Possible Racist, Down on His Luck, Oil Field Worker

I was sitting in the observation car and a gentleman with a lovely neck tattoo sits down next to me and starts shatting away. I’m trying to figure out how to leave or at least show him that I am not that interested in convesation and would rather read my free, weekly Twin Cities papers or nerd it up with my actuary studies.

A few things I learned about my fellow traveler.

1) He is coming from Dickinson, ND.

2) He grew up in Detroit, MI and his fmaily owned multiple body shops.

3) He’s spent the past 20 year living on the East Coast of Florida 30 miles south of where the space shuttle launches from working on cars.

4) He left FL because of some minor marital troubles and his ex-wife had family in Dickinson.

5) For the past two years or so he has been a pipe fitter in the oil fields in western North Dakota.

6) His wife recently, within the past year or so, cheated on him with a college student and his she teaches Business Ethics. How ironic.

7) He has never done drugs and he no longer drinks alcohol.

8) He was injured by a coworker on drugs in November. He has been on disability since then and is currently going to physical therapy, but is collecting a disability check to basically sit at home.

9) Some of his drug addict coworkers asked him to sell his pain medication, but he decided he did not want any major pain medication because it is too addictive.

10) He hates not doing anything and getting paid for it.

11) He has a daughter that has his ex-wife’s brains and his attitude who recently graduated from a community colege in Florida and is doing forensic science for a sheriff in FL.

12) His twleve year old son also has his ex-wife’s brains and his attitude.

13) He is headed back to Detroit for his mother’s and best friend’s funeral.

14) His mother died of a heart attack.

15) His best friend was shot in the back of the head by a couple of, he. looks around to make sure not too many people are listening, n-words. They could have just taken the car without having to kill him. The link at least adds some legitimacy to his story, though it is a bit old, maybe he’s just a talker. I have no idea.

16) He’s going to buy a new wrecked car, fix it up in his family’s shop, drive it back to Dickinson.

17) He’s got a sweet neck tattoo of someone’s initials.

18) He was going to bring his 24-year old girl friend back home , but something came up.

19) The Amtrak employees have offered the worst service he has ever experienced. He state dhe would offer the same level of service if he was making $8 an hour.

I’ve been trying to figure out if this guy is trying to make a connection with me and hit me up for some money or if he is just a talker.

Tangent:
I had lunch on the train with Adam Weber’s mom. She seemed like a nice enough lady. I asked her what her son thought about the job that Brewster has been doing. She replied by saying that her son had asked her not to say anything or comment on football matters and that he didn’t really talk to her about that stuff anyways. Smart, but still annoying not to hear an insider’s opinion of the coach. She mentioned that Adam has had 3 offensive coordinator’s in 3 years. That’s not an easy adjustment for anyone to make. Let’s hope Weber’s best season is yet to come.