Part I--The Stripper, The Anarchist, The Whiteboy Gangsta, Crackhead
Prostitute, Old Lady Redneck, Battered Housewife, Crazy Christian Lady,
Mexican Biker, Crazy Homeless Guy, Anti-War Guy, Alcoholic Electrician,
& Pop-a-Lock Dispatcher
More interviews are on the way. This I only pt.1 of a series of interviews I'm currently conducting. Anyone with interesting friends or relatives, who you think should be interviewed for this project, should email me (afterlife888@yahoo.com) with contact info and brief description of said person.
Thanks. Read it & Weep. Over, Dege
Interview with a Stripper
Dege: How long have you been involved in this particular line of work?
Stripper: 10 years.
Dege: How did you get started doing it?
Stripper: I was walking on the side of the road and a guy stopped to give me a ride and he offered me a job at this club. I thought it was, like, waitressing.
Dege: Right!
Stripper: Then he said, "No, you're gonna be dancing." I was like, "Dancing? Do you have to take your clothes off?" And he said, yeh. So it sounded really interesting so I tried it…and my first night at work, I got offered to do a porno.
Dege: This was at the club…by the guy who gave you the job?
Stripper: No, it was his brother. But I turned that down…and just kept dancing. I liked it. I've been in this shit for 10years. I meet a lot of people from all walks of life.
Dege: On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate stripping as a job?
Stripper: As a job, I've had a lot of good experiences. Maybe, like a 9. I've only had one bad experience, not that long ago - somebody stole all my shit.
Dege: Who stole it?
Stripper: I think it was a customer. He wanted me to go home with him and I didn't want to, so I put all my stuff by the door at the end of the night to get out of there quick…not thinking…and he stole my purse, my bags, and everything. Earlier, this guy wanted to take my bag with him to make sure I go home with him.
Dege: That's crooked.
Stripper: I was, like, no, no, no…because I knew I wasn't going meet him.
Dege: No offence, but on the chance occasion that you do go home with a customer how much do you charge?
Stripper: Anywhere from, like, $300 to $500 dollars. Sometimes more…if they seem like they got money. It's got to be good money if I do it.
Dege: How much longer do you think you'll be doing this kind of work?
Stripper: For a long time. I love my job. I'm going to do it for as long as my body holds up.
Dege: Do you mind me asking how old you are?
Stripper: 28.
Dege: On the average, how much money do you make in a night? Good and bad nights?
Stripper: A good night I can make anywhere between $400 and $500. On a bad night, no less than $100.
Dege: What's the least amount of money you've ever made in a night?
Stripper: Enough to pay a cab fare.
Dege: Not cool. What's the most you've made in a night?
Stripper: $1000.
Dege: Nice. And what is the most amount of money one customer has tipped you?
Stripper: $200 on stage.
Dege: Do you remember what kind of joker this guy was?
Stripper: He was a shrimper.
Dege: Spending his check.
Stripper: Yep.
Dege: How many different clubs have you worked at?
Stripper: 3 clubs…all in Louisiana. But I specialize in private parties. You know like bachelor parties. Birthday parties. Bachelorette parties. Up in Houston, I do strictly private parties.
Dege: How much do those run a night?
Stripper: I usually charge $500.
Dege: Did you grow up in Louisiana?
Stripper: I was born in Crowley and raised in Houston, Texas.
Dege: Good talking with you.
Stripper: Don't print my name on this thing you're writing.
Dege: It's completely anonymous, babe.
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Interview with an Anarchist
Dege: Do you think that if Kerry had been elected - with this two party system - would there have been any noticeable change in the war plan or evacuation?
Anarchist: At least the Republicans have a platform. I don't agree with it, but at least they stand for something. They stand for the "Apocalypse," but at least they stand for something.
Dege. Okay.
Anarchist: I mean, they just gave all these tax cuts to corporations and everything. I think only 17 Democratic Congress people stood against it…out of hundreds. What are the Democrats? They're bought out. I can't say enough…I don't want to even talk about either party, just because I don't think they're worth the conversation and I think they're such shit.
