The Time I helped someone move to Chicago

 I even drove a U Haul truck.  Badly.  At least I didn't hit anyone.  

Shortly after my dad died in late October 1998, I needed to find a new job that paid better.  I got hired at an insurance brokerage firm in downtown Milwaukee like 5 weeks later.  I was a word processing specialist.  Yeah.  Weird title.  I was going to be working with another person handling all the typing assignments and doing some dictation.  

I thought I was going to be working with another woman because human resources mentioned how much I would like Cloris.  Cloris was a gay man.  Interesting name choice.  His first name was William but he seemed so funny and nice.  I needed to be around someone who was fun.

We did have fun initially.  I really liked Cloris.  Back then, there was no Tinder so he was always looking for dates on the personals.  He had actually broken up with someone I worked with a few years earlier. I kind of suspected that person was gay and really felt bad that they weren't together.  I would listen to Cloris' stories of stupid men who went on dates with and we had a lot of laughs.  We had to go to a training class one day out in Brookfield. Cloris didn't drive so I picked him up and we had a blast.  We made plans to go to the movies one night and we had a good time.  It was good to around someone so fun.

Then Cloris got really mean to me some days and I had no idea why.  It was really heartbreaking to me why he would get so mad.  I would just work in silence on those days and be thankful when he would leave for lunch or a break.  When he was fun, we had a lot of fun.  When he was in a bad mood, I stayed quiet.  I had to fight back tears one day when I was struggling with an assignment.  He just got so mad when I asked questions some days.  Other days, he was funny Cloris.

Then Cloris gave his notice.  He was going to be moving to Chicago and work at one of our other offices.  I was kind of relieved because the up and down with him was too much.  He seemed a lot nicer to me and he had asked me if I would go to his going away party.  I was ok with that.  He said nobody was more fun than me.  Very true.  I got to admit, I was surprised he said that.  

We did have fun.  This was probably the last time I did serious drinking.  I think I was drinking vodka which was foul and our group walked over to Pieces of Eight where a party was going on that we crashed.  I stole a tambourine and jumped up on a fire pit and channeled my inner Patridge Family band member.  Cloris was laughing at my antics and I jumped down and danced like the idiot that I was that night.  

I was maybe a little buzzed where some of the people in our group were seriously drunk.  I think Cloris and were the only two that were somewhat sober.  I took him and another woman who snored in the front seat while Cloris and I found a Taco Bell to get food.  We had to help our friend out and into Cloris apartment building. 

I kept in touch while Cloris moved.  He moved into a mens hotel until he found a place and when he did, he asked if I could help him move.  I thought sure, why not?  It would be fun.  

This is a mistake I make with a lot of people.  Maybe Cloris would be a nicer person now that he's in his dream city.  He was just angry with me because he was so unhappy.  If people got their way, then maybe they would be nicer to me.  No, I don't get my way like a million times and I don't treat people this bad.

My mom took us to the rental place where we would get the truck and Cloris pissed off the guy behind the counter and we had to go to a different neighborhood. My mom loved Cloris but to this day, she said it's his fault that we had to drive across the city to the other U Haul place.

I was terrified to drive the U Haul.  It was raining in late October 1999.  How did I think this was a good idea?  I was scared.  He found a place in west Chicago and we had to haul stuff up three flights of steps.  I broke a glass table. I don't think he was happy with me.  I don't care.  He's lucky I didn't break it over his head after the stress he caused.  

Cloris had offered to pay for my train fare home when I agreed to help.  When we finally sat down and took a break, he mentioned how he didn't have enough money for rent and was low on funds.  I thought great.  I know where this is going.  I stayed silent.  When it came time to leave, Cloris was going to have me take the bus back to the train station.  I put my foot down and I said I don't know this city.  I need your help.  He got us a cab and he paid.  We ran about 6 blocks to the train station and I made it.  Luckily I found a machine to get cash since the cheap ass pretended not to have any money. I was relieved it was over.

I came to visit him twice thinking it would be fun.  It was not.  He took me through Boys Town which I  was fine with until I realized I was in an erotic bookstore. I thought I would see the sights.  Not porn.  Geezus.  He promised again to show me the sights and we wound up just walking around the neighborhoods which was nice.  He would trash our old co-workers which made me wonder why am I here?  He's still an asshole.

He would leave me messages when I was at work and lamented about his love life, like what does he have to do to get a blow job?  I was really glad that my mom was staying with my grandma at the time and she didn't have to hear that. I would make it nice and maybe talk to him for like 20 minutes and make up an excuse.  I did loan him $100 and he paid me back $80.  I tried.

I confided in one of my co-workers about my frustration with Cloris and they were surprised that I was friends with him because he called me retarded.  He made fun of me and used to trash me when they would go on smoke breaks.  Nice.  I suspected that he did that because he made some reference to me and the Kennedy sister that had a lobotomy.  Another person confirmed the same thing.

I made sure to ignore his phone calls and emails.  On my last day there, I fired off an angry email to him and told him what a liar he was.  He denied everything and said I shouldn't listen to people.  We could have had much more fun in Chicago if I had told him this stuff.

Yes. I could have gone to more erotic bookstores in Chicago.  No thanks.  I'm good.