Saturday, June 14, 2008

Chuck Yarborough's On the Job Training

Chuck Yarborough of the Plain Dealer spent the day at our Peninsula store today. Chuck's "On the Job Training" column is based on his experiences trying various unusual, scary, or dirty jobs for one day. On this day, he got his hands dirty as our Bicycle Rental Coordinator.

Chuck said that he's done over 80 such jobs as part of this ongoing assignment. "It's better than being at a desk," he commented. Most are here in the Northeast Ohio region, but he once traveled to Chicago to be a security guard on the set of the Jerry Springer Show. I asked if he got hit by any flying chairs, and he replied, "No, but I got punched by a fat kid."

"None of the jobs were that bad," he says, but his least favorite was working on a treatment tank for the sewer maintenance department. "I was walking through chest-deep muck, and trying not to think about why the bottom was so slippery." His favorite job was working as an autopsy assistant, although he hesitates to admit that because of people's usual reaction.

Chuck is originally from Texas, which I surmised by the Lone Star tatoo on his right calf. "It's a big state," he says. He once drove from Dallas to Cleveland in one day, but has never been able to make himself do the trip across the whole state of Texas in less than two days.

Here he is making some bike and helmet adjustments for our customers, and enjoying some of the other fringe benefits of the job.


1 comment:

  1. he is a really neat guy. i have read many of his articles. they are entertaining. not to mention i am his nephew.

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