As the weather gets chilly again, you will see more men rushing around in sweaters over jackets over hoodies trying to stay out of the windy areas. Open spaces are to be avoided. Hanging around by CTA stations seems to be the answer--at least for some guys.
T.R. has been hanging out in a certain spot by the train "for a while," he says. "Sometimes inside, sometimes outside, depends who is working in the little booth." T.R. explains that some of the female employees like him, and they give him a break. He can warm up and hang out inside, especially if one of his favorites is on duty.
Saying they are "just people too" he explains that a lot of the CTA workers are decent to the homeless as long as there is no trouble. He gets away with asking people for money, or asking them to "tap" him onto the train. Then he heads up to ride for awhile.
T.R. has a big job interview coming up, and he hopes it will mean full-time. He already has a part-time job in a bar/cafe' but it is not enough to "make things happen" for him. He wants his own place, and most of the time he is staying with his sister and family. When his brother-in-law is around, he has to lay low... they do not get along.
He takes little presents to his two nieces and a nephew. "My nephew is gonna be a soccer player!" T.R. explains. He describes the kids, how he helps take care of them, how he has to protect them from the world.
I ask him his age, race, height. He laughs, and he states, "33, Black, 6'2" about."
I jot that all down.
I go on to ask him some direct questions, as I warned him I would do. I am going to give him a $20 CTA pass at the end of the interview, as agreed. That will allow him to get to his interview, and to his part-time job.
It is drafty as we sit in the Burger King…
We are both wearing big old coats and I scribble on my notepad (somebody gave me!) and do not take any photos or record anything. These are typical actions--agreed upon--when I interview persons "on the street" to get their info to pass on to helpers, social workers, caseworkers, and the general public. Whatever that is.
I ask T.R., "Why are you homeless?" T.R. responds that he is not really homeless, not technically, because he stays with his sister a couple nights a week. He helps around the house and is part of the family.
I do not argue. I ask next, "When are you going to be non-homeless?" T.R. laughs and says, "Well, I guess that means 'when will I have my own crib?' or something like that." I nod. He thinks a moment and looks around. He responds, "If I get the full-time hours at the new job, I will save up my money and rent a room somewhere, like from a buddy."
T.R. has already told me before the interview he does NOT really want to work at a place where they serve fast food. No burgers, no fries, no shakes. When asked why, he says he will “get too fat for the ladies.” He does get more serious and explain he wants a good life and has been knocked down so many times he cannot count. He reminds me that “everybody has worked at McDonalds and all those places when they were kids” and he wants to “get real” and move up.
The idea it is important to “move up” and to get ahead is common among the working homeless persons I have talked to for several years. All of them who have any sort of job with a 1099 or similar paperwork want to do “more.”
T.R. is focused on getting a “real place” to live, according to him.
So I continue, "How much money do you need to pay to have a room?" He replies, "I will need about $100 a week to live there." Asked if that includes a bathroom and a kitchen, he replies, "Of course it does. Are you stupid?"
I go on, "What are the chances you will get full-time work instead of part-time work there?" He reminds me there are signs everywhere "those people simply goin' crazy tryin' to get a guy to work there!"
(There are, in fact, lots of signs about that company. Hiring is a big issue for them right now, and they send that info in their emails and in their weekly ads and on the posters all over town.)
I wish him luck and tell him to find me if he needs another $20 CTA pass in a week to get to work... or look for work... or for whatever.
He thanks me.
I press on, "Why are you homeless?" He is quiet for a while. Then he answers, "There are a lot of reasons. A lot of things happened to me. I got in trouble with the law. I was in some fights. I had a lot of unluck."
I ask him what "unluck" means. He laughs. "Unluck is the opposite of luck. A lot of guys are lucky. I never was. If something bad could happen, there I was in the middle of it. I was always getting in trouble when my older brothers did something. Or when something happened in high school. Everybody else got away. I never did."
So I tell him he should have turned the other guys in. He replies, "Are you stupid?" He shakes his head. "Those guys would beat my a*s the next time they see me."