Dege: What party do you consider yourself a member of?
Anarchist: I'm an Anarchist. I don't think anybody needs to govern us.
Dege: Quick thoughts on Nader.
Anarchist: I like him as an activist. Tactically, he's full of shit. I mean, the Greens are split into four parties. They're all over the place and trying to become the Democrats.
Dege: Anything else?
Anarchist: Look at the ways where people educate themselves and use alternative energy. If you're involved in just taking care of your own livelihood, then what do you need government for? I mean, I'm not an anarchist in the sense that we should blow shit up. What do we need government for? D.C. is what…1,500 miles away from here? Who the fuck are they to tell anybody here how to live?
Dege: Power and money is like a drug and when people get too much of it, they turn into greedheads and junkies.
Anarchist: I think once you have the resources and the education in your hand - whether it's 5 people of 200,000 - you're good. I think once things get on a big scale, there's no way to operate anything without all this corruption and bullshit and people speaking for people they shouldn't be speaking for.
Dege: Explain.
Anarchist: You've got to decentralize everything. You can't even romanticize the groups that work for human rights organizations. They fall into all that bullshit, too. They make money.
Dege: What do you think of the environmental movement?
Anarchist: Unfortunately, we don't have environmentalist with us, working against this war. The military is the largest polluter of the environment in this country…times ten. The land, the water, the air - that's the military. The environmentalists aren't working against the military.
Dege: Why do you think that is?
Anarchist: Because people are divided, short-sighted, and they're looking for, like, "Who is my constituency? They like to see fuzzy animals. They like to go on camping trips where things look clean." And if you work in that office, you answer to those people. So…they're saying, "Oh, you're paying my salary, so I've got to answer to you." When I left my job at Voices In The Wilderness, it was good work, for a good cause, but I made a decision to leave, because I felt it really got too comfortable. I wasn't making much, but it felt like I was in a position where I was comfortable or in some ways benefitting - not only on the suffering of other people, but on the situation of how can I relate to other people if this is my job? It wasn't something that you could maintain on a deadline…like you'd become part of something… like this peace profiteering. I wanted to get out there and talk to people and do something other than work in the office, so I'm still doing work, but it's a lot more of a challenge.
Dege: What do think the chances of the U.S. govt. re-instituting a draft?
Anarchist: We already have one. We have a poverty draft. You can't go to college or get your grants if you haven't registered with Selective Service.
Dege: You know what I mean…the regular draft.
Anarchist: I don't know what will happen. All I know is that a congressman's kid is not going to get drafted no matter what the fuck happens. They'll buy their way out of it somehow.
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Interview with a Whiteboy Gangsta
Whiteboy: (showing me his crack rocks) That's a lot of dope, cuz.
Dege: I don't fuck with that shit.
Whiteboy: That's real dope, cuz!
Dege: I'm sure it is, but I don't fuck with that shit. But you seem like an interesting dude.
Whiteboy: I get that shit from my homeboy. I was locked up for 16months with the dude.
Dege: What for?
Whiteboy: I had to go to prison for selling crystal at the club.
Dege: Were you making some money?
Whiteboy: They caught me with $1,800. Busted. Oh, yeh, I been selling dope for a long time.
Dege: Where'd you grow up?
Whiteboy: I grew up in the black hood. I used to sell X. I used to DJ at a strip club. I know all the strippers. They all do that shit. I been fucking one of them…that chick you seen with me a minute ago? I hooked up with her, got her pregnant, then went to jail, she had my baby, and then I got out. And here I am.
Dege: She's cool?
Whiteboy: Oh yeh! But she's young; you know what I'm saying? She thinks too young. I need a gangsta bitch to take care of me. A woman. A chick that can roll with me and deal with this shit, you know what I'm saying? I'm a grown-ass man - I need a gangsta bitch in my life - somebody that's down to ride.
Dege: Go on, gangsta!
