Personal news and observations.

As you may or may not be aware, I started a new job a couple months ago and while it isn't particularly prestigious I have found myself happier than I have been in a while as I've been there.
I am a "Delivery Expert" for Domino's pizza, I was hired on at the store at 20th and Division but have been seconded to the location in NW Portland for a couple weeks. I am not super thrilled about that because NW Portland is extremely stressful to drive through and the traffic during the hours of 4:30-7 is about the worst I have seen anywhere, this includes when I visited New York City a few years back.

That said, I've been enjoying myself for the most part, I like driving, and while it obviously can get tiring, especially after about 6 hours, it is still fun for me. The pay is bad, but it's a tipped position, and with tips I make more per hour than I probably could get as a junior software developer and I get that with about a tenth of the stress. This is not to say I wouldn't drop it for a programmer position mind you, there are other benefits than pay, being less at risk of getting t-boned by some asshole in a giant pick up truck who thinks stop signs are suggestions is one of them but there are likely others.

I like being able to pay my bills without my job taking over my life. I go to work, do my stuff, then come home and I get to just leave work at work. Despite working over twice the hours I had at Coding With Kids, I am more relaxed and less tired all the time than I was there.

I've worked more entry level jobs than perhaps I "should" have by this point in my life assuming I actually figured out and successfully executed a career plan and I've gotten used to being among the oldest people on staff at my position, it's been largely good for me I think, enforcing humility of sorts that I don't see in a lot of older folks working similar jobs. That said, Domino's has a lot more people my age and older working there than I am used to, it gives me a peer group I can interact with without feeling like a creep which is nice, not that I get a lot of chance for interaction, but even a little bit helps. I am always bummed when I see people who should be retired working any job, let alone a service industry gig though. But that is a reflection on our country rather than the job itself.

Driving all day has exposed me to parts of the city and communities I wouldn't ordinarily be exposed to. it doesn't make me part of them, or give me a true understanding, but I see more than I did and what I see is both encouraging and demoralizing for wildly separate reasons.

On any given night I deliver to places ranging from million+ dollar homes to literal homeless encampments and everywhere I go I see people trying to do more than just survive, which makes sense, you don't order pizza if your only focus is on your next meal, you buy ramen and rice or something. Pizza, even cheap crappy pizza, is a luxury, a way to make the day better or end on a high note. In a way it's a sign of hope and even at the lowest or nonexistent income levels I see that hope. Scattered around the city in out of the way streets, usually next to poorly trafficked warehouses you can find small groups of people living the best they can, it would be unfair to say they have no homes, although they certainly have no houses, they live out of cars, tents, or a combination of both, they dress their best and hold the same jobs any of have, they raise families, make friends, and every once in a while order pizza for dinner. I am as safe delivering to these places as anywhere else in the city.

There are homeless camps all over the city, downtown as night falls they begin setting up for the night, these groups are a step down from those I described above, they don't have cars, many or most don't have jobs, but once again they do their best to do more than survive and they too order pizza once in a while, giving the address of a building on their corner and flagging me down when I drive up.

I delivered to what must have been a camp or commune that could only be accessed by a foot wide pathway between the wall of a convenience store and a wire fence separating it from the gas station next to it, I don't know what is behind it or how many people were living there, but based on the amount of food and soda ordered I'd guess ten or so. The person who ordered met me in the front and gave me the largest tip I have gotten on a delivery to date.

These are horrible situations to be in and I am not trying to paint everyone in them as saints or anything, I am sure there are assholes in those groups as well, I've met some of them too, but that is sort of the point, they are just... humans, and the most inspiring quality humans have in my opinion is the drive to enjoy things, to make life slightly better than it needs to be. To do more than simply survive. It gives me hope I guess.

They all deserve better than they have, and odds are they aren't going to get it, but they, we really, don't stop trying to enjoy things despite all that, it seems to be an essential part of humanity that isn't lost in all but the most desperate of circumstances.

The shame of it all of course is that there is a drive by our culture to force nearly everyone to that level of desperation.