Today marked the last day I would have the pleasure of working with a co-worker of mine. More correctly: now ex-co-worker. He is leaving the job to join the Navy. Respect and admiration he may yield from this decision, I can’t help but be saddened by his departure.
He was just a nice fellow. A simple statement for a man who was never all that simple. He was soft-spoken and half of what left his mouth went unheard by myself, and I’m sure many others. But as quiet as he talked, he could hear just about everything. Including my thoughts. Which actually worked out great on the job. Any moments of panic were quickly erased when he shuffled to my side to aid in preventing my impending mental breakdowns.
Since day one, he puzzled me. The way the temperatures dropped to single digits and he would continue to wear shorts and short sleeves, never once showing the capacity to feel the New England cold. The first time I saw him outside of work, he was actually sporting pants. (Though, it should be noted, not sport pants. That would make him lame. And he’s not lame. They were jeans. If we’re being specific.)
But back to him sporting pants…I did not realize it was him until he waved his big paw in my face.
A big paw because he’s a few solid inches over 6 feet. How many inches I’m not sure given my short stature makes my inability to access heights over 5′10″ insufficient. And he works out. A lot. But not that beefy, gross type of working out. He runs and swims, and does more push ups than he does weight lifting.
The push ups. He talks about all the push ups he does. At first, I wondered why, why is this kid constantly going on about push ups? Then I started to actually listen and I was fascinated with the way he could make these push ups stories more gripping than a Denzel Washington movie. Suddenly, I spent my lunch breaks starring at his arms, trying to imagine these push ups taking place. Yea, sure, it made me a creep. But he invited it with his vivid workout descriptions.
More than his physical attributes, he was just a nice guy. But not in the way you normally perceive nice guys. That annoying, overly vocal niceness. A niceness that is laced with motive and needed approval. Sometimes tinged with a yearning for an equally vocal plethora of thanks in response to their supposed niceness. Really just niceness given so you’ll say, “You’re SO nice.” On repeat. Seventeen times.
With him, you never thought, “Oh, wow, this kid is really nice.” It took a while. Like the next day when you were watching your recorded episode of Bones. It would hit you: “That really was nice of him yesterday.” But it would be too late. You couldn’t give him thanks for his kindness two days late. Especially when you spent your entire day eye-googling his body parts.
I guess you could just say he is overlooked. Underappreciated even. I never realized how much I enjoyed working with him until he told us he was leaving. Never processed the relief or joy I felt when I saw our schedules aligning on certain days. Knowing that it didn’t matter how busy the day was because I would have the best worker by my side to strap me in my straight jacket when it went down.
And now he is leaving to join the Navy. To be the nice guy he truly is, and hopefully get the respect he finally deserves.
Although there is no humor in this post, no sarcasm, and no potential for this soon-to-be stranger’s exit from my life to read it and understand his impact, I wanted to pay tribute to a person who deserves a tribute.
And today he walked out of work with a simple goodbye. A simple goodbye from a guy who really isn’t all that simple at all. A person who deserves more than simple blog post. But probably won’t receive it. Because by the time we acknowledge his goodness, he will be on that plane headed for boot camp. And we don’t want to feel like the creeps we are by thanking him for what now is months, years too late. Especially after all that eye raping took place.
I’m just happy he can read my mind.