In December 2022, my wife and I decided for various family reasons it would be good for us to move to north AL. We got the kids enrolled in school for the next school year, and I started looking for a job.
Come July, with school starting the first of August, I still didn’t have a job lined up. So I did what any sensible person would do in such a situation: I went to camp for a week.
The first day at camp, at a distance I noticed a bright yellow truck. It was for a roofing company in the 256 area code. “256 is north AL,” I briefly thought but continued about my day. Later that day the truck was parked by my van. I wondered if it was just coincidence or perhaps more?
It turned out that the truck belonged to a new camp staff member (dressed as brightly as the truck). I talked to him about the company, and he gave me the owner’s phone number. I contacted him.
On Saturday, when most people were headed home to sleep off camp, I headed to Athens for the most informal job interview I have ever had – sitting in the owner’s living room on his couch.
He was looking for someone for the gutter crew. Fortunately he didn’t ask what my experience was with gutters, or I may have had to tell him that a year ago while cleaning gutters I fell off an eight-foot ladder and broke my elbow.
The main question I remember being asked was if I had a fear of heights (I did.), to which I answered, “Not that I can’t overcome.” I didn’t know at the time that a forty-foot ladder, and a lift that would go even higher, were in my future.
In a few weeks we moved to north AL, and I began my work with Thomspon Roofing and Construction.
When I began my job search, I thought it would be great to find a godly man who owned his own business and could use an extra pair of hands. What I found was so much more: a godly man running a company full of other godly men who were willing to tolerate me.
During my job search, I was at a social event with some get-to-know-you activities. One of them asked, “If money was not an issue and you could have any job you wanted, what would it be?” I simply answered, “Something serving others.” I have found this at Thompson.
-Troy Nicholson