I ask him next, "What is your long term plan?" He bursts out laughing, "Oh you mean, like what do I want to be when I grow up?"
I say, "Yes."
"Well," he starts. "I thought about being a computer teacher because I know a lot about computers and have to use them a lot. I send emails and check on things for friends. Help them set up stuff and apply for stuff." He goes on to explain that in the new job, no matter how many hours they give him, he will have to use computers a lot more. "I will have to look up orders to other stores, find out when things got shipped, and track where the boxes are. Maybe they are lost and then we have to find them so the people who ordered them can get them and not cancel their order."
I ask him, "Do you know how to do all of that?" And he replies, "Hell yes! Of course I know."
So I respond, "Well some people might ask why you can do all that but you are homeless."
He looks at me and states, "Some people are stupid."
I sigh, and I ask where he is going to look if this next job does not work out. He gets angry, it seems, and he says, "You gotta have a little faith in me!"
I agree. "Yes," I assure him. "I do have faith in you." And I remind him life often is about having the next plan under construction while the current one is under review.
He laughs. "Okay, I guess you're right." And he adds, "It's not too easy to be homeless."
It is not easy to get him to talk much. Usually, people want to tell more of their story. Sometimes they create cool past events that are hard to believe--maybe completely false. But at least entertaining. I ask him, "How long have you been homeless, working only at the bar, and trying to get a good job?"
He sits there and thinks about it. Then he responds, "Homeless 4 years, give or take." And he adds, "I have always been looking for a better job, I guess."
"Tell me about your jobs and your plans, man," I challenge him.
T.R. takes a deep breath, then tells me the following info:
"Homeless people are always working! Whether they are asking for money to get onto the train or money for a cup of coffee, that is work. Being patient with rude rich people getting off the train is a lot of work, man! You do not know how hard it is to be patient for an hour to make enough for a Big Mac, a coffee, some aspirin, and a CTA daylong pass to be able to get back to your own neighborhood. Think of how stuck-up these people are. Think of what a*sholes they act like when homeless people talk to them. They yell at us, they ignore us. When we try to help them by giving them directions, they run off. Do they think we are all out to get them? To kill them? To take their money? Do they really think we are that bad? Why don't they help us? They can really be very rude. Nobody helps us, nobody talks for us."
I sit there and realize he is right. So I ask him, "What are some of the jobs they have, those homeless people?"
He laughs, then he adds:
"They have all kinds of jobs! They work part-time at Walgreens and sleep on the train. They work part-time at McDonalds--even at Burger King! And he laughs. They do lots of gigs. They sing, they play the guitar, I don't know I guess just about everything. One buddy of mine works security. His lady threw him out, so he is homeless, cleaning up at a gas station and goin' back to work every day... tryin' to save up money. One friend of mine, he works for UPS and makes beaucoup money. He is really rakin' it in and he drinks too much, but soon he is gonna get a place and maybe I could rent a room from him if he gets like a bedroom or two bedrooms. A lot of brothers do that--they get a cheap-ass apartment somewhere and then rent parts of it out... that way they can pay the electric bill and the phone bill and the food bill. Have pizza all the time, have a brother around watching the place so nobody steals sh*t when they're at work. Some men really try hard to get into an apartment to live cuz most ladies do not want to date a dude lives on a porch. Or in a garage. But some will. And some of those ladies crazy as hell."
So there it is. High rents, high utilities. This is what seems to be one of the most expensive cities on earth. There are people sleeping everywhere... on the train, on the sidewalk, in shelters, in vans, at their grandma's house and in their brother-in-law's basement. But everybody prefers to get an apartment and live indoors. Only a very tiny percentage of Chicagoans can actually buy a condo or a house to live in. Everybody has to rent a place... and apartment, or a condo, or a garage, or part of an apartment. People still have to eat, somehow, and still need security for their possessions. The homeless figure out a way to get a place to live, eventually.
T.R. looks at me. "Can I get my CTA pass now?" He smiles.
I sigh. "Can you find me more unroofed people to interview?"
He smiles, again. "Yes," he says. "I can provide additional people to interview, for a small fee."