Whiteboy: I'm serious!
Dege: I know…that's why it's funny.
Whiteboy: I need a woman to take care of my motherfucking ass, cuz. They say you need somebody like your momma, and it's true, but me and my momma don't get along.
Dege: Tell me some more stuff about where you grew up.
Whiteboy: I was one of the only whiteboys in the hood. They had one other one, but he kept to himself. I hung with my niggas - rolled with them, you know? Oh, I seen some shit, dog. I don't know who my daddy is. My momma was a bitch, fucking all kinds of motherfuckers. I got put in 3 different foster homes. Grew up not knowing who my real family was. When I was 7, I went to court and seen this fat lady there. I was, like, who the fuck is that?
Dege: Who was it?
Whiteboy: It was my momma, trying to get me back!
Dege: Did she succeed?
Whiteboy: Yeh, and it was fucked up. I got taken away from this family I was living with…I thought they were my people. Went back with my momma and she was fucking half the niggas in the neighborhood.
Dege: Then what happened?
Whiteboy: We moved a bunch of times and shit stayed fucked up. But I came up, hustling. The brothers in the neighborhood, came up to me and said, "Say, little nigga, I got some work for you." So I learned. And that's how I got started.
Dege: Cool.
Whiteboy: Man, you seem like a cool dude, cuz. You into that rock and roll shit?
Dege: Yep.
Whiteboy: I like some of that shit…like that Linkin Park.
Dege: Right.
Whiteboy: You like that stuff?
Dege: Not really, but to each his own.
Whiteboy: I got to have my gangsta shit. Cds. (his cell phone rings) Look my homeboy's calling me. I got to go, cuz. I'm a talk to you later.
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Interview with a Self-Described "Fag" / Crackhead Male Prostitute
Dege: At what age did you know you were gay?
Male Prostitute: 9years old. Been a fag all my life.
Dege: And you've been gay since then…obviously?
Male Prostitute: Yeh, I've been out the closet.
Dege: Where'd you grow up and go to school?
Male Prostitute: When I was in school, I was mostly in the locker room sucking dicks instead of doing my schoolwork.
Dege: You didn't learn anything in school?
Male Prostitute: I didn't learn nothing but to smoke dope and suck dicks…no jobs.
Dege: Were these your friends?
Male Prostitute: Almost all of them were supposedly straight. They was young and so was I.
Dege: And how old were you when this blowjob school stuff started?
Male Prostitute: I was like 9 or 10. I was getting it. I'd go in the backyard and suck the shit out of it.
Dege: Now I don't know if this is true, but I hear a lot of straight guys go to male prostitutes. What's up with that?
Male Prostitute: Almost all of them straight and got wives. They just want a thrill. They got a gay cops, too. Most of them in the closet. Some with wives. If you get pulled over for a ticket, rub your balls and they'll let you go. Give them the signal.
Dege: What? Rub my balls? You rub your balls and the cops let you go? I never heard of that shit.
Male Prostitute: It's like a signal. But you might have to go with them…and do something. I love cops. I'll suck them, too. Like all men, if they piss me off, I'll call their wife. I look for a birthmark on their body, so if I do got to call, they know I'm for real and can tell it was their husband.
Dege: No shit, huh?
Male Prostitute: Yeh, that way if they ask, "How do you know my husband?" Because I done sucked your husband's dick. I do that with all the men…look for a birthmark.
Dege: What percentage of homophobic straight guys are actually gay?
Male Prostitute: Oh, I don't know…it's hard to come up with a number, but they got a lot of straight guys, but they're not straight - they're gay.
Dege: They're closet gay guys.
Male Prostitute: They're closet fags. I bring it out of them. Bring it to me, I tell them. And I turn them out.
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Interview with Old Lady at a Redneck Bar
Old Lady: My husband and I were married for 35 years and he beat me for 34 of them, but I wouldn't kill him. You know why?
Dege: Why?
Old Lady: He was the father of my children.
Dege: How did the two of you initially meet?
