Trash Man - a Greenville Story

Trash Man- A Greenville Story

No editor. English is my second language. Bad English is my first language. I'm writing how people that I know speak, or talk. Hope you enjoy. Many times people do not speak in complete sentences. We're used to hearing them on TV and the movies. Read them in books and magazines. But listen to your friends. Especially when they are excited or with friends. Heck read a trump transcript. If it bothers you well sorry. I do hope you enjoy it.

The Greenville Series stories are all stand alone with some character interaction between stories

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"You're a fucking trash man! And that's all you will ever be. Coming home dirty, stinking of others peoples trash. A fucking trash man." My oh so loving girlfriend is saying. I'm used to it and let it roll off my back. This current situation is a little different. She thinks I'm just a trash man. I'm much more that that, I'm a part owner in an up and coming trash business. There's a difference. Sure I still work on the truck. Only thing is, is that its my truck or should I say trucks, At least 50% is. Allied Carolina Rubbish, remember that name!

My brother from another mother, Darren Preston, or DP as most people call him, and I worked together at city sanitation department for 3 years. To be as close as we are you would think we knew each other all our lives. We only met at work. He went to Greenville Central and I went to Booker T for high school. He lived on the other side of the city. Greenville is only so big. I guess big enough for 2 high schools. He's good people. Doesn't slack off and is really smart.

We've always been on the same truck and same route. We would talk about life and what we wanted to do. We both had dreams. Neither one of us was born with a silver spoon in our mouth. Heck I didn't even have a spoon. I'm not mad because my mom did the best she could and always showed her love. She was tough keeping us on the straight and narrow but loving.

When you're growing up you don't realize how poor you are. I didn't have Air Jordan's. I got the Shaq's from Walmart. My sister and I got free breakfast and lunch at school. We shopped at Goodwill, but the white people one in the good neighborhood. White people gave away the best clothes. When you're young you just think that's how people live. College wasn't even a dream. I didn't have the grades. I didn't make the basketball team. Played 3

rd

string tight end on the worst team in the district, so a sports scholarship was out. So I got a job. The city paid pretty well and had good benefits. It let me help my mom out and do something for my little sister. The only problem was our boss was an asshole. And working for the government he would always be our boss and always be an asshole. He treated everyone like shit. Like he was better than us trash men.

DP and I had talked about going into business for ourselves. We both knew that it was the only way to a better life. Unfortunately we didn't have any kind of skills. We couldn't cook so a restaurant was out. Definitely didn't have computer skills. The only thing we really knew was the trash business.

I remember that conversation so well. "Well, Roscoe, do you think could start our own trash business." He always called me Roscoe for some ungodly reason. "If we save our money we could get our own used truck. I don't how much longer I deal with Don's stupid ass everyday."

"Yeah, his shit is wearing thin. He said some dumb shit the other day and if I didn't walk away I would have been fired or in jail for kicking his ass, maybe both."

"How's your credit'? DP asked 'Mines not bad, not great though. We can start saving for a truck. If we both go in together it shouldn't take more than 100 years."

"My credits not bad either. I'm in if your in. But lets keep it between us. I don't like a lot of people knowing my business."

And with that we were on our way. Biggest problem is trash trucks cost thousands of dollars which we didn't have. We figured we could get an okay used truck for maybe $15-25,000. DP and I both got one of those credit cards to help build credit. We worked part time jobs to save as much money as we could. We also started selling things that people threw away that was still in good shape. Some just needed cleaning, others anew paint job. We did great at the farmers markets on the weekends. Saving that much money is hard, even with 2 people. We both still had bills to pay.

Then something great happened 8 months later, I think the term is serendipitous. One day we were headed back to home base. There was a lady on the side of the street standing by her car looking at a flat tire. We stopped and asked if she needed a hand. She looked at us with skepticism and said she had a flat, her husband isn't answering his phone and Roadside service is going to be 2 hours.

We found a parking spot and went to help her. I could tell she was a little shocked that these two young black guys had stopped to help her when everyone else drove by.

