After reading many of my articles, you might be wondering, “Gosh, how many jobs did Sonji have?” A few. When I started working, I did a part time gig here and there. All my jobs – part time and full time – pulled something new out of me. Moreover, some jobs make me very appreciative of the positions I ultimately advanced to in my career. Sometimes I needed to make some extra money, and then there were times that the hustle helped to distract me and keep my mind busy when I needed it most.
Shortly after my mother was killed in a car accident, I took a position as a toll booth operator for the Florida Turnpike for both those reasons. That job filled the empty hours I could spend at home thinking after leaving my full-time job during the day, and it paid the other half of my rent after I kicked out my roommate for not paying rent. I was making a little more than minimum wage at the toll booth collecting thousands of dollars in tolls in only a few hours on weekdays and weekends. I worked at toll plazas between Sawgrass Expy #71 and Boynton Beach Blvd #86.
The transactional nature of toll collection and the basic mathematics to add and subtract change kept this job simple. And, I wasn’t trying to change anything. I still learned though. I discovered that turnpike exit numbers were calculated based on the number of miles between exits. It was different on the I-95 until they renumbered the exits in the same fashion. The most challenging part of my day was arguing nicely but in a matter-a-fact way with a truck driver about the actual axle count for his or her truck and trailers or processing a check for $0.75.
On a morning that a hasty, rude driver pulled up to my booth at the Sawgrass Expressway during rush hour and threw his $0.75 in quarters at me through the window, I was physically hurt and appalled, and I almost launched headfirst through the booth window to throttle the driver by the neck. He drove off speedily. I ask all of you to please never throw money at a toll booth operator even if it is a paper dollar. And if you have, I say “Shame on you!” I count that day as my worst day at work on any job I’ve ever had across my entire career.
I stayed with the toll booth for about a year and during that time Florida implemented and launched the Sun Pass, a pre-paid toll program. I said goodbye to keeping it simple and to the calm work days. They changed the uniform blouse from blue to something I never imagined wearing and will never forget. I looked like I was going on an island vacation. I did not fancy that shirt at all.
After Sun Pass launched I was glad any day I was inside the toll booth collecting money. On the days I was assigned as the operator to dart back and forth between lanes, I watched for stuck barrier gates so I could fix them. If a Sun Pass driver was going too fast in the lane, the gate might not be activated to lift. Other times I rescued quarters that fell in the lanes for cash drivers whose coins missed the bucket. There were a lot of those drivers.
One day I was standing in the lane picking up missed quarters for a customer and a car flew by through the Sun Pass lane. The car tire flicked up a stone that broke the face of my watch, and I screamed. The watch was a keepsake in memory of my Mom and the stone left a nasty bruise on my wrist. My lane days were to wind down rapidly after that.
If there is anything you should remember from this walk down memory lane, be nice to toll operators. Smile, if and when they greet you. It’s a jungle out there. Toll booth operators sit in a booth through all types of weather for long periods waiting for the next customer. Finally, to all toll booth operators everywhere, thank you for all you do.