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Post by RangoA@live.com on Jun 28, 2008 13:57:56 GMT -5
 In 1986, when my second partner and I got our Stratford Village apartment together after leaving Boley Manor, I first got a job, by beating the streets again and throwing job applications all up and down US Highway 19 North, I was hired by Poston's Arts & Crafts in the old Clearwater Mall area right by the Clearwater Mall movie theater. That was a receiving and shipping clerk job and I did pretty good for about four months and then I got a raise, so my supervisor (Sandy) wanted me to become an Assistant Manager after someone else working there moved up the corporate ladder. I worked full-time there for seven months and no one left the positions that my supervisor thought would happen therefore my co-worker wasn't promoted and neither was I. I liked the people that I worked with a lot. There were so many of my co-workers that used to go out and, what else -- Party up --, Chase ladies down and the ladies would chase gentlemen down, too. We were all in our early twenties so we didn't understand, care and/or know what a reputation we were getting in Clearwater, especially. It just so happened that my supervisor -- Sandy -- Suggested that Janet and I get an apartment at Stratford Village. She knew of that apartment complex from some of the people who had/were living there, so chronologically I've skipped over the parts that I got this job while living at Boley Manor and then moved with my partner to Stratford Village in Clearwater in 1986 - 87. She used to take the bus up/down US Highway 19 North to meet me for lunch and we would go to a deli in the same Clearwater Mall movie theater little building as in comparison/contrastion to the mall itself. She went out with all of us at first and then kept to herself after that. I, on the other hand, was trying to get another piece of American Pie and pushed myself to making my mark as much as possible. I met a girl whom didn't seem to care that I was involved with someone -- Since I was out there -- By now. She had a crush on me and worked with me at Poston's Arts & Crafts. My pals there said, oh you should forget about your partner, she acts more like your roommate to us and that the lady I worked with 'was the woman of my dreams.' They tried to play matchmaker with both of us. I was taken once to a nightclub in St. Petersburg with one of the guys there I was real good friends with at the time and we went to a concert. He didn't tell me before hand that my co-worker, whom wanted to go out with me, was going to be there that night. So, we went to the concert and much to my surprise she walked in with another really hot girl like herself. I said, that's not Rosemary is it and he said yes it is and I'm going to invite her and her friend over to our table, okay? I said, no its not okay I'm already in love with someone. He said, that's alright we'll just watch the concert together and you know all the rest of the stuff that goes along with concerts in the late eighties. I didn't object anymore, period. We had already done all that before so I thought why argue with him when we're here to have fun not fight with each other. Moving on, my partner and me along with my former roommate (the guy I did odd jobs with he and his father) and his partner at Boley Manor met many neighbors in Stratford Village around that time. I became better friends with almost all of them for the simplest reason that I was more used to the racial, gender, creed, religious, nationality and age differences than they were brought to be, obviously. That was reflected loud and clear to me publicly with my partner and my former roommate and his partner and privately with me. I told them, I would talk to them and try to help change their prejudices however there was no guarantees I could completely do that myself. I told them, I didn't have time to reprogram them when I was working full-time and going to USF part-time. Some of them said fine; Some said if you don't forget us; Some said we'll just accept them as they were. You win some you lose some -- Is how I felt about that neighborhood situation. I remained close to the understanding, caring and forgiving neighbors right to this day. The others, I haven't really given much thought to until I started writing this. I left the Poston's Arts & Crafts job -- Since it got harder and it wasn't worth all the effort I had to put into the job and bringing home peanuts in the way of a paycheck by then. So, I got a phone call from Boley Manor and that's when I went to work for them. That job was part-time and I said I wanted to work full-time, my soon to become supervisor (Thomas) said, we'll go over that after you've been working here for awhile. You see, I was still programmed into believing that working hard for a living was the way to achieiving the American Dream. I got off on the wrong foot with both jobs by acting on that belief.
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In 1986, when my second partner and I got our Stratford Village apartment together after leaving Boley Manor, I first got a job, by beating the streets again and throwing job applications all up and down US Highway 19 North, I was hired by Poston's Arts & Crafts in the old Clearwater Mall area right by the Clearwater Mall movie theater. That was a receiving and shipping clerk job and I did pretty good for about four months and then I got a raise, so my supervisor (Sandy) wanted me to become an Assistant Manager after someone else working there moved up the corporate ladder. I worked full-time there for seven months and no one left the positions that my supervisor thought would happen therefore my co-worker wasn't promoted and neither was I. I liked the people that I worked with a lot. There were so many of my co-workers that used to go out and, what else -- Party up --, Chase ladies down and the ladies would chase gentlemen down, too. We were all in our early twenties so we didn't understand, care and/or know what a reputation we were getting in Clearwater, especially. It just so happened that my supervisor -- Sandy -- Suggested that Janet and I get an apartment at Stratford Village. She knew of that apartment complex from some of the people who had/were living there, so chronologically I've skipped over the parts that I got this job while living at Boley Manor and then moved with my partner to Stratford Village in Clearwater in 1986 - 87. She used to take the bus up/down US Highway 19 North to meet me for lunch and we would go to a deli in the same Clearwater Mall movie theater little building as in comparison/contrastion to the mall itself. She went out with all of us at first and then kept to herself after that. I, on the other hand, was trying to get another piece of American Pie and pushed myself to making my mark as much as possible. I met a girl whom didn't seem to care that I was involved with someone -- Since I was out there -- By now. She had a crush on me and worked with me at Poston's Arts & Crafts. My pals there said, oh you should forget about your partner, she acts more like your roommate to us and that the lady I worked with 'was the woman of my dreams.' They tried to play matchmaker with both of us. I was taken once to a nightclub in St. Petersburg with one of the guys there I was real good friends with at the time and we went to a concert. He didn't tell me before hand that my co-worker, whom wanted to go out with me, was going to be there that night. So, we went to the concert and much to my surprise she walked in with another really hot girl like herself. I said, that's not Rosemary is it and he said yes it is and I'm going to invite her and her friend over to our table, okay? I said, no its not okay I'm already in love with someone. He said, that's alright we'll just watch the concert together and you know all the rest of the stuff that goes along with concerts in the late eighties. I didn't object anymore, period. We had already done all that before so I thought why argue with him when we're here to have fun not fight with each other. Moving on, my partner and me along with my former roommate (the guy I did odd jobs with he and his father) and his partner at Boley Manor met many neighbors in Stratford Village around that time. I became better friends with almost all of them for the simplest reason that I was more used to the racial, gender, creed, religious, nationality and age differences than they were brought to be, obviously. That was reflected loud and clear to me publicly with my partner and my former roommate and his partner and privately with me. I told them, I would talk to them and try to help change their prejudices however there was no guarantees I could completely do that myself. I told them, I didn't have time to reprogram them when I was working full-time and going to USF part-time. Some of them said fine; Some said if you don't forget us; Some said we'll just accept them as they were. You win some you lose some -- Is how I felt about that neighborhood situation. I remained close to the understanding, caring and forgiving neighbors right to this day. The others, I haven't really given much thought to until I started writing this. I left the Poston's Arts & Crafts job -- Since it got harder and it wasn't worth all the effort I had to put into the job and bringing home peanuts in the way of a paycheck by then. So, I got a phone call from Boley Manor and that's when I went to work for them. That job was part-time and I said I wanted to work full-time, my soon to become supervisor (Thomas) said, we'll go over that after you've been working here for awhile. You see, I was still programmed into believing that working hard for a living was the way to achieiving the American Dream. I got off on the wrong foot with both jobs by acting on that belief.