by Tom TeBockhorst

(Editors' Note: In the National Federation of the Blind, we have members from all walks of life holding a wide variety of jobs. Tom TeBockhorst is an active Federationist and a graduate of Blindness: Learning in New Dimensions (BLIND), Inc. In this essay, he shows how he has made use of the supports he needed, along with his particular skills, confidence, and resourcefulness, to travel independently and do what needs doing on his job).

For four out of the last five seasons, I have been working at Target Field. I got this job while working with an employment agency, and I started towards the end of the 2018 season. My title was concession stand attendant, and I was handling condiment carts.

When I got there for my first game, I thought I would be working with the little packets of ketchup, mustard, and relish—but they were big containers with pumps on them. I was a little nervous at first because I had never worked with these before. Luckily, I had great job coaches who showed me how to take the container apart, how to take the bag out of it, and pull the end of the pump out of the bag. They also worked with me on getting the end of the pump into the hole on the bag. That was one of the biggest challenges for me, getting the end of the pump lined up with the middle of the hole on the bag. But, with practice, I was able to get it right in the middle of the hole. When you have it lined up with the hole, you push down on it; then you put one hand on top of it and, with the elbow of your other arm, you put your weight into it, and it will make a locking sound. Then you pick up the bag from the bottom and put it back in the container. Then, gravity takes over and the rest of the bag will fall into the container. When you put the bag back into the container, the pump end is facing backwards and you have to turn it around. Then you have to make sure that the pump is lined up in the center of the container before putting the lid back on. That was another one of my big challenges, because sometimes it would line up and lock in place, but other times I had to monkey around with it until I got it in place. With practice I was able to get that figured out, too. I also wiped down the carts. My job coaches taught me a lot of good ways of wiping down the cart. I also refilled the napkin holders.

 The next season, I was on my own. When I first came back for that season, I had trouble getting from the employee area over to the escalator and navigating the concourse that I was on. After the first couple of games I called SSB and they sent a cane travel instructor who worked with me to figure out landmarks. To get from the employee area to the escalator that went to the concourse where I worked, there were metal plates that ran along the floor, so I just counted those. When I got to the third one, I would get over to the left and follow the wall until I got to the escalator. When I got to the top of the escalator I would turn to my right to the door that went into the concession area behind the concession stands to get my bucket of water with my rags. Then I would come out of the door and go straight past the escalator. Then I turned to my left to go past the sports store and then past the front of all the concession windows. Then, I went past my first cart and kept following the wall, then turned to the right and followed the wall past the doors for the bar. When I got to the end of that wall I kept going straight until I crossed the metal plate running along the floor. When I cross that plate, I kept going straight past the steps, past a trash can, and then I turned to my right when I got to fencing, and started following that to the end. Then, I turned to my left and kept following it, to go past my second cart. If it was dirty I would wipe it down. Then I would keep going straight past the ice cream stand and past the portable nachos stand. Then, when I got to the ATM, I would start to use the railings that go behind the stairs. I followed it around a horseshoe, then put my back against it on the other side under the stairs. Then, I walked straight until I got to the next railing. I did the same thing until I got to the last cart which was near Red Cow. That is how I was able to get around quickly on that concourse. The cane travel instructor also encouraged me to remember to tap my cane lower so that I would pick up things better. I have been using this technique for three years now and it makes me a better traveler.

Also that season, I made a very simple accommodation. To tell which container was which, I put bump dots on the back of the containers—one for ketchup, two for mustard, and three for relish. Also I knew when the containers needed to be filled by picking them up; if they were really light I knew they needed to be refilled.

It was hard to tell which box was which under the cart, because they were all the same size boxes. So, I just asked people around me if this was ketchup or mustard or relish. Most people didn’t mind telling me, and one of my carts was right by the steps where there was an usher who was glad to tell me.

I was all ready to work the 2020 season, but that didn’t happen because of COVID. In February of 2021, I started getting emails about working for the 2021 season. I was very excited about going back to work but I didn’t know if I would be doing condiment carts again. A couple of weeks ahead of time, I called the head of concessions to find out what I would be doing. She said that because they were only allowing ten thousand fans into the stadium to start the season that they would not be doing condiment carts. She asked me if I could wrap hot dogs, and I said that I thought I could. I called SSB and they set me up with job coaches to start out.

When I got there for the home opener, the first thing I noticed was that the time clock that I used for punching in and out of work had been changed to a touch screen, which I could not read. I went and talked to HR about it, and they helped me with it and said they would try to think of a way to make it accessible. I then met with my job coaches and we went back up to the main concourse to check in. I found out that I was now to work at stand 133 on the main concourse. To get there, we had to go outside and then back inside. They tried to point out all the landmarks for me, but there weren’t many good ones. When we got inside the concession stand, I met my supervisor who started showing me around the stand. I was really surprised when she asked me if I wanted to cook the hot dogs. I said, "Sure, if you show me how." So, she showed me how to do it for a couple of hot dogs, and I got the hang of using the rollers to cook them.

While we were waiting for the hot dogs to get done, one of my job coaches went to see if there was a better way to get to the concession stand. There turned out to be an elevator just a few feet away from the concession stand that went up to where the Red Cow was located. With that information, I figured that, if I took the same route that I used when doing condiment carts last season, I could get from the concession stand back to the employee area much more easily.

When the hot dogs were done cooking, we started on how to wrap the hot dogs. I put on gloves and took a bun out of the bag of buns. Then I took the hot dog off the roller and put it in the bun. My job coach and my supervisor showed me how to wrap the hot dogs: you take a piece of paper and turn it like a diamond, then put the hot dog at the bottom and roll it a couple of times. Then you fold in the sides and then keep rolling it until you have it wrapped. After a couple of times I got the hang of it.

I thought I would continue wrapping hot dogs, but it turned out that there were no condiments out by the hot dogs. In the back, we had the big containers of condiments, so I filled little cups with ketchup and mustard and put lids on them and put them in pans and brought them out by the hot dogs. I did that for the rest of the game. After the seventh inning, I stocked the beer. I knew which beer was which because the first two rows were Bud, and the bottom three rows were Bud Light; they were also in different coolers in the back area.

I am still working at Target Field today, figuring things out as they come up and enjoying the work.