the past week and cant do it because youre not doing your job. If I dont

resolve this, Im going to get fired! (RANT) By then I knew it was definitely work related,

seemed like I wasnt the only one that work was killing. I stood there on his porch waiting and

after about three minutes he got off the phone and told me to follow him through his dim lit

house (LIGHT 4), he took me to and empty room where we were going to deliver a dresser and

two night stands. As he slouched over (BL2) he told me where everything was going to be

placed, I then ran back to the truck to help Tomas bring the dresser inside the house. We didnt

have to say anything but we both knew that this delivery was going to be a quick one just by the

glance we gave each other (EYES), we were confident. Tomas always wants to rush through

deliverys because he wants to get done with everything early. We raced in and out of that house

through the beaming sunlight that was beating down on us (LIGHT 5) and we finished that

delivery in a matter of minutes and before we knew it we were back on the road, once again the

I hate this job and driving thought crept into my head (OBS 3).

As I predicted the day flew by and before I realized it we were on our way to our last

delivery, it was about four in the afternoon by then. As we drove to our last delivery I turned to

Tomas who was sitting in the passenger seat of the truck and explained to him why I hated

driving (OBS 4) and delivering furniture for a living. I told him I hated the fact that traffic

around the Charlotte area was getting worse every day and how I didnt find any enjoyment in

carrying heavy furniture into houses. He agreed and told me that if he were the driver he

wouldnt like it any more than I do, but what would he know hes never driven this truck a day in

his life. He didnt know how boring it was to drive from one side of North Carolina to the other
side of the state, I absolutely hated driving (OBS 5). Thinking about how hes the worst boss

ever made me so mad, I kept tapping the steering wheel to get some of my anger out (BL3) at

one point I got so mad that I started to shake (BL4). It was an awful feeling to sit there next to

my horrible boss feeling helpless, I felt that way because I was trapped in this job that I hated

(OBS 6). I felt trapped because I couldnt quit the job, I needed the money and I couldnt

complain because he would threaten to fired me or hold this weeks check until next month. I felt

trapped and so controlled because I couldnt do anything (CONTROL 2), the only thing left to

do was hold my head up high (BL 5), puff my chest out (BL 6) and keep on doing the thing I

hate most in this life, driving (OBS 7).

As I continued to drive I heard Tomas scream in a fit of frustration and put his hands on

his head in a sign of defeat (BL7), he turned to me and told me that the GPS had lead us astray

and had been taking us to the wrong way this whole time(ASTRAY). We always used the GPS

when going to a customers house and it would mess up occasionally, I shook my head in

disbelief (BL8) and told him that there was nothing left to do but to type in the correct address

and keep on driving. This mess up made me hate driving just a little bit more but we had finally

gotten on the correct route and officially started our drive to the last stop, Tomas rode the whole

way there with his head lowered (BL9) because he knew we had lost a lot of time, by then the

sun was starting to go down (LIGHT 6). When we finally arrived I once again knocked on the

customers door and small little old lady opened the door, she looked pissed because we were

late. She had snow white hair, she was wearing an old lady dress and she had huge glasses that

covered half her face (BODY2). She stood there with her arms crossed (BL 10), her left foot was

repeatedly tapping (BL 11) her hardwood floor and she was shaking her head (BL 12) as if she

was disagreeing with the fact that we were late. Even for a little old woman she intimidated me
but I explained to her the problem we had with the GPS and she had no other choice but to

understand, like I do in very house I asked where we were going to place the furniture and she

asked me to follow her up stairs. She took me through her bright house (LIGHT 7) and upstairs

to an empty room and showed me where to set her new couch. The lighting in the house hurt my

eyes (LIGHT8) so I wanted to deliver this couch and go home, I ran outside and helped Tomas

unload the couch off the truck. We took the couch upstairs and made sure everything met the

customers expectations and just like that we were done with deliveries for the day.

As we drove away from the last delivery I realized how I usually hated driving (OBS 8)

but I did not mind the drive back to the warehouse. Tomas knew I hated driving (OBS 9) but not

if I was driving back home after a long day of work, we were both sitting up straight (BL13)

excited that we were going home. By that time the sun was gone and it was completely dark

outside (LIGHT 9), everyones headlights were on (LIGHT 10) and thats all I could see as I

drove down the highway. About twenty minutes into the drive it started to pour, the rain was

coming down hard and I couldnt see much because of it. I could tell Tomas got nervous because

he started to bite his nails (BL 14) he didnt like driving in the rain, I just didnt like driving in

general (OBS 10). Tomas told me that he didnt like driving in the rain because he once had a

dream that he was driving a truck like the one I was driving and had a really bad accident

because he couldnt see very well as a result of, you guessed it, the rain. He described the dream

very vividly and told me that he was driving the truck and suddenly the car driving in front of

him slammed on their brakes and he couldnt brake fast enough and he obliterated the small

Prius that caused that accident in the rain (DREAM). Tomas told me every time it rained while

he was driving it would make him uneasy, all shaky (BL15) and paranoid as he was at the
moment. I reassured him I had everything under control and we got even closer to the

warehouse, I could see him relax a little and lean back into his seat.

We eventually made it to our destination and we were both relieved that our work day

was over. We were both exhausted and just wanted to get home, work had drained the life out of

us but at the end of the day I try to remind myself that a job is a job. It didnt matter if I enjoyed

working with Tomas I just knew that I had to bring home money some way or another. I looked

at Tomas as we made our way to our cars and he extended his hand so I could shake it and I did,

Im not sure what it was about that particular hand shake (TOUCH) that gave me hope, strength

and for the first time in a long time I was looking forward to coming back to work tomorrow

morning. That brief hand shake was reassuring, it told me that I had done a good job today and

that I was appreciated. As I drove home from work I couldnt help but notice that it doesnt

matter how hard today was or how much I think I hate my job life will go on and I have to be

positive about everyday life, thats the only way to keep myself from going crazy. Suddenly, I

didnt hate driving so much because I was driving home and my work day was over.