Work It

Everyone should, at some point in their lives, work in some sort of customer service job. Food service especially. You get a new appreciation for what actually goes on behind the scenes when you actually have to do the work that goes on behind the scenes.

I know this because I've had the jobs where I've had to be behind the scenes. I've worked in the fast food industry, I've worked in the retail industry. I no longer go in a store, pick up a folded shirt, and throw it back on the table. I no longer get frustrated when a hamburger isn't fixed as quickly as I think it should be. Customer service is much more than what you see at the register.

Food service involves so much more behind the scenes as far as cleaning and prepping the food goes. The food just doesn't make itself, and keeping up with people demanding food isn't as easy as one might think. You have to predict when people are going to come in and what they are going to want so you know how much to make. You have to get everything together and make it. You have to put it on the line, then you have to prep it for them when they order it.

Retail is a lot more than just scanning and bagging. You have to learn prices. You have to watch tags and sales. You have to fold and plan what is going to go where. You have to interact while you're doing all this, and make sure you get everything. All the stuff on the floor, that has to be prepared by employees who work their tails off too trying to make everything presentable so people can find what they're looking for, and when people come through and mess it up, someone has to go through and pick the mess up. When you pick up your eggs and decide on the other side of the store you don't need eggs after all, someone has to pick them up from where you decide to lie them down. When you finish your drink and sit it on an empty shelf, someone has to pick that up. When you leave clothes laying around a fitting room, someone has to pick that up.

People who work with the public have to have a lot of patience because the public does not have a lot of respect for them. The public doesn't respect that they have jobs they have to do, that their job is a lot more than what it appears to be, and that their messes create more work. When your trash lands on the floor, someone has to clean it up. When you need something, someone serving you gets it for you. They should be appreciated and respected. The people who know that best are the people who have been in the service industry before. Therefore, I think that everyone should, at one point in their life, work in the customer service industry in some fashion for a specific period of time, just to see what it's like, and to gain a new appreciation for what goes on behind the scenes.

Facing the Days

We all have things in life that we really don't want to do. It has come time again to do some things that I really don't want to do, and I don't have much of a choice. If it weren't for the necessity, I wouldn't be working the job I have, but things have to be done. I know that I have bills to pay off, namely student loans, and I know that I need to keep a steady income. Not everyone is going to love their job, and I know that.

So, with a grin on my face and a whole lot of effort, I go in to work a job that I really don't want to have, knowing that I don't like it, and I do what I have to do to make ends meet. I smile, I laugh, I do what needs to be done, I keep a good attitude about it, and I bottle everything bad up until the end of the day when I leave, and I finally let it all out, all the frustration spewing forth like crazy, my boyfriend on the phone trying to calm me down when he's going through a rough time himself, God bless him.

Perhaps one day I'll learn to love it. Perhaps one day I'll be able to walk in happy, or at least in a mediocre mood. I'm always ready to do the work that's expected, but perhaps I'll be a bit more prepared than usual, and accepting of it. Right now I'm still in the stage where everything is difficult for me. I come home at the end of the day in pain, crying, frustrated, stressed, ready to scream. It's jobs like this, though, that make the world go round. Everyone needs food, everyone needs a place to buy things, and these are the jobs that keep the world going, these are the jobs that keep businesses running. People can do it, it can be done. I just have to learn.

It's nothing like my other jobs. It makes my other jobs look like a cakewalk. It's rough. It's demanding. It doesn't have as much satisfaction at the end of the day. Overall, it's just not as good of a job. Maybe one day I'll find something about it that will make me think differently. Maybe one day I'll get used to it. Here's to hoping that doesn't take me too long.

In the Abyss

The darkness envelopes me like a thick smokey fog
I don't know which direction I am going anymore
Everything in my life seems to have taken a drastic dark turn
I can't find my way out no matter how hard I try

I bang on the walls and scream for help, but nobody listens
They don't realise the type of predicament I'm stuck in
As I fall deeper and deeper into the abyss,
I know it will be that much harder to escape

I reach out and all I feel is the cold, damp darkness that is consuming me whole
No kind hand, no kind words to comfort me when I need them
I am alone in this effort, and the only way out is seemingly invisible
I'm trapped.

How long should I suffer like this?
In silence because nobody can hear me?
In darkness where nobody can see me?
Alone where nobody can feel my presence?

How long can I go on knowing that nothing will ever be the same?
I can't

Lucky Charms

Well it's only Tuesday, but I'm going to go ahead and do a Write on Wednesday assignment early. Here is the challenge:

The Write on Wednesday Spark:  Possessing Beauty
Write about a collection. Write about something you or ,someone you know, collects. Think about the "why" behind the collection - why is it important to collect this particular thing? How does it make the person feel to add another piece to their collection? Is the group of objects there to be seen, to be studied or simply kept together? Write a real life story or a piece of fiction. Wherever the prompt takes you...Keep your post on the short side: up to 500 words OR a 5 minute stream of consciousness exercise. Link your finished piece to the list and begin popping by the other links. Oh, and enjoy!

Haley nervously played with the charms on her bracelet. One for her first time on rollerblades. One from her first boyfriend. One for her first dance performance. One for her high school graduation. One from her sister to remind her how much she is loved. One that said "Believe, Hope, Dream". It's often a reminder of the things that are important to her in life, and she holds it very close to her heart. It's inspiration, hope, dreams, all culminated in a bracelet.

Image Source: Squidoo.com

Once, Haley thought she lost a charm, and it broke her down for days until she found it lying on her dresser, where it had apparently fallen off. This charm bracelet was a gift to her during her deepest depression, in hopes that she would feel better seeing all the things she accomplished on her wrist as a reminder. It worked, and whenever Haley felt stressed, she immediately turned to the charm bracelet for comfort. She loved her charm bracelet and everything about it; it was a collection of everything near and dear to her, a collection of everything that really mattered to her. It raised her self-confidence, as well as consolidating all her life events into an easy to view bracelet that she always had access to.

When Haley felt her lowest, she turned to the charm bracelet for comfort. Sometimes she would buy new charms to add to her collection, to make her feel better. Sure, they were small, but they had a big impact for her. She loved them, and never wanted to let them go. The bracelet never left her wrist. She was attached to it, and wanted to stay that way forever....

Time up

Just an Update

I realize my posts have been stagnant for a while, not giving people much of a reason to follow or read, and that I've been very disappointing as a blogger ever since I got a job back in November.

Here are a few updates. I had a birthday (November 29), I graduated from college (well, walked the stage anyway, December 16, I got my degree in August), I celebrated Christmas with the family, I celebrated New Years at home, and the newest of news that I haven't broken to the blogging world yet, I finally obtained my social work license (yesterday, 17 January) so I am now a licensed professional! This is a huge thing for me, as now I can extend my job search to include ones that require a license and I can include licensure in my resume. Awesome!

I'd really like to do something with my blog to make it more interactive, but I'm not sure what yet. Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful, as I find myself having a hard time sitting down and actually writing a blog since I've been working full time. I know other people can do it, and I had time to sit and write this down, but it's just really difficult for me to find content for my blog right now and get it into the computer before I have something else to do. Blog fodder jumps into and out of my head before I have a chance to jot it down, and my blog is lacking and in need of some assistance. Very desperate need!!

Justfifiable need

Just sayin'