A Magical, Percussive Dance
Dear Diesel,
It’s hard to overstate the importance this place has had in my life. There isn’t a whole lot that you weren’t a part of in some way or another. I started working at Diesel during my last year of college when I was 23. I worked for about six months until I graduated. I knew that I had to get out of Boston for my sanity, after 5 straight years of full-time work and full-time college. I had to move on, but I knew in my heart that I would be back. I came back full-time in 2009 and became a shift manager. I worked at 2 of the 3 stores in some capacity steadily until 2018. I think I am still technically a sub at the ice cream bar–I can never cut the cord. Some abbreviated love stories:
-When Reba found out that I played cello in high school and asking me to play wonderful cover songs, including performing at Diesel’s 10th birthday party and Tucker’s wedding.
-I found a place that matched my work ethic, speed, and intensity. There is really nothing like double-barring with the perfect partner to turn out awesome, beautiful drinks. It is a magical, percussive dance. I owned that service area, could see what needed to be done 10 steps ahead, and still had time to small-talk with regulars. Diesel was a work environment where I truly thrived.
There is really nothing like double-barring with the perfect partner to turn out awesome, beautiful drinks.
-Within the first couple months starting at Diesel, I had a little thing going on with a coworker. We bonded over politics, coffee, our history of growing up in the UU church. We determined that we had been at the same national youth conference in 2002. We ended up going home together the first night we went dancing after work and I showed her my picture in the paper “yearbook” from that youth conference. Turns out our pics were printed on the same page, two to a page. I had stared at that page for years, remembering the outspoken, fearless person with whom I shared a page. My new boo was pictured right next to me, back when she had a different name and very different presentation.
-I found my career because of Diesel. After college I was trying to figure out if I was going to stay in the service industry and I realized that I could make a really awesome fireman. I asked Charlie, a regular who is a Somerville firefighter, how to get into his line of work. He gave me some great advice, vouched for me on my references, and I got hired by Cambridge as a firefighter. Charlie and I see each other now and again at big fires AND run into one another over coffee.
-I was able to buy a house because of Diesel family. When I first started in 2010, Lori, who was and is very responsible, bought a house in Medford when we were in our early 20s (shout out to the housing crisis–GET IT, LORI!!!, buying a house in 2010!). I remember going to parties there. She was looking to put in on the market a couple years ago (I only found out because I was catching up with different old Diesel fam over coffee), and I asked if she would consider selling it to me instead. She agreed, and now I am happily raising a family in a house where I used to drink keg beer.
-Sunday night beers.
-I have found comrades, roommates, lovers, and friends who I know will be in my life forever. We may not speak every day or see each other that often, but I know that I will always have a safe home, a comfortable place to sit, and a damn good cup of coffee at Diesel. Like Tucker once told me, “we will be here. It’s just like pressing the pause button–you can always come back.”
ADDENDUM:
I had been chatting with this girl on and off, we hadn’t seen each other in a year or so. One day I was out front of Diesel with Potter during a smoke break. She was walking by, on her way to a vintage store in Davis Square. We had been trying to meet up for months. I invited her to drink beers on the floor of the empty apartment that Potter, Jill, Casey, and I had just signed a lease on. She brought Southern Tier PumKing. It was warm but I pretended to like it anyway.
Now we are married.
Diesel Love Stories 