So. Effing. Speechless.

Man crushed to death by three-ton slab of granite - Chicago Sun-Times


I just got wind of the above story a few minutes ago.

It's horrible news in and of itself, but it's made even worse by the fact that I knew the man being reported on.

We weren't BFFs by any stretch of the imagination. But we used to cross paths on a daily basis when he was one of several cashiers in the cafeteria of my former office building.

He was always ready with a smile and friendly banter. And though he dealt with a steady stream of customers, he had the innate ability to remember the things that made them individuals, and tried to make his interactions with them meaningful.

Take me, for instance. I went through his line not long after getting my record adapter tattoo, and since it was still fresh and ointment-covered, I had on short sleeves. Emilio not only noticed and gave me a compliment about it, (young as he was, he still identified the symbol correctly) but a week or so later he was ringing me up again and asked how it was healing. Absolutely blew me away that he was able to place me as the girl with the unusual tattoo, even when it wasn't in full view.

There were other instances like that with him as well. Nothing I can concretely reference, because my head is muddled right now, but just little stuff that let you know that he was fully present when he was working, and that he tried to make the most out of a gig that he could have easily coasted through by just mindless punching numbers on a keypad.

I remember noticing that he had disappeared from the cafeteria's register stations my last month or so in my old job. I wondered what happened to him, and I kind of assumed that he had gotten moved to some other position. I had no idea he had left the catering company that runs the cafe. I never would've expected that he made the move from warm customer service provider to handler of cold, unfeeling mounds of rock.

I wish I would've known. I might have made an effort to make contact with him and wish him well. Instead, I'm left knowing that he died a horrible death, and I never got to tell him how much I appreciated the small yet significant role he played in my life.