What’s it really like to work at Chicago startups and tech companies? Blue Sky’s Inside Job lets people on the ground tell us in their own words.
James Demetrius (JD) Brabeck, 27, Happiness Specialist, aka delivery driver, at Crafty
We build and deliver kegerators, and we deliver all different types of kegs, from Anti-Hero IPA from Revolution Brewery to Corona. We do wine, too, and there are also wine kegs. Kombucha is my favorite out of all the stuff. It has organisms in it. It sounds bad, but it’s really delicious, and it’s really good for you.
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We also just evolved to delivering snacks, so anything from peanuts to Arizona Iced Tea to Coca-Cola to seaweed. So we are kind of like a food service, but our main thing is beer.
We deliver to startups, tech, a lot of logistics companies. Crafty started about a year and a half ago. We have about 20 people.
I’m a happiness specialist. It’s basically delivery, but we also do technical work. I love doing installs; I love fixing things. If there’s a problem, I’ll take a sip of our products just to see what the problem is, like if they say it’s too foamy; the beer I stay away from when I’m working.
There are four of us delivery drivers now. I absolutely love it because I came from a very negative environment to the most amazing people that I could ever work with. Everyone is not only family-oriented, but they genuinely care, which is amazing.
This is a 2008 Ford Transit. This is my office. This is my baby. It’s got a reverse camera on it. I’m able to maneuver in the city pretty good. There’s temperature control for the kegs.
First thing in the morning, we go out to our warehouse, which is based in Carol Stream. I live in Warrenville, so for me, it’s perfect. All of us go over the orders, so we know what’s in the van if we’re missing something. It could be from nine to 14 deliveries in a day. We’ve worked with about 225 business; our clients order online.
That’s what I love about the job: I’m a people person, so I love getting to know the customers and talking about my children, and if they have children, talking about their children and just having genuine conversations with genuine people.
I was born in Downers Grove. I’ve lived all around DuPage County. I went to Wheaton Warrenville South High School, and I graduated in 2008. I feel a lot older than I am, considering I have two kids. I was going to the College of DuPage, studying criminal law, and then I found out I was having a daughter, so I dropped out of college to get a job and support my family.
I worked for British Airways in their first-class lounge at O’Hare, so I was kind of like a waiter. And then I was one of the lead helper mechanics at O’Hare. I was the one fixing the luggage belt and the motors, and sometimes, I got to work with the jet bridges.
I started at Crafty on December 26. It was a great Christmas present. When I got the call that I was hired, I was high-fiving everyone at the airport, and some didn’t even know why. I would love to retire at this company. I hope to grow, and not just be a delivery driver but be a maintenance technician, the lead technician, and go to school still for business, whatever I can do to help them out to make us bigger.
The end of the day is an average of about 3 o’ clock for the drivers. When we all have time, we get lunch together after we’re all done with everything, just to discuss how our days were, how we can improve. They’re like my brothers.
We’re based at WeWork in the West Loop, and hanging out at WeWork is fun. Everyone asks how I’m doing, how’s life, what’s new. I love how diverse we are. We have everyone from Chinese to black to white to Hispanic. I’m black, I’m white, I’m Native American. I’m over, I believe, 10 nationalities.
About every two weeks, we do beer roulette. It’s on someone’s phone, so everyone puts their fingers on the phone, and the app just chooses a finger, and then two people got to pick a type of beer. They’ll get us a six-pack or a three-pack of each kind, so that’s pretty awesome.
This job has improved my life, my spirit and my soul 10 times because I get to work with people who have the same energy I do.
As told to freelance reporter Erin Chan Ding. Stories are edited for length and clarity.
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