Old Lady: We were at a dance in the early 60's. He'd got in a fight with a guy, who was my date, and he swung at the guy and hit me. Clocked me in the head, but I was OK. I didn't see him for another week. It was at the same place. I saw him across the way and he sunk in his chair. Scared. Thought I was coming to start some shit. He comes up to me and says, "I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to hit you. Why don't you come sit down with me? I want to buy you a beer."
Dege: Then what happened?
Old Lady: We hit it off right then and there. We got married 3 months later.
Dege: How long after ya'll were married did the physical abuse start?
Old Lady: I would say…maybe 6months later. After we got married. And then the minute I got pregnant - he knew he had me! And then it started. I was so young. I was only 16 at the time, and I didn't know no better. Things got worse from there for the next 35 years.
Dege: Did he ever abuse your children?
Old Lady: Fuck no! I refused to let him do that! That's the one time I would've killed him - if he'd have touched any of our children. I made a solemn promise; I told him, "What goes on between you and I - that's you and I - but if you EVER hit any of my children, I'll kill you. I WILL KILL YOU!" And I would have, too. That's just the way I was raised.
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Interview with a Battered Housewife
Dege: You're carrying a lot of stuff! You need some help with that?
Lady: Yes, I do. Thank you.
Dege: What's going on?
Lady: I'm leaving my husband. He's driving me nuts…and I don't play that. This is it - I've had enough.
Dege: Why are you leaving him?
Lady: Because he's verbally abusive…and last night, he pulled a gun on me.
Dege: Why'd he pull a gun on you?
Lady: Because he felt like it, I guess. He don't like it when I go around my people…my family.
Dege: Why does that upset him? Your family?
Lady: My family is real tight and his family is all hateful and vindictive. They some miserable niggers that just hate on a nigga. They stab one another in the back if you give them half a chance. They's fucked up. Don't know nothing about love. Never learned it right. He hates the fact that I get along so good with my people, cuz we learned and loved from one another since we was children. That's our momma and daddy raised us.
Dege: How bad did it scare you…last night when he pulled the gun?
Lady: Oh, I was shaking! At first, I didn't know what to think, because he'd never done nothing like that before.
Dege: Do you think he would've used it?
Lady: I think so. He was drinking…and on whatever else. I think he on that DOPE. He been acting strange like something occupying him's mind…and he just recently bought that gun.
Dege: He has no idea you're leaving him? Are you just taking up and splitting on him?
Lady: Yes. He don't know nothing. I'm gone. I don't wants to deal with it…and I'm scared.
Dege: He's going to lose his mind.
Lady: Well, that's on him.
Dege: How long has his this kind of thing been going on?
Lady: Since about a month ago. I think he on drugs or something. I don't know what, but I'm pretty sure it's something. He been out of work for a while and he gets crazy just around the time I usually get my check…like he can't get his mind off my money. And I works hard! He don't like me going nowhere after I just got paid. I'm tired of it. I don't stay locked up in the house for no man. He want to keep me locked up and not go nowhere, while he out drugging on my check.
Dege: Where are you going to live?
Lady: I'm going to live at my momma's house and I ain't going back to him. He knows not come try to get me over at my momma's house. My other sons stay there and they'll kill him dead if they even thought about doing me wrong. I got one son in prison and two others that just got out. Either of them - if they ever found out what's been going on - will shoot that nigger dead. That's why I don't tell my sons nothing about my personal life. I don't want them losing they minds and killing somebody…and going back to jail. That's just too much. I couldn't take it. I don't want none of my childrens to die in the penitentiary. That's the main reason I kept all this to myself. To keep my people and sons from losing they mind! Lord, if just one of them found out…I'd don't even want to think about it.
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Interview with a Lady with Lumps on her Head, Leaving the Charity Hospital
Dege (noticing bruise on her face and arms): Are you Ok?
Lady: I got to get the fuck out of this place. I'm hurt…but I got to leave.
Dege: What happened to you? You get in an accident?
