The Pie & The U!

Can there be a better pizza on the planet?

When I moved to Utah my truck broke down a couple of days after I arrived. I remember driving into the Salt Lake Valley. My little Dotsun pickup was going about 35 mph as I flew past tooele on I-80. When I arrived at my new basement apartment I had less than $100 after paying for my first months rent and deposit. I certainly didn't have enough money to pay to get my truck fixed. FYI, that truck never ran again.

That limited my ability to find a job. I had my bike, and my legs. I looked all over downtown, and there wasn't a job to be found.

I remember begging to wash dishes at the Sizzler. I mean I begged the manager for a job washing dishes. The manager said there just wasn't enough work, and he had enough people. He said it was summer and he was fully staffed. Not a lot of work with the students being gone, and lots of people looking for work. I tried every fast food place in town. I almost had a job at a gift shop in a hotel down town until she asked if I had a car. I said I had transportation. She pressed so I finally I admited it was my bike, and that was the end of that. She was worried I wouldn't be able to make it out to the airport where the other gift shop was, and what was I going to do when winter came?

These were the guys working the register at the take out Pie the day we dropped in before the Utah vs. BYU game.

I was probably in town over a week before I found a job. I'm telling you I searched everyday all day on my bike with a white shirt and tie on. That was all the clothing I had. I had just got home from my mission a few months earlier, and really didn't buy too many new clothes. I saved my money to move to Utah. My clothes from before my mission didn't fit. I had grown from 5'7" to 5'11", and from 135 to 160 lbs. So all I had were old white shirts and a bunch of old ties.

I was running out of money, and knew I wasn't going to be able to pay my next month rent if I didn't hurry up and find a job. I was eatting as cheap as possilbe. I could buy 33 cent hot dogs at the gas station around the corner from my place. I ate a lot of those. Even after I found a job. Free mustard came with the hot dog! Woohoo! Mmmmm free mustard.

I was walking toward campus, and there was a sign for a pizza place called "The Pie", but I didn't see where it was. (Go to the link there. Watch the front page of the Pie's website. It will show the outside of the Pie and you can see the sign I kept walking past, and see how I missed the stairs that lead down below the pharmacy. fun!) I must have walked by the Pie about 20 times my first week in town before I noticed it. The Pie is located in the basement of an old brick building under a pharmacy just across the street from the U on the westside of the U of U campus. I had been a pizza cook at Rico's, Domino's, and Little Cesars in California. It seemed rather divine to me that day. They hired me and I started that night I think. You'd think I had won the lottery I was so excited! I worked nights until 12 on weekdays, and 1-2 am on weekends.

A little later I got a day job at the University of Utah bookstore. I wasn't making much more than minimum wage, but I didn't have many bills.

I fell in love with that pizza place, and the U during that time period. They were my life savers.

Didn't leave a lot of time for Suzi, and I to date. But those two jobs were anwers to some pretty intense prayers.

I remeber walking up to the U bookstore through president's circle in the morning. I didn't have enough money to go to school, but I wanted to be going to school there. I loved it. Such a beautiful campus. After the bookstore I walked down to the Pie, and worked there late just about every night.

I have no idea why Suzi continued to date a pizza making, bookstore working, no car having, no money having, no school going, living in Salt Lake bum like me.

I worked at those two places until Suzi, and I got married.