Work
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I moved here to New York on July 7th, 1993. As I've written in the past, I quit a job in the Graphic Arts I had worked at for 13 years in Peoria, Illinois, cashed in my pension plan, sold my car, my furniture, my stereo, my records and my TV and moved to 75th and Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I knew about five people, had no job lined up and I was excited and scared out of my fucking wits.
Through one of the people I knew, Dick Stolley, I got interviews right off the bat at People magazine, Entertainment Weekly and In Style magazine all at Time, Inc. My dream was to get a staff job at one of them, make a decent wage during the day and then do something of my own in my free time. Well, dreams don't always come true. I think all the people I interviewed with thought I was some sort of freak and they all were amazed that Dick Stolley suggested they interview me.
And so I moved on to the not so lucrative world of freelance writing. The first newspaper I wrote for was a weekly, called appropriately enough, NY Weekly. The first review I did for them I made up, but they got even. They went bankrupt six months later owing me over $2,000 for freelance features I had written for them. At least I had some clippings.
I wrote for some other weekly papers, like the Manhattan Spirit, Our Town and Manhattan Mirror. The going rate there was about fifty bucks for a feature and I started the uneasy monthly process of watching a bank account dwindling in reverse towards an unfriendly town known as Brokeville.
I did get some decent freelance pieces for a couple of the daily papers, both the NY Daily News and New York Newsday published some features of mine, but I didn't see a staff job in the future at either of those papers or anywhere.
So, by April of 1994, I was down to five thousand bucks and I knew I had to look for some kind of a night job. Again, I don't like to blog about where I've worked, so we'll call the first place I got a job at, Company A, which was located in downtown Manhattan, near the corner of Broadway and Houston. Company A was great, I was able to score a three day work week, working twelve hours a day and a weekend about once a month. This allowed me to publish my magazine fishwrap, which made fun of all those motherfuckers who wouldn't hire me. I also started writing freelance for a new, but promising magazine called, Time Out New York, which was located on the same block as Company A.
In 1997 Company A was bought out by Company B. The owner of Company B, wasn't as cool as the owner of Company A, but he didn't seem like a bad guy and said he was going to keep Company A right where it was and not touch it. Three months later he shut down Company A and we moved into a big building where Company B was located, which was a block away from Penn Station, a part of town I don’t care much for. It was a big place and there was a lot of people running around and while most of them were nice people, it was more corporate than Company A and so after working there a couple weeks I quit. I tried to get more freelance going, but outside of Time Out New York, I wasn't getting much work. After about six months with little paying work, I realized I was going to be sleeping in front of Penn Station, so I called Company B and asked if I could get my job back. They were very busy and said I could come back. I settled in and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I continued to do my magazine fishwrap and worked my job. I continued the three day a week shift and time moved on.
In 2000 Company B was bought by Company C. Company C was an English company and moved the whole operation to another building a few blocks away in the same shitty part of town. It was for the most part inhabited by the same employees as Company B, but some got fired and some quit and they merged with another company, I think. It's all a little hazy. Anyway, I still had the three day week and was happy for the most part. The years rolled on.
I'm really fuzzy about this date, but let's say for the sake of an argument it was 2003. We found out we were getting bought out by yet another company, I'll call Company D. I heard a rumor my three day week was in jeopardy, so I interviewed at another place, we'll call Company E. I negotiated a four day week there and put my notice in at Company D. Company E turned out to be a horror show. A complete sweat shop and an owner, who was, well, let's just say, a little dubious. I hated it there. After about a half a year of working a job I hated and being really depressed, I got a call from a friend who was leaving Company D and wondered if I would like my old job back. Did I ever! I went back, talked to my boss and he said I could have my old job back. He reminded me though, that once again, I had lost all my benefits and would have to start all over. I didn't care, I just wanted to get as far away from Company E as I could. I was back at Company D and was thrilled to be back there.
A couple of years later we got bought out by a really big company, I'll call Company F. Somewhere in this time frame I also got shuffled to a five day week. While I wasn't thrilled about that, one thing I forgot to write is that Company D which had morphed into Company F was a ten minute walk from my apartment. So the location was great, I liked most of the people I worked with and I started blogging and all was good.
Then about six months ago, Company F announced that it was moving its production facilities out of New York City. Part of it was staying in the city, but my part was moving away to a place we’ll refer to as Facility G. And Facility G is lot further away than my old ten minute walk. In fact it’s not even in New York City. Basically if I went, I wouldn't be able to do much of a blog and after thinking about it for a few days and just as many beers, I decided I wasn't going to go.
And now, I'm right back where I started when I moved here in 1993. No job, but I'm still writing and I’ve got this new blog. I'm excited and scared out of my fucking wits.
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I never posted any photos of where I worked, but since it was emptied out, I took some shots from my last day at work and here they are.
It was weird working there the last week and seeing all the rooms slowly empty out.
Airhoses dangle in a room filled with ghosts of production past. It actually felt a little creepy in there the last couple days. My department was one of the last to be moved, so I was there all alone.
I always got a kick out of this, "REFRIDGERATOR" sign. Obviously it's been around a while and must've been printed in pre-spell check days.
Most everything had been stripped off the walls, except for this piece of art by C. Powers. I couldn't stand to see it go to waste...
So I put it in a box that was headed over to Facility G. I hope they hang it in a nice place!
Speaking of walls...what's that over there...
Aaaaahhh!
Cardboard Box Man Mutation, New York City, Work Posted on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 at 1:31PM
Reader Comments (27)
Ha ha ha ha ha. Art.
Stop working for the alphabet.
First of all Marty, the blogs looks shizzle! Wow nice. Respect for your new start! Remember... it may be scary not knowing what will happen but you have a huge group of fans behind, in front and next to you! Good luck!
