Mickey Z

Cool Observer

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Saturday, February 24, 2007

Picking up garbage at LaGuardia Airport

(New policy: stories can now show up any day of the week)

Once upon a time...

I was employed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and worked picking up garbage at LaGuardia Airport. Yes, I was one of those hapless souls carrying a red canvas bag and a long pole with a pointy jabber at the end to stab the debris I encountered. It was a summer gig and I was teamed with a young black guy about my age (22 at the time). We got along well although I can no longer remember his name (I’ll call him Allen for now.) One day, Allen didn’t show up for work and I heard some of the older guys talking about him. I quickly learned that Allen’s father was a window washer and had fallen to his death the day before. To my dismay, my fellow workers (99% white, btw) were joking about it with one guy bellowing: “I’m surprised he died. I thought those black guys had hard heads.” This cracked up the room as I silently slipped out (it would be a few years before I become someone who’d speak up strongly in such situations). When Allen returned to work the following week, I didn’t tell him exactly what I’d heard...but was careful to warn him that our co-workers could not be trusted. He just nodded. He sure didn’t need a provincial white kid from Queens to teach him that lesson.

The End