Jobs # 6 (Habitat for Humanity)

Several significant life changes occurred in 2004. A very dear friend of ours was killed in a fight back in Kansas City, and my relationship at the time ended not long after. I didn’t know how to handle either of these significant life changes. Looking back, it may be the most lost I’ve ever felt. With the help of some great friends, I decided to keep pursuing my Bachelor’s in Fiction Writing at Columbia College. I remained in Chicago for another three years. I lived with close friends and had a fantastic time. Again, I’ll write a lot about this later.

By 2007, I was graduating and looking forward to whatever was next. After attending school every year for sixteen consecutive years, I was ready for a gap year. “Gap decade” is actually a more appropriate term for what I wanted and what I did. I wanted to work. I was having trouble finding a job in Chicago, and I figured it might be a good time to close that chapter and move back home to Kansas City.

Off I went, driving back home in May of ‘07 in a used minivan that my Dad had given me as a graduation gift. It was stuffed with everything I owned. I had a lead on a new job at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Kansas City, KS, which was opening soon. I was happy to move on from Chicago, though I’ll always really love that I got to live there.

Returning to Kansas City went about as smoothly as I hoped. I moved in with my mom for a month and started figuring out my next move. I started the job at the ReStore right away. I was employed as a Product Manager, working alongside an old family friend, John Sr., the father of one of my best friends.

This job required significantly more physical activity than I was prepared for at the time, but I did my best. That summer, the two of us opened a gigantic retail warehouse. It was my job to pick up donations, help customers by explaining and finding items, and ultimately load them into their vehicles. This involved becoming forklift certified and driving a gigantic box truck all over Overland Park, KS, picking up random materials and furniture that people no longer wanted or paid too much for, which they could write off. I had to do this mostly alone for the first year, except for a random volunteer who would occasionally come along to help here and there.

I remember wrenching my back terribly moving refrigerators, washing machines, and granite countertops. Anything worth money was gladly accepted. July and August were extremely unforgiving that year, and the tape player in the box truck was broken. My love and hate for classic rock radio became even more ingrained as the miles stacked up. I was gaining skills, though. I even moved an entire grand piano one time.

I stayed on through 2008, eventually leaving that fall. They had let go of John Sr. that summer, and I was now a lonely fish in a bowl, working for people I didn’t really like. The store would shut down shortly after I left, and it would open a few other locations in the city as the years went on. My back still hurts from what I put myself through at this job, but it was a great introduction to actually working for a living.