She said, "I really appreciate you gentlemen helping me. How much do I owe you? I can can only give you a check."

DP responded to her "It's free. But if you want to pay it back, I want you to pay it forward. Do something nice for someone you don't know." He smiled at her continuing to jack up the car.

Her eyes got wide. She said "I've never heard someone say something like that in real life. Only on Hallmark Movies.".

We all laughed. She was starting to feel comfortable with us. We chatted while changing her tire. It was a really nice car, Brand new 1994 BMW 325e cherry red.

She said "I'm on my way to meet with my husband for a late lunch. He's an investment banker. He works for Bear Stearns."

I didn't know who Bear Stearns was or what they did. We talked a little while changing the tire. I mentioned that we wanted to start our own trash company and were saving up to buy a truck. But we knew it would take a long time to save up the money. This is where is gets good.

"You know you don't have to have cash to buy a truck don't you?" She said with a smile. This is why the rich are rich. "What you can do is find someone who will do owner financing. Its where you buy it from a company who is getting rid of it. They hold the note instead of the bank. You might be able to get a truck for 10% down. You might even get a better interest rate than with a bank or at least better terms to meet your budget."

DP and I were both excited to hear this, we already had $5800 saved up.

DP asked, "Where can we find this kind of deal?"

She said "You should check the trade magazines. They always have deals."

Darren and I looked at each other. We didn't know they had magazines for the trash business.

Laughing she said "The boss probably has them in his office. I'll give you my husbands business card. He can give you some advice to help you get started. I'll make sure he's waiting for our call."

Finishing up with the tire we thanked her as she thanked us. Again asking if she could pay us which we refused. Her name was Carolyn Richards, married to Jason Richards. I told her we would call her husband tomorrow and appreciated the advice. She responded that its her way of paying us back. Thanked us and drove off.

The ride back to home base was for a better word, jubilant. I don't know if you ever had the feeling that the sun of brighter, the air is clearer, food taste better. That's how we both felt. We again agreed not to say anything to anyone until we knew what we could do. We would call Mr. Richards tomorrow to see when we could schedule a meeting. Life was good.

I was feeling really good when I left the job. I stopped at Crown Chicken and Fish and got a mega combo bucket. 4 pieces of catfish, 10 wings, large sides of mac and cheese and collard greens. Plus 8 of those Hawaiian rolls. I took it to my moms. She was shocked to see me on a Wednesday and with a bucket of food. Yvette had just got home from school. We sat down to eat.

Mom was looking at me and asked "Whats the deal with that stupid grin and all this food. You find some money in the trash today.

I laughed and said "Can't a guy show his love for his mother and little sister. And I gotta eat anyway."

She called bullshit but went back to eating the catfish. After eating I kissed my mom's and hugged my sister goodbye. Off to my one bedroom apartment.

Getting home Tasha my girlfriend was there. She didn't look happy. I got no Hi, Hello or even a Fuck You. Just a sad or mad look. I asked what the problem was. I left out the 'Now' part because its always seemed to be something with her.

She tossed me a white tube and said "I'm pregnant. That's the 3

rd

test I've taken. I'm going to the clinic tomorrow so the doctor can verify it for me,"

I sat down heavily on the sofa. Its the only furniture besides a TV stand and coffee table in my small living room. Pregnant. God, Damn, double damn, Triple God Damn.

I looked at her with the side eye, she immediately said "Yeah Nigga its yours. I ain't fucking no one else but you!"

Aren't they supposed to say that? I knew I wasn't all that but I was doing better then most of my contemporaries. I had a good job and didn't have to look over my shoulder to earn it, benefits, a car and my own place. I was a catch in the hood. Maybe not one of those drug dealers but I still had a lot to offer. I know because girls were always trying to holler at me.

Tasha and I had been on and off for almost 2 years. More on than off though. She was what they call an around the way girl. You heard the LL Cool J song. I met her when I went to buy work boots. She works at Thom McAn shoes. She's a year younger than my 23. Short and thick as hell. Has a short Afro but gets weaves with braids on good pay days. I figured it would be a one hitter quilter but the puss was good and she was cool. She would stay over for a couple of days than back to her moms house. We did the movies and out to eat once and a while. Usually just stayed home and chilled. I can't smoke because of my job, but she does. By smoke I mean weed, Neither of us are heavy drinkers. A beer after work maybe but not often.

