So we are in week four of this class and we have read a lot of stories about people and their work, and it got me to thinking about all the different jobs I have worked during the course of my life, and I have come to the conclusion that I can relate to almost every story we have read. I have either worked a job that has been described in some of the stories or I have worked with people that are very similar to some of the characters in the stories. I am going to attempt to make a connection with my own work experiences to some of the stories we have read; hence the name “It Is All Relative”. The stories we have read in GIG really hit home with me and I really enjoy the way they are written in a very simple form and how the narrators really connect to the reader. I guess I am so enthralled with the stories because I feel like I have been some of these people at some point and the stories they are telling are very similar to the stories that I share from time to time; especially after a few adult cocktails. One of my favorite stories from Workers and Managers is “UPS Driver”, this story is very entertaining to me for so many reasons, mostly because his very detailed description of his day from start to finish allows the reader to understand his mind set. He is very honest with his telling of the story, even though the reader gets the feeling that he is a slacker, he does not seem to care what others might think about him and his work ethic, because for him this job is not a forever job it is more of a jumping off point. He explains in great detail how he thinks this is a mindless job that is really a physical grind that is beginning to break him down. I found myself laughing when he described how he would screw the customers who would not tip him well or give him good gifts during the holidays. I like how he shows his caring side when he describes the satisfaction he gets from delivering birthday gifts to kids and Christmas packages to people who are expecting them and then seeing the expressions on their face. After I read the last words of this story I felt like I knew him personally, and I had affection for him because I worked a delivery job for a couple of years, and his story reminded me of all the great stories I had from that job. The year was around 2003 and I had just started working for a company called CTS, it was a company that delivered uniforms, rugs, shop towels, and a whole plethora of different things. I was hired as a salesmen/delivery driver; it was more delivery than it was sales, but I needed a job and the pay was decent. My first day on the job I was greeted by a older fellow by the name of Ted, he was tall and had a beer belly and walked with a limp. Ted was going to be the guy who trained me on the route; show me the ins and outs of delivery sales. He had worked for CTS for almost twenty years and he worked his way up from driver to middle management, he seemed quite proud of his accomplishment. The first day consisted of him showing me the route and how they loaded up the truck in the morning, and unloaded the truck in the evening. These tasks did not exactly require you to be a rocket scientist, but it was strenuous work. The key to this job was finding a routine that worked for you and sticking to it. Once you were trained you were on your own to run the route however you liked, and you could do the deliveries in any order you wanted, as long as everything got delivered and all the dirty stuff got picked up and brought back to the shop. There were not a lot of rules to follow and there certainly was not a lot of supervision once you were out on the road. You were kind of your own boss, and I liked that freedom, it gave me a sense of importance. I would start my day as early as possible, because the sooner you were done, the sooner you could go home. This job did not come with a lot of perks, but being able to bust out all your deliveries and being able to be done your entire day