banalbany.com

THE GIZ:
An Interview with Ben G.


It is a quarter to ten at night as Ben, my coworker from Borders,, a local who commutes to SUNY enters my apartment. He’s one of the funniest guys I know with a dry sense of humor, standing at a height of five nine. “Hey” he says in his tired, deep voice, looking at me through glasses. He smells strongly of cigarettes and holds loosely a small coffee in one hand. We sit down on my box-like couch: I sit cross legged facing him, while he sits facing the wall with his baggy jacket on, hands resting on his knees, head turned to look at me while we speak.

I remember you telling me once that you were born in July. When specifically?
July 16, 1986. I’m on IMDB.

What?
[Ben strokes his beard]. My friend Joe makes really bad short films. Oddly enough, I was never in a film but I got credited. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1126008/]… [He is credited as a writer, a producer and an actor. His nickname is “The Giz,” he is 5’9 and in August 2003 he was working on a new movie called “The Cut.”]

That’s hilarious! Why are you on IMDB?
Joe’s a crazy fuck, a character. He’s always coming to me with crazy ideas that he starts and quits. He has a registered business. It was a newspaper and he only printed two issues.


I went to this meeting once about making downtown Albany better. I think it was actually at Saint Rose. Joe was totally hobnobbing at it, offering people ad space in this newspaper he doesn’t really write articles for. There was free food and champagne and Joe’s wearing a suit and I’m wearing kind of what I’m wearing now [looks down at his jeans] We sat at a conference table and Joe explained his business. Said I was a cartoonist and that this other kid was an editor. I dunno. I was there for the free booze and I was mildly drunk. I ducked out early, it was serious.

That’s pretty funny. You said that you’ve lived in Albany your entire life. What do you think of it?
I like Albany. My friends say it’s the kind of city that if you don’t leave here you won’t accomplish anything. I never felt that way.

Why?
My friends are in Albany. I know my way around. I like how it’s not one huge structure that goes on for miles. I do regret not going to a different school.

I think you told me you go to SUNY, right?
Yep.

Do you think it’d have been different?
I got by the skin of my nuts. My mom pushed me to go to college. I barely passed high school. Looking back on it now, I wish I had studied abroad. I want to travel now and I don’t really have the money and neither do my parents.

I see. How long have you been at Borders?
Year and a half probably.

Why Borders?
I got fired from Cumberland. It was a sting operation. I was distracted, working a ten hour shift, working two registers with Charlie and this total hot MILF came in. Then this kid came in and blended in the conversation while buying beer and by the time I rang him up I said “Fuck, are you 21?” The kid said no because he had to answer truthfully. I asked do you work for Cumberland or the Police? Kid said I can’t say anymore. I didn’t get arrested, but I had to pay $300 for a public defender who got it so I didn’t have to pay a fine. But I had to go to a drunk driving class. It was four hours long.

Boring?
Yeah. Really boring. That woman who has those billboards that say “celebrate life,” she came and I thought, driving while intoxicated. I wasn’t driving. And that was June 6th 2006.

Wait. How did you find out about Borders?
[Pauses] Oh yeah. I went to Wolf Road and they gave me an application online. I didn’t realize the interview was for Crossgates until the end the of interview. And then I got the job.

Gonna stay?
Yeah. I like the job. A lot of people want to leave but I like my job. Plus I’m too lazy to leave.

Did you have fun with this interview? [Ben is playing with a chewed maroon toy mouse with no tail or ears]
I didn’t know what it would be like but I thought it would be cool to be interviewed. Because who doesn’t like to talk about themselves?