Gonna Get There Someday

Work issues

03:54, Thursday, September 25, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

Just got home from a long day at work. :-S Bleh. I'm tired.

I've been working full-time at a Starbucks in downtown Boston for quite awhile now. When I moved to Boston at eighteen, friendless and jobless and not knowing anyone, I jumped to work there since they were the first employer to call back on an application, and I've been there ever since. The pay is fabulous, especially now that I'm in a supervisory position, and the benefits are also great. The hours are incredibly flexible, my cooworkers great. The job itself is disheartening, though: in essence, what I do for the majority of my time every day is give to demanding people who don't care things they don't need but think they do. It really, really sucks. The customers at my store generally fall into three categories: snooty, high-powered corporate business people who think we are mindless, soulless members of their personal waitstaff; brainless, overweight college kids with their ears plugged with headphones and cellphones glued to their heads who don't tip; and tourists who don't speak English, have no concept of moving through a line, and don't tip either.
Oh, and homeless people who steal from us, sleep and/or pee and/or commit *extremely* inappropriate acts on the furniture, die in the bathrooms (oh yes, that's right), and throw things at us while shouting unspeakable (sometimes downright sickening) obscenities when we politely explain to them that no, we can't give the coffee away for free just because they can't pay for it, sorry.

Perhaps I sound like I'm being unfair and ungracious toward my fellow man, but one can only see so much and take so much urban-foodservice-abuse before one leans a bit toward jaded bitterness toward strangers. Blah.

Oh, how hard it is to walk out my door every morning to go to that job. My heart aches every time I kiss my sleeping husband goodbye (he has curly golden hair and looks like an angel when he sleeps) at 4:30 A.M. and sometimes don't see him for the rest of the day (he also works for Starbucks, at a different store, and frequently works the closing shift when I work the opening shift, so we go the entire day without seeing each other on occasion). My days off are magnificent: I'm so at peace baking our bread for the week, doing laundry, cleaning, organizing, planning surprises for him, singing while I work, taking a break to read or crochet. Oh, how I hope and pray that Todd makes enough someday for me to stay home and raise our family!! He wants it just as badly as I do, too.

It's not that he doesn't provide for us, because he works very hard; it's just that Boston has an extremely high cost of living and a two-person family simply can't subsist on one income, especially when we have to pay for things like public transportation and student loans (thankfully, Todd's loans are the absolute *only* debt that we have) and exorbitant rent. He went to school for music education, but has to take one more class his college didn't offer before he can get his official degree, so instead of actually teaching his own classes this year (he graduated this spring) he's planning on substituting, to get some experience for when he does finally start job hunting for real next year, after he *does* have his degree. It's taking awhile to get all of the paperwork and so forth done to be a sub. Happily, everything should be complete and he should start getting calls to sub sometime in the next two weeks or so (SO exciting!). And who knows, if he's making enough doing that (Boston has TONS of schools, so there's a very real possibility he could be subbing almost full time), I might be able to cut my hours at Starbucks back a bit. Even thirty hours would preserve my sanity just a bit longer and allow for some real homemaking, which would be MAGNIFICENT.

I'm somewhat troubled because I know I should be content where I am no matter what the circumstances, but it is SO hard sometimes. It's almost physically painful to have to leave for that job sometimes. Sigh. Am I not being grateful enough that the rest of my life is basically perfect? Maybe. There's plenty of room for character building here, but it is SO HARD.

So anyway, I'm tired. But I'm home. :-) I have some chicken and dumplings simmering on the stove and a magnificent hubby coming home soon to cuddle me. ^_^ And good books to read and an adorable hedgehog to play with. My life really is pretty good, even if I don't have that farm yet or those goats and chickens. It's hard to remember that when I'm being snapped at rudely by a bone-dry-cappuccino-drinking executive, but that doesn't change the fact that it's true, right? As long as I have Todd and can remember that this is only temporary and we will in fact get to our dreams someday, I'll be fine, and I can enjoy the other aspects of my life that are so splendid.
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{{{Hugs}}}

02:32, Friday, September 26, 2008 .. Posted by imspecl
Sounds like you had a rough day at work. Sorry to hear that. I have those nights too here in the ER where folks come in for a cough that just started and they didn't take anything for it but demand to be seen or a headache but haven't tried tylenol. The drug seekers are hard to be nice to as well. A lot of people in our area have a medical assistance card and will come to the ER for EVERY little thing because there isn't a copay for ER visits and they have to pay $5.00 for a clinic visit - I wish! Oh, then there's the ones who come in because they can't afford the $10.00 for antibiotics for the kids or themselves but they smoke 1-2 packs of smokes a day. Uff da! folks can also be soooo demanding. I know they don't feel well but I'm not a waitress to get them coffee or a maid to be ordered to "raise my head, cover my feet". Sigh..... guess we all have those days/nights where things pile up and we need to vent.

Edited by imspecl on Friday, September 26, 2008 at 01:34

Aww, thank you!!!

08:42, Friday, September 26, 2008 .. Posted by mesarah011
Glad to know someone else out there knows what it's like! My day at work yesterday was actually a lot better than the one before, and today is my day off with the hubby so I'm quite happy. ^_^ So I'm saying to myself, "See? Not so bad after all - you just have to weather the particularly awful days and the sun eventually shines through." My mother has a saying that I find myself repeating with great frequency: "This too shall pass!"

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11:28, Friday, September 26, 2008 .. Posted by raspberrydreams
Oh you poor thing - some people are just so rude and demanding and there is no need for it at all. I so admire your patience - I'm ashamed to say I'd probably pour the Starbucks over them - not very Christian though is it. Its a horrible feeling when you struggle to want to go out to work in the mornings - I have been there and sympathise with you totally.
hang on in there - these things are never forever and I'm sure theres a rainbow right round the corner for you.
By the way cant believe you had someone die in the bathrooms. Hope you didnt have to deal with it on your own.
hope you have a good day today.

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