File Under: You've got to be Kidding...

I started a new job yesterday. Warehouse grunt. Technically I'm a shipper/receiver, but functionally I'm the guy who gets the jobs that nobody else wants. It's a family-run business, and there's only two people -- myself and one of the sales guys -- that aren't related somehow. So, I get the left-over jobs. Hey, it beats being unemployed, so I'm not complaining.

That's not the "you've got to be kidding" part.

Yesterday, my supervisor, a clean-cut pleasant guy in his late 20's, gave me the quick tour around the warehouse, showing me where everything is and giving me the rough outline of my job expectations. But, as we ended our brief tour, he added this bombshell:

"You'll notice that there's no radio back here. We don't have radios -- here, or at home. Or television. Or computers. Oh, and you can't eat lunch in the lunchroom with the rest of the company. We can't 'break bread' with you, 'cuz you're not a member of our church. Nothing personal. You can eat out here in the warehouse."

I kept looking at him, waiting for the punchline, but it never came.

When I mentioned it to the sales guy (who, like me, isn't part of either the family or their church), he told me that for his birthday, the company had bought him a cake, lit the candles, sang him the birthday song, had him cut the cake, and then they all stood quietly until he got the hint and took his piece of cake and went (alone) back to his office, so they could all 'break bread' -- meaning, 'eat the rest of his birthday cake' -- without being contaminated by his presence.

So, I'm taking a book with me ("Power Evangelism" by John Wimber) to read during my coffee breaks, and of course, during my "alone time" at lunch. The sales guy is usually out on sales calls, or I'd just join him in exile. I thought about bringing my laptop with me, so I could write blogs and then "cut and paste" later, but the "no radio/tv/computer (and walkmans)" rule applies to everyone (even infidels like me, all alone in the warehouse). The sales guy has a company car, and there's this gaping hole where the radio/CD player should be. Oh, but he's allowed to put the radio back in when he's not at work (how gracious of them).

Go figure. I work in a warehouse that's run by a Christian cult. Truth really IS stranger than fiction!