I never thought about being a father or her being the mother of my kids. What semi-single 23 year old would think about that. I'm too young. I'm trying to wrap my head around this.

I ask the question that has been asked a thousand times, "What do you want to do" meaning you gonna keep it?

She looked forlorn and started to cry. I guess the anger of me getting her pregnant was over and the realization that we might be parents was hitting her. Honestly I was still in another world. Did I want to be a father? Could I be a father? I never knew my father. My mom said he died before I was born. I just think she didn't want him around me for whatever reason. I was trying to start a business. Can I afford a child right now? So many questions and no answers. If she wanted to keep it there would be nothing I could do except pay child support. Is this the end of my dreams?

We sat and held each other, not saying anything.

Time moves on.

She decided to keep the baby. She moved in with me since her mom was not happy with the situation. My mom was hesitant about it herself. I don't think she fully thought the child was mine but kept it to herself. My sister didn't care either way. Just saying not to expect a discount for babysitting.

Being with someone full time is totally different than every now and then. It takes some getting used to. The apartment is small. A kitchen, bedroom, living and bathroom. My lease would be up before the baby would be born. I was trying to decide if I should get a 2 bedroom. I can't see my child growing up in this neighborhood. Most of the people are good and hardworking. It only takes 5% to ruin a place. We have 6.7%.

Tasha wasn't the neatest person, not dirty thankfully. Her clothes are always all over the apartment. I bought another dresser just for her but its mostly stays empty. She only does dishes every other day it seems and rarely sweeps the floor. I always tried to keep a clean apartment. My mom always said "

people expect a man to have a dirty place, I don't and I didn't raise you that way."

DP and I had met with Mr. Richards. He taught us a lot about business in those few short hours.

Mr. Richards, Jason as we later started calling him, was in his late 40's. A head full of dark hair with some gray streaks on his temples. He was tall and had a commanding presence. He had been with Bear Stearns for 20 years, starting right out of college, East Carolina. Go Pirates!

First thing he told us "Starting business is hard. People see the success without thinking of the hard work. You already know how hard the business can be so that's a help. But its what happens behind the doors that matter. Cash flow is important. You have to know how much to charge people. There are several ways to do it. By cost, meaning you take into account what it cost you to do business. This includes gas, insurance, maintenance, labor and marketing. And you have to know your break even. If it cost you say $100 a day to run your truck. And you're charging your customers $50 a month how many customers do you need to break even"?

DP and I looked at each other like aliens had landed in the office. This is something we never thought of. Its always been about getting a truck and picking up trash. He gave us some paper and a calculator to work it out. 44 customers to break even.

After we got that he told us "Breaking even isn't what your in business for. If it is keep your day job. Take that $100 a day and times it by 1.8 which would be $180 a day or 80 customers a month to make a decent profit. Another way to price it is market demand. What do your competitors charge? What can the market bare? Do you want to undercut their price. If they are charging $50 you can charge $45. But if you do it takes longer to become profitable."

We learned a lot that day. He invited us to contact him anytime. I think he enjoyed it as much as we did.

I had grabbed copies of Waste Today and Waste Advantage magazines from the office. You could tell our boss didn't even read them. 3 Months later we found a used truck a private company was selling 2 hours away. DP took the day off to check it out. I told him to remember to have someone check the engine and mechanicals. We didn't want a good looking truck that didn't run. He said he did everything Mr. Richards told him to do and was able to come to terms on the truck. 10% down or $1500 and $500 a month for 3 years. He paid $2000 so we would always have a 30 day cushion. That left us with $4200 in our kitty.