Lady: My old man beat the fucking dog shit out of me. He drinks four Thunderbirds a day. Tonight, he was drunk and just went crazy. I don't know…he just goes crazy. He threw me around the room, cut my arm. Feel my head. (points to her head) I got giant lumps. Beat me upside my head.
Dege: (I put my hand on her head and feel 3 huge, ½-softball-sized lumps on her skull): Fuck! Those are huge! Are sure you're ok to leave the hospital?
Lady: I don't care. My nerves is too bad, right now. I had to get out of there.
Dege: Where's your old man?
Lady: He took off. The neighbors called the cops and he left. That's the last I seen of him since 3 o'clock this afternoon. I got a ride here to the hospital, but now I'm leaving. I can't take sitting in there and listening to them people.
Dege: Why did he do this to you?
Lady: Because he's fucking crazy! He does it about once a month. I don't know why I put up with this shit! I'm almost ready to say it's over and done. I love him, but he's not right in the head. He's abusive…alcoholic. All he does is work and drink. Work and drink. That's it. I been with him 3 years. And it's almost feeling like it's over.
Dege: Why didn't you leave earlier?
Lady: I don't know….I'm sorry, baby - Can you give me a ride down the road?
Dege: Yes. My van's over there.
Lady: Can you lend me a few bucks? I need something to drink, bad. I'm sorry to ask, but I need it. Please, can you help me?
Dege: Yeh, I can help you out. Do you think he'll show up tonight…at your house?
Lady: He might…if he's crazy enough. I'll pop upside his head! My neighbors know, though. If he comes, they going to call the police…and I'm gonna crack him upside his head!
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Interview with a Crazy Christian Lady
Christian Lady: I'm no longer with my husband. He was an alcoholic who tried to give my sons rubbing alcohol.
Dege: What do you mean…like to drink? Why did he give them rubbing alcohol?
Christian Lady: Yes. The reason, I think, he gave them rubbing alcohol is because, that day my son was invited to a birthday party and he was ashamed of my son. He did not like him going anywhere.
Dege: How did you find out about this? Did you catch him doing it?
Christian Lady: I was washing my dishes….after I left my ex-husband…and St. Benedict revealed it to me in a dream. He told me my husband was an evil man and that he was trying to hurt my sons by the drinking. I had recently gotten sober. The next day I went to the back porch and I seen him trying to get Joey to drink the rubbing alcohol. In the dream, St. Benedict showed me the bottle. It was an antique looking green bottle. And on the bottle it had S-O-L-A-D-E-A-U spelled on it. And that was the message that woke me up to see what was going on.
Dege: What does that word mean?
Christian Lady: Only God can reveal that to the one he has chosen for that message.
Dege: How long have you been sober?
Christian Lady: Since 1987.
Dege: That's a long time.
Christian Lady (looking at my tape recorder): Why do you record people?
Dege: It helps me remember details…so I can write about these things later.
Christian Lady: Are you a student?
Dege: Sort of.
Christian Lady: Just remember that everything you write has the power to give people hope…or to take it away. Remember that.
Dege: I will.
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Interview with a Mexican Biker from Texas
Dege: What are you doing here in Louisiana?
Biker: It's a long story. I killed a cop. Well… actually I didn't kill him. Sort of. I mean..I did, but it's not like you think. I was involved with a woman who was getting divorced from a sheriff's deputy. He used to beat her up, so they separated and she got a restraining order against him. He showed up one night while I was at her house. He was off duty but in uniform. I went outside to try to talk some sense into him and get him to leave. But he'd been drinking and wasn't listening to me. I had long hair and my denim on, you know, so he thought he could just brush me off. We got in a physical confrontation. He pulled his gun. I grabbed it and we wrestled around. It went off.
Dege: Straight through the chest?
Biker: Straight through his fucking chest, man. I was shitting. I had sheets on me, and shit…in my past. Arrest records.
Dege: So what happened?
