Studs Terkel’s seminal book “Working” – also the inspiration for this column – is a collection of over 100 interviews of people from all classes and sectors talking about their jobs, whether a parking attendant, an assembly line worker or a CEO. Before its publication in 1974, some speculated those interviews would be an indictment of capitalism. Instead, those interviews turned out to be an unabashed celebration of people’s pride and dedication for work, regardless of job, income, or title. At 74 years old, Doug DeMellier delivers firewood from Hobby Hill to its many customers, a job he’s had for the past four months. He’s also a man who’s done many different jobs. If there’s a throughline, it’s carpentry, a trade he picked up as a teenager in Bergenfield, NJ. He used to help a buddy slap together stairs so they could go out and chase girls. It was also 1968, which was why a worried counselor steered Doug toward Cape Fear Technical Institute to study marine technology, even though he knew nothing about the sea. And like carpentry, it took. After graduation, he worked on a research vessel plying the Antarctic Seas; then did sea-bottom surveying in the Gulf of Mexico. Six years later, he returned to New Jersey and picked up carpentry again. He also met Joan, and they married. Five years later, tired of too much noise and traffic, Doug called a friend in Boothbay whom he’d met in Cape Fear, to feel out work options. It was a go, and a year later they were settled in Waldoboro with Doug doing carpentry in Boothbay.
After the operation and all that, I found myself feeling that I wasn’t going anywhere with carpentry. Carpentry had been hard on my body. And the idea of getting on my hands and knees or climbing ladders with my new knee – that didn’t sit well with me. I realized I didn’t want to do any more carpentry.
But being “retired” wasn’t what I expected. I didn’t have hobbies, thought I did have a library card, and I remember reading a lot of books – adventures, espionage and things like that. They held my interest for a while; but then that grew old. I watched a little TV, too. Probably too much TV.
I was spending a lot of time looking at the walls. When my wife would come home from work, I would say, “So, how was your day?” But she knew not to ask me how mine was.
I was not very happy. I was getting depressed sitting around. So, I would get the papers and look in the back for jobs other than carpentry. I thought about possibly getting a job as a waiter, because that could have been interesting. I didn’t know what else I could do. I’m not experienced at all for office work. And winter was coming on, when the days inside feel especially long.
Anyway, it must have been early spring, and I was getting some green wood, and I must have told the guy delivering it that I was bored, and that I was kind of looking for work, and he told me about this outfit, Hobby Hill, where he was working one day a week. He said they were looking for part-time help. Just the idea of putting in a couple of hours a day, a few days a week interested me. At least I’d get to do something.
But I didn’t follow up right away. I just kept thinking about it. A couple of months later, I finally did go over there and met the owner, and he showed me around. He explained it was a production job. He told me I could basically set my own hours, and I liked that because for a job like that, I wasn’t interested in working a full week.
Well, the owner never called me back. Turned out, that project had ended. But I didn’t know that. I just knew I hadn’t heard from him. More months passed. Now we’re at this past September. This time, instead of going to the office, I called him.
And believe it or not, he remembered me and said, “I’ve got something that you may be interested in. How about you come in tomorrow at 7 in the morning? How does delivering firewood sound to you?”
And lo and behold, that’s what I’ve ended up doing. I shadowed someone for two days, and then I was left on my own, loading the truck with these big front-end loaders with forks that can turn 360 degrees. I’d never operated big, heavy machinery. I’d only used a backhoe a couple of times in my life. And a small backhoe is nothing compared to these. These are huge.
It’s not hard, but it’s tricky. You can screw up real quick. You can’t rush it. You have to take your time with the loading. But the challenge keeps me interested.
This time of year, winter, I’ll get there a little bit before six in the morning even though my timecard doesn’t start until 6:30. That extra gives me time to get the frost off the windshield of the truck and get it warmed up; and to start the front loader machine so it’s warmed up. That machine is so old that there’s no defrost, and the windshield wiper doesn’t work either. So, I’ll climb around to the front which isn’t easy, but I manage and scrape off the frost. Then I’ll go in the office which has been open since 4:45, so it’s all warm, and get the list for the day plus any special explanations about the deliveries. That’s when I’ll go out and start my loading up for the first delivery. In a day, I have usually anywhere from eight to eleven cords of wood to deliver. Maybe four, five, even six separate deliveries.
At the end of the day, when the last delivery is made, I come back and fill the truck with fuel (they have a pump there) and then go home. It can be 52 hours a week, so I figure I’m putting in a good eight to ten hours a day. Time goes quickly. I like meeting the customers. I like traveling around and seeing a whole lot of different places, even here in Waldoboro. And I like the people at Hobby Hill. They couldn’t be nicer.
When they texted me this holiday week that I didn’t need to come in the whole holiday week, frankly, I was devastated.
When you’re learning, that makes life really more interesting. I was so-called “retired,” and I felt like I was going downhill. I’d be alone, and Joanie would be at work. This job saved my life, and I think it saved Joanie’s life, too.
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