My Dad wanted me to start working when I turned fifteen. He and my Uncle Al owned Expressway Lube Centers, so he put me to work as a part-time receptionist in their Danbury store. It wasn’t up to me where I worked; it wasn’t a suggestion; it was what I had to do.
There is so much I want to say about my time at Expressway, but I am going to try and focus on a few things to try to keep this post reasonable. Because it turned out as much as I didn’t want to work there at first, it turned into something I could never forget.
I had to take the school bus to a stop that was down the road from the shop. The only time that sucked was when it was winter and snow covered the sidewalks. There were giant blocks of snow/ice that made it difficult to get to the shop, so I usually ended up with soaking wet socks and shoes; and sometimes pants.
Dad loved to show me off to all his employees, so many of his long-term loyal employees knew me from Day One. In fact, there is a picture of my manager Dana (not her real name) holding me on her lap when I was a baby. I wish I could find that photo.
Working there was fun and amazing; also crazy and chaotic. Dad said later on that sometimes he wished he never gave me that job. But Expressway was and is a major part of my life that I would never change.
Did I hang out with some people I shouldn’t have at my age? Yes. But I still think that no matter what, I would have gone down the same road, just with different people. BUT the best thing about working there was that I found the love of my life.
My Dad needed to blame Expressway as the place I started to smoke cigarettes and weed, but I think deep down he knew it wasn’t. I think he was looking for someone or something to blame for me not being
I was the owners’ daughter, so it was awkward at first, but they quickly realized I was more down to earth and the first group of people I was working with were amazing. They were a fun crew. They were kind and funny; they picked on me; it was like Expressway became my family.
It’s where I met Frank, who is like a second brother to me. He taught me that life wasn’t always fair, and I needed to toughen up. He was always there. Frank has a way of calming people; I know it always worked for me.
From the start, Frank took me under his wing. Frank would help me with my math homework when we were slow. I have a learning disability when it comes to math, and he was my go-to. He was super helpful he got me through math and much more. He would also tell me when I fucked up. He always called me on my shit when he knew I was going down a bad road. If weren’t for Expressway, I would never have met Frank.
Frank is so special that I’ve got to dedicate a whole post to him. By the way, if it weren’t for Frank, I wouldn’t have met his brother Brett who is absolutely not like a brother to me, but that too gets its own post.
Expressway, oh how I could go on forever, and I just may… it really is a huge part of me. Even just the little things, but here’s just some of it
We had this stupid popcorn machine that I hated! I burned my arm on it, trying to clean it. You had to clean it while it was still hot or else the disgusting fake butter would thicken and was impossible to clean once it set. Customers would drop popcorn everywhere and leave it there for me to clean. I even remember this one man who was eating it and half of it fell in his beard and half on the floor. Then I had to cash him out while trying not to look disgusted that this man had no idea he had massive bits of popcorn in there.
Sometimes when Dana and I got frustrated with each other, we would wrestle. Yeah, you heard; me wrestle. I know this sounds strange, but remember she knew me my whole life. And it can be frustrating having to manage your bosses annoying little pipsqueak daughter. It couldn’t have been easy.
One day Dana and I actually went through the office door falling to the floor during one of our fights. Oh man, I’m happy that there were no customers in the store and didn’t have cameras set up then or we would all have been fired. Don’t get me wrong it was always in good fun and just our way of getting our frustrations out.
Dana was a fantastic manager; she knew every customer and was kickass at her job. This scrawny little woman is stronger than most people I know. She’s also the only one who could console me when my first, “thought it was love” boyfriend dumped me. Kendra brought me straight to Expressway, and Dana took me across the street for ice cream. She always took care of me and tolerated
I should also mention “Code White” that phrase meant someone higher up was here, for example, my Dad. Sometimes when I was standing in the garage smoking, they would call “code white”! I’d panic, throw my cigarette into the tech’s toilet, and run into the office, terrified my Dad had seen me. But there they all were laughing because they had tricked me again. They loved to fuck with me, and it was easy! I scared very easily.
Then, there was Seinfeld. My Dad was obsessed with the show, and every store got a DVD set to play on the TV. They were to be on at all times. At first, I thought this was better than the news, but over time I wanted to pull my hair out constantly watching the same show over and over again. Thank goodness they were eventually “lost”. Really, Dana had thrown them into the ceiling tiles never be seen again. I can honestly say it’s that I don’t miss them.
The weird times came later on when I started partying more and had my car. Eventually, everything turned into me just being wild. It had been coming, no matter what; it had been brewing.
You cycle through a lot of employees in this type of job, and eventually, the good ones started to leave, and it wasn’t as fun to work there anymore. Dana left, which was a huge blow. The company hired some creepy ass managers who ended up hiring creepier techs.
When my Dad and Uncle sold the business, I quit. It wasn’t the same anymore. People think I quit because I was no longer the boss’s daughter, but it was more than that. It turned into a dark place with bad people, and I am not sure I am going to say more than that.
I can’t help thinking when I drive past it that its still “my store!”. That place holds a million different memories for me. It’s a place that will forever have a piece of my heart.
I went from working with almost all guys where you could swear, be vulgar, laugh at each other, to a job at a beauty supply store. All the
At Expressway, I got dirty, and I learned how to do oil changes. I met all kinds of different
I’ll never regret my Dad forcing me to work there. It’s where some of my best memories come from. From the people I met and to the ones who have become family. As I said before it’s the small things that matter, and there were so many amazing small things and big lessons I learned there.
Amazing what one place can do for a person.
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” – Winnie The Pooh