Before I was a cab driver I was a contract draftsman...I was shunted all over the Twin Cities by the Job Shops (contract engineering houses) working gigs that lasted anywheres from a couple of months to a couple of years. Eventually, I wound up with a resume as long a New York crack head's rap sheet and I've helped to design every thing from F.B.I. pistol ranges to Inflatable Implantable Penile prostheses (no lie...when I went to work for that place, I had to watch a surgery film involving the implantation of one of those things with a bunch of female new hires who kept throwing up and running out of the room). To this day, I can't sit through an entire episode of 'The Office' without wanting to reach in throught the T.V. screen and strangling Dwight Schrute to fucking death, because I've worked with real life Dwight Schrute clones without number, and I'm amazed I could get through fifteen years of that without going to work armed one day and shooting the place up. Cab driving turned out to be my salvation...for me there was a weird kind of sanity in all that one fare at a time road craziness. Watching 'The Office' on T.V. gets me all in a cold sweat and makes me short of breath and makes me thank God I'm retired. I'm not kidding at all.
Can you post some kind of flow chart with your work history ? .... I think you worked at the place by Penn Station 3 different times ?
Good luck with the new life. Maybe you'll meet & marry some rich chicky who will give you money, and let you blog 24 hours a day !
@csp: I agree, I need to get in the numbers racket!
@Ruben Dutch: Thank you my friend, I appreciate the nice words and support!
@Jaws: I've never watched, "The Office," and maybe that's the reason why! Those are wild work memories!
@GENE: I don't think I can do the flow chart, it was making me dizzy enough just typing it up! And I'll keep my eyes out for that rich chicky!
Hey, you're doing just great! I quit my job vowing I'd get out of the race and began writing my great American novel in 1987. By 1989 I finally finished the novel, which was called Holy Communion, and took years and years in trying to get it published to no avail. I had to start working but I refused to go into an office job, took jobs at the Big Apple Circus and as a roadie for Cirque du Soliel, which certainly was a world of difference from an office job. But all the while I kept writing stories and other novels. My luck eventually did change, I published Holy Communion, which won the Lambda Award for Bisexual Fiction 2009, 20 years after I completed the novel. Has anyone heard of me? Who the hell knows and who cares anyway. But I'm happy I quiet my job and did what I wanted to do, that is, be a writer.
Hand in there Marty, you're on the right track ;)
I got it now. You were the guy making swizzle sticks for NYC.
TO: FOLLOWING YOUR BLISS!
P.S. Please post a picture of Bliss.
Marty - Congrats on the new blog, it looks great. I loved reading this because I lived through a lot of it with you!
Best of luck with everything! MP
@Mykola Mick Dementiuk: That's a very inspiring story, thanks for putting it up! Sometimes you have to face your fear and see what happens. And so, we'll see! Thanks for the nice wishes!
@Michael: Ha ha ha! My cover is blown, oh no!
@Biff: I agree! TO: FOLLOWING YOUR BLISS! Sadly though, Bliss is a little camera shy!
@blinkdi1: I was thinking of you as I wrote this because you trained me at Company A! Thanks for your patience back then as I didn't have a clue and thanks for your friendship, MP!
last 4 pics -- Lady Gaga?
on a side note, thought about getting ads for this blog, or a Kickstarter project?
not that you axed...#shutupesquared
my dik hurtz
@esquared: Ha ha ha! Either Lady Gaga or Lana Del Rey! Down the road I may look into Kickstarter, but first in a couple weeks I'm going to try something. I'm going to try and keep this ad free, we'll see what happens and I appreciate the ideas!
@Roger Daltry: Pete Townshend has sharp teeth, huh? Maybe if you twirl your microphone it'll take your mind off of it, but I really appreciate you reporting this news!
Life is short....especially if you did a ton of drugs in the seventies! Blog away Motherfucker!
@Professor Dungpie: I hear you! I did a ton of drugs in the 70's and then a half a ton in the 80's! And I will be blogging away tomorrow, per your request, Motherfucker!
Marty Wombacher with lots of free time on his hands sounds like a wild ride. i want on,
@DeWayne: Great to have you on board and to hear from you!
Can you pass the Tripping With Marty test?-Ken Kesey
@Duncester: Thanks! Further!
Great shots. Weird to see the empty space. Lots of good memories of working with great peeps. Would not have wanted to spend those days with any other crew. Thanks for posting. Cheers to all.
@Jonas: Glad you enjoyed this! You were one of the good guys and definitely missed after you left. Now I'm out too!
Love the resume. I hooked an obit writing job at a newspaper in 1971, and three daily papers later I'm back to writing at a weekly four years now - pretty much having a ball even though I'm on oxygen 24/7 and could be in the market for a good used pair of lungs in a few weeks. Miss your bro.
@Jmcd: Thanks! Glad to hear you're having a ball! Thanks for the nice thought about Jim, I miss him too. He would definitely be supplying artwork to this blog!
AHHHH, sweet memories of the 3rd shift at Company C, the pics of the empty rooms brought a tear to my eye (or is it the smoke I'm inhaling?) damn, I don't remember. Anyway, I think I know the guy on your last pic. What day is it today? I'm starving.
@JoCar: Ha ha ha! I've gotta go with the smoke! It's Monday, eat something!
La verdad es que la información es buena y amena, su fácil comprensión me ha atrapado desde el primer momento y ha conseguido que me informe de lo que quería saber. Se nota que estás encantado con lo que haces. =)
Me encanta el articulo, es super interesante y curioso, se lee genial con mucha fluidez. Estoy deseando leer más artículos vuestros, sois geniales.