I hadn't spoken with him since college. I managed to graduate while he dropped out. This didn't seem to matter though, seeing as how he drove to our lunch in a slick
Audi
.
"Nice ride, am I right?"
"Yeah for sure."
Although we hadn't spoken in a decade we caught up real quick. The conversations flowed as seamless as the
coffee
. It turned out that he got into the insurance trade after dropping out of college. He knew a guy who needed an appraiser, and seeing how my friend had experience building and restoring masonry and working as a subcontractor on some houses, he gave him a shot at the job.
Fast forward a few years and he was higher up in the organization. His lack of college degree no longer a concern, not even a footnote. They called him Big Red. You didn't need paper qualifications if you were known as Big Red. It meant you knew what the fuck you were doing.
I on the other hand went the route of paper qualifications. My paper certs were so heavy that it'd crush
Brock Lesnar
's shoulders. Grad school.
phD
. Publications. All that stuff. I'd just recently gotten out of grad school and was now finally earning some money.
"Say, don't you get to do what you've wanted all day now? Read and learn?"
"Sure. Except for all the classes I need to teach."
"Oh right. I figured you would like teaching to tell you the truth."
Our lunch lasted over three hours. By the end, it still didn't feel right parting ways. He made sure to make up for this feeling of unease.
"Say what are you doing this weekend? My job finishes up around Thursday, but there's a game on Friday. I can book a few extra nights at the hotel here and we can hang out. Just like old times. How about that?"
