NEW GUY GETS THE BEST SPOT

Sometimes one of the regular guys would say, “Mr Juan, I know a guy who’s looking for work.”  “Do you know him?”  “Yeah, I know him, he’s a good worker.”  “Okay, he can go with us, I’ll hire him.  Tell him I’ll pick him up in the morning at 5:00.”  It would usually take an hour to get to the ranch where the fence was being built.  They would start working at 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening, a 12 hour day.  Of course they had a lunch hour and a break in the morning and a break in the evening. 

So he’s a new guy, so he doesn’t know.   When they’d pick up the new guy, everybody would watch to see where he was going to sit in the back of the open truck.  They’d say, “Oh no, why don’t you sit over there because so and so usually sits there.”  “Oh, okay.”   So the new guy would end up sitting behind my Grandfather. 

My Grandfather would be chewing tobacco, spitting out.  While we were in Encinal picking up the guys, no problem. Then we’d get on the road, the guy would be sitting there and if it was cold, that spot was warmer. “Hey, this is nice back here, right behind the cab, I don’t get all of the wind.  Out in the back of the bed, it’s a lot colder.”  The other guys would be smiling at each other, going, just wait.  The other guy would say, “What?”  “No, you don’t get as much wind as we do back here.”  “No, no I don’t.  Thank you.”  “Sure.”