“Wait a minute,” I said. “You thought leaving the motel you felt you owned and going back to driving tourists would make you happier? That doesn’t make sense.”
My conversation continues with Thomas Seekins, a lone traveler, while we are on an archaeological dig in 2011.
“You know, you’re right. I wasn’t as happy as I thought I’d be at that motel, but you can’t always define your own emotions. I often felt misunderstood. I never wanted my efforts to be taken for granted. I’m an extrovert, and I felt isolated working mostly maintenance. Meeting almost twenty new people a day while driving and covering Jasper end to end was exactly what I needed. I was once again able to put my feelings into words, to having real communication with other people—with other travelers, the most interesting people!”
Good experiences stacked up for him. “Whatever I’d learned in the past, I used it in my conversations with my passengers and even around the vehicle yard with fellow drivers,” Tom recalled. “But I may have worked too hard in the eyes of my immediate supervisor. I felt some conflict. I think he thought I was out to take his job. I took the issue to the company owner who hired me. Rather than force the issue when a solution didn’t seem possible, I regarded this conflict as a sign to make a change, and I moved on.
“On my second-to-last day with the company, I met a business owner named Harry who owned a resort outside of town. We talked on the drive to Pyramid Lake about all the kinds of work I had done. When we arrived, Harry opened the van door, turned back, and asked me what I was planning on doing for the winter. I told him honestly about my conflict at work and then said, ‘I’m looking for a new job.’ Within two weeks, I was running the coffeehouse in Harry’s hotel.”
“It seems like you really can smell an opportunity.” I laughed.
Read the complete success story in the book, The Quiet Rich: Ordinary People Reawakening an American Dream.
Kevin J. Palmer, Author
The Quiet Rich
