What’s the most challenging part of your job?
Yolanda Cruz, School Bus Driver, Phillip Bus Corp.
What’s the most difficult part of your job?
You have to be 100 percent aware. No matter how good a driver you think you are, there are other drivers out there that are not. We have to have twenty eyes on the road. My responsibility is to the kids on my bus and to my matron. (She indicates Nurka Batista, the matron, or school bus supervisor.) Their lives are in my hands.
So your hardest job is being a defensive driver, not keeping the kids in control.
Nurka is the matron, so her job is keeping the kids in control. My job is making sure we get to and from safely.
Jonathan Packin, Manager, D&M Lumber
How did this company start?
My grandfather was a Holocaust survivor, and he came to New York from Latvia and started this business from nothing. Originally it was a lumber business in Williamsburg. Now we import and fabricate hardboard. It’s a family business. My dad still officially works here. My brother and my uncle work here….
Who are your customers?
We deal mostly with wholesalers.
What do you do for the company?
I do everything. Lately I’ve been doing sales of specialty items. I drive a fork lift, as you’ve seen.
You drive a truck.
Yes, I drive a truck. I do anything that needs to be done.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
(Smiles) You mean other than working with my family?
(Laughs) Even including that.
No, really, the most challenging part of my job is dealing with the traffic around here lately. Ever since they started working on the BQE (Brooklyn Queens Expressway) it’s gotten insane. It can take an hour to drive to Atlantic Avenue from here. And I’m not thrilled about that congestion pricing they’re starting in Manhattan. But the good news is that the city is taking over the operation of the Marine Terminal. They’re taking it over from the Port Authority.
I didn’t even know about it! When did that happen?
They just made the announcement last week. They’re going to renovate the piers and do a lot of other things over here.
This is an amazing location for a business. It’s huge.
Do you want to see the back of the Queen Mary?
Sure. I can see the front of it from my bedroom window….Wow. It’s the size of a small town.
Grant Vernon, Employee, Open Invite (gift store)
How long has this store been here?
Mary Rose (Wiley), one of my best friends in college, actually started this store back in Texas about five years ago, but the store wasn’t realizing its full potential down there. She moved up here during the pandemic and the store is doing a lot better here. I think Red Hook has a special magnetism. People want to spend a day coming here to feel like they’re not in New York.
The store is very attractive. You have a lot of pretty things, and it’s very well organized. Where do you get your stuff?
Mary Rose travels all over the tristate area, visiting estate sales and thrift stores and places like that. About 80 percent of our stuff is vintage and second hand, and the rest is basically new. Some of it is made by local artists, ceramic artists, people from the neighborhood.
What is the most challenging part of your work life in general?
Mary Rose needed someone to fill in at the store while she travels, so I’ve been working here for a couple of months. I’ve also been working as a personal assistant for a writer/director couple, a married couple. I love them, but after ten years it’s time for a reset. So I’ve given them my two-week notice, and now, instead of working literally seven days a week, I can work here Thursdays through Sundays and spend the rest of the time working on my art.
What kind of art do you do?
I’m a photographer, and I also do a lot of writing. I write a lot about growing up in Texas and catching lizards and living that kind of outdoor life, getting attracted to all these small creatures. I’m working on a collection of bug stories.
Um, what?
I’m a big bug guy. I have nine spiders, and for the last year I’ve been raising worms and making them into butterflies. One of my tarantulas eats hornworm caterpillars –
What is the name is this tarantula?
Louise. So one day last summer she didn’t want one of the caterpillars, so I took it back out, and made a little home for it, and it burrowed and made a cocoon. And about five weeks later there was this beautiful tomato hawk moth in the tank! She lived in my room for a while, and after her wings were fully developed I opened my window, and she would fly to the window and come back. And after a few nights she just left. Since then I’ve become obsessed with that process, watching life become a whole different thing. I go to the pet stores and look for that specific caterpillar, and I bring them home and sometimes they burrow that very night, because they think it’s time.
You told me before that your boyfriend is moving in with you this weekend. I’m assuming he knows all about these activities?
(Laughs) Oh, yeah.
Dawn Skeete, Owner/operator of Jam’It Bistro
How long have you had this restaurant?
We’ve been here since 2019.
What is the most challenging part of your work?
I will say what’s challenging in owning a business here in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Where we’re located there’s absolutely no foot traffic, and without foot traffic you can’t do business, so we’ve had to figure out how we’re going to be moving forward. Thank God I have a husband, but I, Dawn, need to make a paycheck. I’m able to make enough money now to keep everybody paid, but I need to pay myself as well. So we’ve had to figure out how to move forward, and technology has provided the ability for us to reach our customers. We can offer delivery services, and we can offer catering services, and it doesn’t matter where they are. Our customers can reach us through social media, through the Internet, wherever.
