Chapter #8
[1] One Friday evening he Andy simply didn't show up at work. Mark, the floor manager, kept searching for volunteers to help me out with my duties. This was a golden opportunity of my career. If I could become a full-time expeditor I could finally stop worrying about money. Hell, I could even afford summer holidays in Poland. I went to Mark, looked at his face and told him "I got this, I can do this!". He was looking straight into my eyes. His face looked wild and desperate. "Are you sure?!" he now yelled. "Yes. I got this, I can do this!". "I'm going to fucking fire you if you fuck it up! You understand?!". I sure knew he would be happy to deliver on this promise. He was one of those guys. "Mark, I got this!". The night was exciting and scary at the same time. The plates came flying from all sides. All I could see was a long line of slips with orders. There were moments when things stalled and Kurt had to yell for help. But at the end I managed to keep the job and all of the tips. I had claimed my territory.
[2] Another piece of good news came one day in a thin envelope. The semester had been now over and I was anxiously awaiting for my grades. I knew that I had done OK at Dr. Rios' classes. Introduction to Art was relatively easy as long as one showed up at the class. For the final paper I wrote about "The Battle of Grunwald" by Jan Matejko, a Polish painter. I chose it hoping that no one had never heard about it so I could use my artistic creativity to describe it. The gamble paid off and my essay had been mentioned as one of the best in the class. I wasn't too worried about U.S. History taught every Thursday evening. General Psychology however had always been a struggle - I enjoyed the class, learned so many unknown concepts but I still wasn't sure if my enthusiasm would translate into top grade. I opened the envelope. Four As! "Wow, straight A student. Now I want you to get As all the time!" Akira seemed to be more excited than me. A few days later I received an invitation to join other top students at a tea reception organised by the dean.
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