this season give a shit
There’s a lot of people looking for work these days. Ever heard of Craigslist? Lots of work there. Sometimes you just need money, not a bunch of forms to fill out and a drug test to pass. When the kid needs diapers and Daddy needs a drink safety training and a second interview aren’t gonna work out.
Simple Pleasures, or “The Rough Brew” as Nick calls it, is home to a different class of worker than a street corner, although there are many similarities.
These dudes sit out front at a bistro table on plastic garden chairs and smoke cigarettes and drink coffee and tell stories, talk about bands, ask about girls, and try to hustle a little work. Guys on corners stand around, smoke cigarettes and nip off Vodka pints. They talk to themselves and tell everyone, “God Bless”. It’s kinda the same thing.
Simple Pleasures has become the Outer Richmond Labor Hall to me. I can roll up there at any point during working hours and find someone to help on a move, or load garbage, or get some gardening done.
This lot is what you call underemployed. They may pick up shifts at a movie theater or this same coffee shop, so they get 20 or so hours a week and don’t spend any money on coffee or movies. Whole networks spring up to aid the underemployed where you hook up and get hooked up.
Making the leap into an office job can be scary since you don’t know how you’ll be able to afford anything if you have to pay for it every step of the way. If you aren’t hanging out all day Tuesday telling jokes and letting friends in at the theater, why would you keep getting free shots at the bar across the street? You wouldn’t be there when the bagel shop worker brings leftovers after closing. You’ve unplugged yourself from the swapping community. Ask about the Peoples Temple, it’s hard to quit a community, even if it isn’t perfect.
So we have shitty jobs and play in bands and smoke weed.