When I ordered my food, you asked if I use SNAP or EBT.
Yes. We filled out the paperwork and went through the process, it took maybe three to four weeks, and they sent me an approval. So now we’ve changed over our POS system, and we’re able to handle those payments when people come in to purchase their food. And we have diversified our menu to some degree, because we are a Jamaican-focused restaurant, but in this neighborhood we have a diverse community of people. We’ve added a family plan, so now you can buy a family package for four. But we’ve created these packages not just for the folks that are using the EBT, but for anyone. Because from an economic standpoint, everybody’s feeling it.
Yes. It’s very tough out there. But it’s amazing how proactive you’ve been to keep your business going. You’ve come up with all these programs. Have you always been in business for yourself?
I worked in corporate America for 17 years.
(Laughs) That explains a lot. Now this is all coming together.
Yes. I worked for TIAA-CREF, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of them; they’re the number one pension fund company worldwide. I worked my way through that company and became the first Black to be internally promoted to a management/consultant position. But then they moved part of the operation (away from New York), and my husband and I were already established in New York, and if I took that move it would have (affected) his salary, and I didn’t want to do that to him. So I decided to stay here. My family – uncles and aunts – have been in the Jamaican restaurant business forever. So it was easy for me to go into this business as well.
It’s in your blood.
Yes, exactly. It’s in my blood.
Alex Vaughn, Local One plumber (New York City plumbing union), IMP Plumbing and Heating Company.
How long have you been a plumber?
I’m into my third year of apprenticeship.
What’s the most challenging part of your work?
It’s dealing with the weight of everything. We do a lot of large-scale jobs.
For example?
Like, when MTA shuts down because work is being done on the tracks, we have to get our tools and materials down to these tracks. So prior to the scheduled shutdown we have to load our equipment and materials onto our truck and take it to a train yard.
Where is the train yard?
The closest train yard to here is on 38th Street (behind the MTS bus depot). And then we load all our equipment onto a train, which takes it to the location of the shutdown.
What kind of train is it?
It looks kind of like a subway without the doors.
So then you go to that location and meet up with the train with your equipment on it? What kind of work do you do once you’re there?
It depends on what the work is. It could be anything from working on the sprinkler line, which typically runs the entirety of any station, or working on the discharge. All of the rain water that comes into the station gets discharged through our pipes and dumped out.
I just pictured you in somebody’s house working on the bathroom.
(Laughs) That’s residential plumbing. We do some residential plumbing, but we’re mainly a commercial plumbing company.
You must be learning an awful lot.
I mean…Yeah.
Raj Timel, Operator of heavy-duty tow truck, Richmond Towing.
I don’t know if I qualify to be in this paper. I don’t live in Red Hook and my business is not officially in Red Hook. I work on the highways.
But you’re in Red Hook now, right here on Hamilton Avenue. So right now you are a person of Red Hook.
Okay then.
So how long have you been a tow truck driver?
I’ve been a tow truck driver for 26 years.
Twenty-six years? Wow. So what exactly is your job?
To patrol the highways. We deal with disabled vehicles – cars, trucks, anything that’s disabled.
What is the most challenging part of your work?
Most of the insane stuff happens at night, when the traffic gets flowing. When we get rollovers blocking the entire highway, there’s intense pressure to get the highway clear.
Give me an example of one of the most stressful jobs you’ve had recently.
A couple months ago we had a tanker that rolled over on the BQE. We had to roll it back over, clean up the spill, the mess…
You had to roll a tanker back over onto its…
Wheels. Yes.
Wow! How long did it take you?
Preparation maybe 45 minutes, getting it back on its wheels, maybe 50 minutes.
Mike Doleh, Manager and operator, Stop 1 Supermarket
I’m very busy! I’m expecting a phone call in just a couple of minutes!
But it will only take two minutes! Literally two minutes!
Ok darling. What do you want to know?
What is the most challenging part of your job?
Dealing with the winter months, when business is slow. That’s the hardest part of my job.
Do you have anything to add, about your job?
No, that takes care of it.
Okay, thank you. Now I’m going to take your picture.
No pictures!
Come on! Look how nice you look.
Only if we do it together. That’s the only way I’ll do it.
Okay, we’ll do a selfie.
(Mike takes the selfie).
Oh, sweet! Look at the two of us! Okay, so go take your phone call. Thanks, honey, for taking the time to talk to me when you’re busy.
Of course. You know I love you.
I love you too. I’ll say in the column that we’re friends.
Not friends. We’re family!