Biker: He died…and I went to prison for 10years. I got lucky, though. There was documentation about his abuse with her and how they were in the process of getting divorced…and the restraining order and all that, so that really saved my ass from getting the chair. I could've died in prison if it had been different. I really didn't want to kill the guy. It was all an accident and he was the aggressor in this case.
Dege: So how'd you end up here in Louisiana?
Biker: After I got out and finished my paper with the state, I met a chick from here and moved.
Dege: You still with her?
Biker: Nah, that's long gone. But I'm stuck here, for now, because I got in some trouble here, so this is my home till that shit's done with.
Dege: Home Sweet Home, huh?
Biker: Sucks dick, but I don't let it get me down.
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Interview with a Crazy Homeless Guy
Dege: How's it going?
Homeless Guy: I don't like it when people call other people "Christians."
Dege: What's up with that?
Homeless Guy: When Jesus commissioned the 12 disciples. He said go and make disciples of all nations.
Dege: I got you. Why don't you like the word Christian?
Homeless Guy: Because you found the Book of Acts.
Dege: What??
Homeless Guy: The word "Christian" wasn't invented until 1926. Then everybody started using it.
Dege: You dig chicks? I see you out here by the motel, sometimes, talking to the whores.
Homeless Guy: I have a girlfriend.
Dege: What's she do?
Homeless Guy: She doesn't do anything. She comes and visits me at the motel. We hang out. She doesn't want to work, because she's got some money coming in from a suit.
Dege: Did she get hurt in an accident?
Homeless Guy: Yeh, a box of stuff fell on her head. Hurt her back. She's waiting on the money. Then we're going to get married…but first she's got to move out of her momma's house. Her momma controls her life.
Dege: Momma's crazy?
Homeless Guy: Her momma's nuts. She doesn't approve of us.
Dege: Do you know a lot of the working girls around here? The prostitutes?
Homeless Guy: I know most all of them.
Dege: Do you know Brenda?
Homeless Guy: She's my best friend.
Dege: I like her, too. She's tough.
Homeless Guy: She's had a hard life, but she don't let nobody get over on her.
Dege: Doesn't your girlfriend get kind of jealous of you hanging out with the whores?
Homeless Guy: She don't need to be knowing nothing about all that. You ain't going to tell her nothing, are you?
Dege: I don't even know what you're talking about.
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Interview with Anti-War Protestor / Public Speaker
Dege: Explain to me what you've been doing?
Protestor: The tour is called Wheels of Justice and it's been around for five years. We travel around on a bio-diesel bus and we talk to students…be it elementary, high school, or college. We travel in a 40ft long, 1970 school bus that runs off of bio-diesel, which is treated vegetable oil, and powered by solar energy, so everything on the inside - our laptops, lights, refrigerator - is run off solar energy.
Dege: How much did that cost to rig up?
Protestor: I think around $5000 including the cost of the bus.
Dege: That's amazing.
Protestor: Yeh.
Dege: Tell me about the content of y'alls speaking tour.
Protestor: Basically we're against the American occupation of Iraq and also the Israeli occupation of Palestine. And how we need to divest from companies that are making profits off the war, to getting our troops out of Iraq immediately.
Dege: What do you think are the top 3 motivations for the American govt. getting involved in this war?
Protestor: Resources. Fossil fuels. Resources. That's basically it.
Dege: War is a profitable business for a lot of these companies involved in Iraq.
Protestor: There's a really good book about that called Iraq Incorporated…it's put out by Seven Stories Press.
Dege: Why do you think the U.S. is supporting Israel in all of this…with the oppression of Palestine?
Protestor: It's our gateway to the Middle East. They've got military capabilities and they're our partners. Also, there's this fundamental religiousness that goes along with it…like the Christian right here in the United States. Especially as far as your average American supporting Israel.
Dege: Do you think the average American is really supportive of this war?
Protestor: I don't know…obviously there's enough people that support the war so that it's still going on.
Dege: But maybe they don't even have enough time between their own jobs, family, and kids to think about it or investigate it.
