Story for Quiet Quitters and Over Employed

Story for quietquitters and overemployed.

At 14 years old, looking for work, my brother took me to an electronic store in flatbush Brooklyn.
We showed up, to meet the owner at 9am.
(I still smell his BO in my nightmares)
Outside, my brother vouched for me saying “I’m a really hard worker”
I was a weak and scrawny little kid. The man looked me up and down and said, we’ll see.
As my brother leaves to start his work day nearby, he says, “I’ll pick you up at 8pm - after I finish work.”
“Follow me,” the owner says.
Takes me to the basement of the store, hands me a hammer and screw driver and says, take them all apart.
The shelves were 6ft tall, Dirty, Heavy and filled with useless dusty old electronics and files. There were more shelves than I could count and they were all taller than my head. They have been there for decades - rotting away and he wanted them all piled up in one corner and junk thrown out.
As he leaves, I started work.
No ventilation.
No mask.
No AC.
I had no idea what I signed up for.
It was summer and must have been 125 degrees in that basement.
For the next 10 hours, I busted my ass taking these shelves apart.
I guess you could call them my “formative hours”
If I quit. My brother would probably disown me.
If I succeeded, it would be satisfactory.
We were immigrants so working hard was normal.
After slaving away for 10 fucking hours, the owner comes downstarirs to see about 25% of the shelves demolished and says “let’s go upstairs”
It was the first time I saw fresh air the entire day.
He hands my brother $60 and says, “he is not a good worker. Don’t bring him back here.”
I was furious. That asshole. I worked my ass of. How could he say that?
But, while I was angry, that statement, formed my work ethic for my entire life.
Where I would rather die, than be thought of as lazy or a quitter.
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