Unexpected friends

Inventory day today.  The corporation hires a group of people who do inventories every day to come in with their little scanny computers and scales to weigh the fabrics, and we basically just keep an eye on them and try to make sure they don't screw things up too badly.  There are some things that are tricky, where things look alike but aren't, or you have to really dig in to count the stuff and we just don't trust anybody but one of our girls to do it.  So some things we pre-count, and some things we team count.  Team count is one inventory person and one JoAnn girl counting together.  I got put on team counts today.  Normally it's a bit of a battle, the inventory person not really caring, not being all that friendly, kind of annoyed with the whole thing.  Not today!  I got teamed with a guy who actually wanted to help me, who actually paid attention and corrected me if I made a mistake, who offered to hold things for me and put things back.  And not just that, he was friendly too.  He wanted to talk.  He wanted to know about me, and I think he actually cared.  He was smart.  He was kind.  He noticed right away when my arm started to hurt.  He kept telling me he had a bad temper, but other than thinking that most of his co-workers were jerks or idiots, I didn't see it.  He smokes, cuz I could smell it on him.  He stayed up all night last night getting a new tattoo, a giant cross on his forearm.  The other arm sported a tattoo portrait of his son.  He's divorced.  He used to be a truck driver, and for a while owned his own truck.  But then he got a DUI, so now he can't drive freight anymore.  Not for 7 years, he said.  He said he gets to see his son as often as he wants.  He lives in Wellsburg.  We talked about the pros and cons of Jambo, the details of truck driving, and lots of other stuff.  By the end of the day I felt like I'd known him forever, and people were joking that we were gonna be calling each other and sending Christmas cards.  We were laughing and joking and having a good old time.  This is not the general sort of person that I normally get on this well with, but this guy, I dunno, there was just some kind of connection there and I don't even know what it was, but we understood each other and liked each other.  And don't anybody be thinking there was flirting or any such thing going on, cuz there wasn't, and that's actually another reason I like him, he's a guy, but even after he clearly saw my ring and I talked about being married, he became no less interested or friendly, and he clearly respected the bounds of marriage.  He was just a nice guy, and he made this inventory day the best inventory day I've ever had.