Damon Lewis began working for a Maids office in Waukegan, Ill., in 1999. The office he worked at was located not far from his home and the commute was quick and easy. Damon was hired as a team member, moved up to assistant team leader, advanced to team leader and then became the field manager. In 2000, Damon was nominated by his owner and selected Maid of the Year by The Maids International (TMI) corporate office. Then, in 2004, TMI purchased the Evanston office and also the Waukegan office. Since the Evanston operation was much larger, the franchise home office was in Evanston which is 30 miles from Waukegan and Damon didn’t have a car. Now what? Understandably, all of the other employees left The Maids except Damon. It was too far to walk, there was no bus, but there was a train he could take to Evanston. The only problem was he would need to get to the train stop each morning and would need to do the same on his return trip home. How could he make this happen? Then Damon thought about his roller blades and decided this would be his answer. I asked Damon how he made this work for him and this is what he told me. He gets out of bed at 4:00 a.m., gets ready, puts on his skates and leaves home at 4:45 a.m. in order to rollerblade 1 ½ hours (yes hours) to reach the train. He said the train commute to Evanston is 45 minutes to one hour depending on how many stops it makes. After he arrives at his train stop, he again puts on his rollerblades and skates the short 10 minutes to The Maids office. What a trip!
This isn’t the entire story! Damon is the team leader of the “Gold “team and at 8:30 each morning he gets in the car and drives his team to the first clean - and you’ll never guess where - Waukegan. It has just taken him two hours and 45 minutes to come from there. He said one good thing is that by driving he reaches his first clean in a little less than one hour. He then starts his day cleaning four to five homes. I asked what time he leaves The Maids office at the end of the day only to start this entire exhausting process in reverse. He said it’s usually around 5:30 p.m., but if he leaves the office after 6:00 p.m., his home commute would be two hours. After arriving back in Waukegan, he said it takes only one hour because it’s all downhill and he can rollerblade faster. I only had two more questions for Damon and I should have known he would again astound me with his answers. “What time do you go to bed?” I asked. He responded that it’s usually around midnight depending if he has to work or not. “What do you mean?” I inquired.
“I have two part-time jobs either driving a limo or I bartend,” he replied.
I was almost afraid to ask him my second question but I did anyway. “What do you do in your free time?” I dared ask. He just glared at me and said, “Are you kidding me?”Is this dedication or what?
This isn’t the entire story! Damon is the team leader of the “Gold “team and at 8:30 each morning he gets in the car and drives his team to the first clean - and you’ll never guess where - Waukegan. It has just taken him two hours and 45 minutes to come from there. He said one good thing is that by driving he reaches his first clean in a little less than one hour. He then starts his day cleaning four to five homes. I asked what time he leaves The Maids office at the end of the day only to start this entire exhausting process in reverse. He said it’s usually around 5:30 p.m., but if he leaves the office after 6:00 p.m., his home commute would be two hours. After arriving back in Waukegan, he said it takes only one hour because it’s all downhill and he can rollerblade faster. I only had two more questions for Damon and I should have known he would again astound me with his answers. “What time do you go to bed?” I asked. He responded that it’s usually around midnight depending if he has to work or not. “What do you mean?” I inquired.
“I have two part-time jobs either driving a limo or I bartend,” he replied.
I was almost afraid to ask him my second question but I did anyway. “What do you do in your free time?” I dared ask. He just glared at me and said, “Are you kidding me?”Is this dedication or what?
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