Unlikely Places

As Hurricane Irene moves closer to the US it must have brought with it some bad vibes. Let's be honest, on Friday it seems no one is at full production; however, this one is another chapter in a book full of experiences I never would have thought I'd gain through working at a cabinet factory. To be clear, I am an operations manager in charge of 10-15 employees including installers, shop production, and salesman. It is my job to see to it that the day to day operations run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Our company used to be larger, but like many other local small businesses, the economy has significantly reduced production. Luckily, we operate in high volume sales, so unlike other contractors who do "high end" cabinetry and have 1-2 jobs every few weeks, we have a consistent stream of work that seems to somehow trickle in no matter how scary the home improvement sector gets.

It is with great sadness I make this first entry but I felt it important to anyone who reads this that experience comes from all directions. Is working for a respectable cabinet company my goal in life? No, like many of my other friends and classmates I want to get involved with public service. But for whatever reason I have been placed in this situation to learn and apply leadership skills found in public service and applicable anywhere. Today I get a call at 6 AM that one of my workers is acting impaired, unable to function properly. This is alarming because we operate table saws and other industrial machinery. I haven't been able to sleep well since a recent bout of pneumonia so this was the last thing I needed after a long day yesterday of classes, reading, and still being maladjusted to this semester's new schedule.

As soon as I arrived I could tell, sure enough he is on something. The employee denied drug usage but it was evident from his inability to walk straight, keep his eyes open, or pronounce his words without a slur, that he was high as a kite in the world of the wood gods. We picked up a do-it-yourself drug test from Wal-Mart and told him to prove it. He refused, citing an inability to urinate, and so I had to keep tabs on him physically watching him for an hour if not longer while we tried to talk about it. He was unable to drive and the drug test itself was more of a ploy to see how he reacted since it was obvious he would fail. I received multiple complaints from my workers that he was out of it. No matter if he took the test or not, he was going to get fired. His step-mother came to discuss the situation and it was sad to witness the breakdown of the family, she kicked him out of the house right in front of me. Turns out, he was in a bad car accident a while back and is on prescription medication for constant pain, he has a pending DUI for being caught driving on the meds, and he has done time before for a previous DUI. I'm not going to air the rest of his personal life, but eventually he was picked up by his sponsor of an assistance program he has been attending, and is presumably going to get more treatment for his problem. He had a lot going for him and is an excellent worker with a great attitude. You would never suspect him to be the type to have such a history. Unfortunately, his demons keep getting the best of him and it's going to take a trip hitting rock bottom to realize all the people he has hurt, including himself and his two young kids. The saddest part of all is that he's my cousin.