Protestor: Yeh, they might not have time to participate in any kind of anti-war movement, but it's their tax dollars paying for it, so they should find time.
Dege: I heard you mention earlier that you've visited Palestine recently. Tell me about that.
Protestor: It was a really good learning experience. I was there for a month, starting December 15, 2004. The Palestinian people are amazing…just sweet, gentle people who invite you into their homes and feed you and talk to you and they just want to find out about your experiences. And I want to say that people in the Middle East - whether it's in Iraq or Palestine or wherever - they differentiate between the American people and the American Govt. People here, I find, don't do that as much.
Dege: During your travels thru the West Bank and Palestine did you ever feel threatened, and did you require security or anything like that?
Protestor: We traveled around by taxi, meeting people and families and conducting acts of civil disobedience. The only time I ever felt threatened was around Israeli settlers or Israeli military.
Dege: How long do you see this war lasting? When would you guess it'll end?
Protestor: I honestly don't know, but I don't see it ending any time soon.
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Interview with an Alcoholic Electrician
Electrician: You want a beer?
Dege: No, I'm good. Thanks.
Electrician: I've got 3 DUIs on my record. I ain't drove a car since 1996. I had to make a decision…to either give up driving or give up drinking. I gave up driving.
Dege: What kind of work do you do?
Electrician: I've been an electrician for 30years, probably before you were swinging (makes motion with his fist meant to replicate a dick/balls).
Dege: How'd you get started being an electrician?
Electrician: My daddy was an electrician. My granddaddy was an electrician. And, I think, his daddy before him.
Dege: You ever been shocked?
Electrician: Oh, fuck. I been shocked like a motherfucker. Like a million times.
Dege: What's the highest amount of voltage you've been hit with?
Electrician: Got the 120. The 277. Just the 120 - your regular outage - that's gonna kill you, brah.
Dege: You've seen it hurt some people?
Electrician: What! Hey, I lost a lot of friends, brah.
Dege: What's the worst injury you've ever sustained?
Electrician: Shit, I fried my thumb off, man. Got zapped while I was holding a beam to the ceiling. BAM! Jerked it back and my thumb came off. Had to get it sewn back on. They did a good job. Look. (shows me the scar around the base of his thumb)
Dege: That was from a shock?
Electrician: Yeh, a 277.
Dege: And it fried the thumb off your hand?
Electrician: Yeh, I stuck my hand to the ceiling, and it resets, the shock, like…and I pulled my hand out. And my thumb was off. My thumb was hanging.
Dege: Damn.
Electrician: They did a good job on that thing.
Dege: Some good craftsmanship, sewing that thumb back on.
Electrician: You got it.
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Interview with a Pop-a-Lock Dispatcher
Dege: How many calls do ya'll average a day?
Pop-a-Lock: The most I've taken in a day is 85. That was one shift. That's a lot, because you have to ask them all kinds of questions and navigate the drivers with the Nextel…deal with the technicians on call.
Dege: How do you like the job?
Pop-a-Lock: I like it. It'll do.
Dege: How many days a week do you work.
Pop-a-Lock: 5…sometimes 6.
Dege: What's the pay?
Pop-a-Lock: They started me at $6.50/hour.
Dege: When do you get the most calls?
Pop-a-Lock: Weekends…when people are drinking. Also, we get a lot of locksmith calls for re-keying houses…when people lose their keys. But also, people work a lot during the week and don't have time to get that stuff done.
Dege: Do you get some strange calls sometimes?
Pop-a-Lock: People piss me off. The majority of them…just don't know where they're at - their location. How're we gonna get somebody there if they don't know where the hell they're at?
Dege: What else?
Pop-a-Lock: Sometimes after I quote them the price of $40 - to send out a tech - I can hear them over the phone, bitching about the price to their friends…and then breaking the window on their car…to get in. That's stupid. If you think replacing that window is cheaper than calling us, you got something wrong with you!
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Dege Legg
GhostTown, Louisiana
323 B.C.
http://DegeLegg.com
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