Saturday, May 26, 2007

My new Job: Forklift Paparazzi

Well, my dears, just had to report that I had a new experience yesterday. I went to Lowe's and hung out there for over TWO HOURS. And I followed forklifts around. And took pictures of them. All part of a day's work.

My student has a fascination with Lowe's and forklifts. You may remember that Fridays are "community outing" days - he gets to choose where we go. So yesterday we went off to Lowe's armed with his beloved digital camera and extra batteries. It took us quite a while and much meandering through the store to find a forklift that was actually being used; we talked to several different people, all with different stories about the status of the forklifts. I felt like my life had turned into a strange dream ( You know- one of those dreams where you know you HAVE to find something but you don't really know why...) But we finally did find a working forklift, and I took pictures until all the batteries died. ( Sadly- there weren't that many pictures. Maybe twenty or thirty at the most...? That camera is truly pathetic. But the pictures are very important as they will provide relevant writing prompts for him later on. ) Anyway- I felt a tad conspicuous tailing this forklift all over the store, but the workers were quite nice about it and seemed happy to be providing entertainment for us; plus my student was THRILLED.

I couldn't believe how many employees came up to us while we were there and greeted him in a familiar way. ( It reminded me of C. Cropper singing about "where everybody knows your name..." ) I guess he goes there A LOT.

I have a feeling that this will be but the first of many trips to Lowe's on Friday afternoons.

7 comments:

lis said...

Yes, I'd definitely have that same surreal feeling if I was in your shoes!

ljm said...

Did you check the a.... specs on the end line for the rotary, girder....ah,?

Amy said...

Well, there are worse places...I'm, uh, sure... Maybe you should suggest the virtues of ice cream shops. Though no one rides around on any sort of cool machinery there.

wideyed said...

I will refrain from making a really bad pun about cool machinery at ice cream shops...

Claire said...

Wideyed- Oh you will, eh?

Hee hee hee! I love puns!

Amy said...

Unisex bathrooms are evil!! That had me cracking up!! :) I've never thought of them in conjunction with evil before, but you're so right.

You can believe I'll be giving "Lee" the evil eye next time I see him. I only hope he realizes for what.

I've mentioned the overall scariness of the bathroom to a manager before, and his reply was, "This IS a hardware store." I did find out that the store used to have separate bathrooms, but the women's restroom was so infrequently used that they converted it into a supply closet. *longsuffering sigh*

Shari said...

I have never followed a forklift.

I'm just sayin'. :-)