Thank you for the concern, but I did tell her I was coming and had set up a meeting time. When I got there I was ignored. I realize GM's are busy people, but I would have been happy with 5 minutes. If I was in her shoes, and some young kid came along striving for work, i'd give him some of my attention for a little bit.
I didn't mean for it to come across that way. I would have never said anything to her... Although I would have liked to, they wouldn't have been harsh words.
I'm clueless. There's no way i'm setting this one strait. Sorry if I offended. Didn't intend to. You guys have always supported me. I really appreciate that.
Basically, just to get you guys up to date, I am not trying to work in Chama anymore. I have come to realize that I am trying to work for a living, and it's not just all romance and glory. The Black Hills Central is much more dependable (almost 100,000 riders last year) and I felt MUCH more welcome there than in Chama. I got a nice little apartment in the basement of a real estate office across the street from the railroad. They want to put me on salary next year if it's do-able...and as a bonus it's just the kind of railroading I like. Up hill both ways, 5% grade right out of Hill City. They also have the only running mallet in the country. The first train leaves town at 7:15am during the summer.
In Chama, you never know what's going to happen. If I ever work on the narrow gauge, it'll be in Durango. Don't get me wrong, I still think working in Chama would be just about the best railroad job in the world. It sounds like I just through it out the window too!
Right now im working at a grocery store saving up as much money as I can before my first day on duty in Hill City, which is March 20th. There's another kid there that wants to work for UP and has just recently put in his app. We were talking in the break room yesterday about trains, and there was a pause and then he says "Yep, so you and I want to work on the railroad eh?" I said "Yep, looks like it" and then he said "You know what that says about us right? It says we're the craziest mother-%$&%ers on the planet. I thought that was pretty funny!
Although that may not have been appropriate to post, it fits. Maybe I am crazy. I haven't even gone to college, at least he has. I am so confident in myself that I can do this, I have just dived right into it. Only knowledge, almost zero experience. And I am fully aware that it's not easy. I will be getting WELL over 40 hours a week this summer. They want me to be the guy that comes in at 4am and fires the engines up, and then i'll fire on the first two trips and if they need me i'll fire for the whole day...and I plan on telling the CMO to put me on the schedule for weekends too as he offered to do for me.
I might be crazy but i'm going to try hard to make this happen. I just need to play my cards right and be smart and save my money and stop buying old surplus military rifles whenever I see one that I want! ha. (I started a collection a year ago and already have five, and I dont even hunt!)
Kevin Bush
[www.railpictures.net]
