It was almost a 26 hour drive from the small town of Palo Duro Texas to New York City, but after two and a half days of driving, Eric had finally just pulled into the New York City metro area. It was already three pm so, it was to late to go find any type of housing, so Eric decided to check in at the Timberwood Suits.
Eric Grange was a young man barely 25 from the city of Palo Duro in the Texas Panhandle. He was welder who spent his summers pipelining or inside refineries. This is how he met Justin Timberwood, the owner of Timberwood Recourses.
Timberwood was a man in his mid 50's who just bought his first set of oil wells and a refinery in West Texas that was barely profitable, but the price was low, so worth the investment. Timberwood was mainly involved in hotels and restaurants, although he did own a couple of apartment complexes.
Eric was hired to oversee the construction of process piping and a mainline to a new plant that take used motor oil and grease and recycle it into gasoline and diesel fuels being constructed by Mr. Timberwood. The mainline was a 15 mile pipeline that would run on the western edge of New York City to connect an old used oil disposal site to his new facility Timberwood Renewable.
After some major mistakes made by the engineering firm spearheading the revamping of Timberwood Resources refinery in West Texas that would have caused the project to lose around one hundred million dollars on an unplanned shutdown, Eric had found a work around that would cut the lost to just over one million dollars, Mr. Timberwood knew he had to bring him on to his new project.
Eric found the Timberwood Suits after driving through rush hour traffic for just over an hour. It was located in one of the nicer parts of the city. He stepped out of his welding rig and looked around. It felt like a concrete fence because of the all the skyscrapers that surrounded the area. "Welp, here we go," he muttered to himself as he started towards the door. As he walked in all you heard was chatter.
"Look at this honky," said one person.
"What is this bum doing here?" exclaimed another. They all laughed and joke about his attire. He was wearing a beat up cowboy hat that had traces of cow dung on it, his shirt was an orange shirt that said Texas across it, and his Hawaiian styled shorts didn't exactly match his scuffed up brown cowboy boots. He made his way to the desk, "I would like a room with two beds please."
"Sir, our cheapest room with two beds costs two thousand dollars a night," they fellow behind the desk said. "The fellow said there are some hotels if just drive another thirty minutes into the city that you could probably afford."
Annoyed Eric replied, "look, I want a room, I'm tired, the ac went out in my truck, so let's get me checked in." He was tired from his drive, he made his 26 hour drive in just two days and was ready to kickback for the evening.
The fellow behind the desk impatiently said, "look, you're not exactly the type of person that stays in our hotel, and even if you can afford a night, we have to take into account any damage or you not checking in on time, so please, just save us both the headache and go to a cheaper hotel."
Eric's exhaustion had caught up with him and he snapped back, "listen you stupid bastard, if I didn't have the money to stay here, do you think I could afford that truck outside?" He pointed towards his welding rig, it was a one ton dually just over a year old.
It was a dark green with a turbo diesel badge on the front doors, a paint matched bed, and a custom paint to match welding machine. The bed was built with matching body lines and matching paint. The tool boxes were low profile and the oxygen and acetylene bottles stood up on the passenger side. It had a paint matched full replace t grill guard on the front. The interior was a dark brown leather and the screen for the stereo was touch screen and the size of a large tablet. The dash board was a dark brown with tan stitching.
The fellow behind the counter snarky replied, " so you're whole check pays for you're ugly truck, you will not speak to any staff member that way, you can now leave!" The man scowled at Eric and was starting to motion towards the security guard.
"Call the owner," Eric replied annoyed as he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. He already new what was coming next and was prepared to call Justin. He hated having to result to calling owners and name dropping, he had a lot of pride, but was to tired to fight with the guy.
"Listen you country bumpkin, it doesn't work like that here. Our owner is a very busy man and can't be bothered by these trivial matters," the man angrily exclaimed as he noticed Eric on the phone.
"Hey Eric, what do you think of your room?" Mr Timberwood asked enthusiastically.
"I would love to tell you, but the stupid bastard behind the counter won't let me check in," Eric said with an annoyed laugh. This had mad Mr. Timberwood very angry, he personally brought Eric out to New York City and even offered him to stay in hotel at a discount for the duration of the job.
"Let me talked to him," Mr. Timberwood said annoyed. The man rolled his eyes as Eric handed him the phone. The man's expression changed quickly as you could hear just in shouting at the man "Listen you moron, I personally invited this man to stay here!" The fellow behind the counter tried to explain how Eric was dressed which enraged Mr. Timberwood even more. "I don't give a damn if he walked in naked! You don't treat guest that way, especially if I personally invited them to stay in my hotel! Last time I checked it's my name on the sign!"
After another minute of shouting, the fellow handed Eric back his phone. "Thanks Mr. Timberwood, I hate to bother you, but I'm exhausted," he said has he laughed. "The drive sucks."
"Eric, it's really no problem, and you're a hard working young man, you deserve to get some good rest," Mr. Timberwood replied. "I always tell you, call me Justin, no need to be so formal, you're my friend."
"We'll thanks again Mr. Timb, I mean Justin," I will see you in the yard tomorrow morning.
The fellow handed Eric a key and said, " the room is on the house, please enjoy your stay." He watched as Eric walked outside to park his truck. "What did this guy do to get so much respect from the owner like that?" the guy wandered to himself.
A valet stopped Eric and explained to him that it's the valets job to park all vehicles on the premises. The valet reassured there was nothing to worry about as Eric reluctantly handed him the keys. Eric finally got into his room after all the headaches of just arriving into New York City.
Eric pulled out his phone and called up his partner Hector Fernandez. Hector and Eric owned Palo Duro Welding together. Eric started his career as Hector's helper on a line just outside of Palo Duro when Eric was just 18 and barely out of high school. Hector was amazed at Eric's math and problem solving skills and decided to work extra hard with Eric on his welding skills. After a year, Eric was running a rig for Hector and was sold half the company after another two years. As they continued to travel together, people started calling them Pancho and Lefty, do to Eric being left handed.
"What's the hold up," Eric sarcastically said, "Did you let my grandma drive?"
"Easy wey, it just means that you have to buy the cervezas tonight," Hector said jokingly. "I'm just thirty minutes out."
"Good deal," Eric said. "Let me know when you get here, I will bring you a key, these yuppies don't know how to be polite."
Hector laughed, "you signed us up for this job, so you remember that every time you complain. Oh, I spoke with Johnny, he said they will be here late tonight with the spare truck and equipment trailer. They said they will just find a place close to the yard to stay in."
"Good to hear, the damn ac went out on my truck today" Eric replied. They talked for a couple more minutes and then Eric hung up the phone. He closed his eyes to take a small nap.