Service Station Memories

I had numerous employees in the 8 years of this business. One of these was a young black man we called "Black". He was of slim build and did general service station work such as washing and greasing cars and was usually a reliable conscientious worker. Sometimes, however, he would fail to show up for work for several days at a time without notifying me he was going to be absent.

One day he failed to show up for work with no phone call as to why he was absent. Three weeks passed with still no word from Black. We all began to wonder what had happened to him.

One morning about 10:00 am I noticed him peeping around the Coke machine at me with a strange look on his face. He tiptoed up to me and said, "Mistuh Gene, can we talk?" I said, "Sure, but first tell me where you have been for 3 weeks". He bowed his head and said, "Mistuh Gene, I'se got deep trouble. My brother done passed three weeks ago, and it's hot and he needs buryin".

I said to him, "You mean he died 3 weeks ago and still not buried?". "Yassuh Mistuh Gene. Dey won't bury him without cash money, and Mistuh Gene, It's summer time and he needs buryin' real bad".

I loaned him the money and told him to take care of the problem and come on back to work the following day. Sure enough he showed up on time the next day and never missed another day's work.

I never did see his brother's obituary in the paper.

The very best employee I ever had was a huge black man named Ernest Bridges. He must have weighed well over 300 pounds. He always wore a smile and was able to do almost anything I would ask of him. He was always very polite and helpful and had a great positive mental attitude. He never met a stranger. We called him "Tiny".

Once in the hottest part of the summer, he was busy servicing a car. It must have been 100 degrees and he was sweating profusely, but hard at work. I noticed how hot he was so I brought him a Coke and remarked to him, "Kind of hot today, isn't it Tiny?". He wiped the sweat off his brow and smiled and replied, "Mistuh Gene, it ain't all that hot, it's just the HUMANITY is so bad".

I miss him more than any other ex-employee of mine.