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8 1/2 Hours on Saturday

November 8th, 2009 at 05:59 pm

Last Monday the gym manager E asked me what I was doing this weekend. I told him I didn't have any plans. He then told me that they were closing one of our three locations due to the building that location is in wanting to start charging rent. (Apparently their business model includes not paying rent, but just managing a fitness center for the building.) Then he said that they would need help moving. I told him I would be willing to help.

I forgot to ask which day he was planning on this move. Ooops. It turned out that it was Saturday. He knows that I go to church on Saturday, so when he got back to me with the day, he asked me if I could come by 2:30.

Because I had already said I would help, I didn't want to back out on my word. So, I agreed to be there by 2:30.

I've mentioned before that I'm a Seventh-day Adventist. Our beliefs on the day of worship is similar to Jews, in that Sabbath is from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. Working for money, watching t.v. etc., is not part of that time.

So, I decided to consider this an "ox in the ditch" situation, and also not accept any pay for the time I put in. (He was going to pay me my regular hourly wage.)

Well, when I got there at 2:25 there was NO ONE else there, except for him. Earlier that day one of the male "sometimes worker" and his son had come for a few hours and helped him load the heavy equipment, but everyone else had not been willing to come help. His dad, the owner, was at home "supervising" some contract work being done on their house.

So, about 2:30 I started loading up all the boxes of books (the dad/owner had co-written a book a number of years ago - there were LOTS of copies still left unsold.) About 4:30 his dad came and started to pack his office down. By about 5:15 I had finished bringing all the boxes in the gym out to the truck where E had been loading them. About that same time another helper M showed up. He helped E take down and load one last piece of equipment.

About 6:30 we finally got in the truck and headed out to the storage facility (after stopping at Taco Bell for food and drink.) A 10 minute trip took about 45 minutes because of a semi overturned in the ditch.

We finally get to the storage place, and unload everything that was to go in the "dry" building (non-climate controlled.)
About 7:30 S, E's now maybe ex-girlfriend (long story) showed up to help.

Then we started to look for the climate controlled unit. After 20 minutes of fruitless searching, we figure out that E had mixed up the numbers! He called the storage place's manager and worked it out.

About 8:00 we started unloading the book boxes into the climate controlled unit. About 9:30 M left. We closed the door of the storage unit, and the rental truck a little bit after 11 p.m.

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It was a LONG day, but the weather was perfect for it, and I feel good that I decided to help. If I hadn't shown up to help, he probably would not have finished before 5 or 6 this morning! Every muscle in my body aches, and I slept really, really well last night.

E joked that he'd have to be sure to hire all Seventh-day Adventists because they wouldn't accept pay for working on Saturday's. I told him that might be a good idea, except that it'd be hard to find one who'd work on a Saturday in the first place. (unless unusual circumstances)

I did tell him though that he can be expecting a phone call from me around May to help me move wherever I end up going then. Big Grin

--
Oh, I also finally got my paycheck yesterday. (One week late with a $20 bonus for it's lateness.)

4 Responses to “8 1/2 Hours on Saturday”

  1. LuxLiving Says:
    1257709340

    You are a good egg!!

  2. Ima saver Says:
    1257716366

    Yes you are!

  3. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1257719952

    Ahh... thanks guys. Big Grin Blush

  4. Broken Arrow Says:
    1257790026

    That is very nice of you indeed!

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