Mr. Richards put us in touch with an attorney, Tom Pohl, to incorporate our business as a LLC, Limited Liability Company. This would keep us legally safe in case something happened or we had to declare bankruptcy. That took another $1000. Spent money on fliers and uniforms. We figured we would go after the rich crowd. We always got complaints about making to much noise early in the morning. So we don't do pick up until after noon and before 4pm. We also offered can pick up where we would bring the can to the truck and return it for an extra fee. Painting the truck was the biggest cost at $2500. It was white with a huge blue Allied Carolina Rubbish Established 1995 on the side with our phone number. We decided on white because most trash trucks are dark colors to hide the dirt. We wanted to stand out by having a clean truck.

We kept our jobs for another 2 months as we tried to get customers. When they called we gave them a start date a week after we were going to quit our jobs. We had signed up 50 customers. That's not a lot. It put us at break even. We figured we would get more customers when people saw our trucks in the areas we served and with word of mouth. We had a referral program for our current customers. None of our co-workers knew what we were doing. I had never even said anything to my mom or Tasha. I don't think Darren said anything to anyone either. We didn't want to jinx it.

A month after starting ACR Tasha had my son. She named him Adam, 6 pounds 7 ounces looking like me. The name was her choice. I don't know where the name came from. We had moved to a two bedroom apartment in the same building. With starting the business I didn't want to risk paying a much higher rent payment. Luckily it was only $300 more a month. Tasha wasn't happy but since she wasn't going to be working it was the best we could do. I was getting the feeling that she felt she would be on the come up. Every now and then she would make a comment about us doing better. By us she meant me. I told her good things come to those that wait.

2 years later we were doing good. Had almost 350 customers though we were still working on the truck ourselves. Working on your own truck feels a lot different than working on someone else's. We made it a habit of putting fliers on 3 houses on each side of a customer and across the street. We even had a referral program that was pretty successful. We were at the point of having to look for a third truck. Darren and I were each working a truck. We had paid off the first truck early. The same guy gave us a great deal on our 2

nd

truck. No money down, $500 a month for 4 years. Who would ever think that 10 years later we would buy his company.

Things between Tasha and me were starting to reach a peak or cliff depending on how you look at it. She was always complaining about something. Not enough money, the apartment was to small, the car was a piece of crap. And of course I smelt bad everyday coming home from work. I didn't spend any time with her or Adam. Was I going to be a trash man all my life? Did she know I owned my own business, hell no. If she did she would try to spend all my money. My lifestyle stayed the same even though I had tripled my income. I was able to help my mom and sister more and prepare for the future. I was making plans to buy a house in suburbs soon.

One weekend sitting around at Darren's place talking about business we made a decision that would change our lives forever. If you thought we were all in before you would be wrong.

"Hey, DP, you ever notice all those Port-a-Potties at construction sites?"

"Not really, why?"

"You know they rent for $25 a day, each. Most construction takes at least 3 months. That's $2250 a toilet. And they usually have more than one if its a big site. Those things only cost $800. They pay for themselves and more on one job."

"Again. Why you telling me this Roscoe? You're a trash man now you want to be a toilet man too?" He couldn't help but laugh at his own joke.

"If it makes me money DP damn right. These things are gold mines. The biggest cost once you buy them is having a place to store them between jobs. And if you plan it right you don't have a lot of them sitting around. I talked to some people. There are 3 companies in the area doing potties. One has 50% of the market and the other two split the rest with one having 30%. I think its something we should look into."

"I don't know. We're doing good ACR, why take on more?"

"I read something that really made me think and it stuck with me. 'Y

ou will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety

'. I don't want to step back and stay where we're at. We need to grow or someone will come in with more money behind them and pass us by. We took a chance with ACR, Whats wrong with taking another chance with this. I'm 100% sure we can make it successful."

DP was very thoughtful. "Let me me think on it. I trust you Roscoe."

Being 50/50 partners one thing Jason talked about were stalemates in making decisions. We could become deadlocked. And it could cause arguments that might hurt the business and more importantly our relationship. So We had the Decision Coin. It was a silver dollar we kept in a special box. When we couldn't decide on something we flipped the coin. I was always head and DP tails. No hard feelings if you lost and no gloating if you won, It sounds silly but its saved us several times and kept our friendship going.