Saturday, May 15, 2010

Nostalgia in the strangest places

     I should be writing a 15 page paper that is due 24 hours from now. I'm halfway done, I promise. But I hit a wall. Well I hit a wall before I left for work 6 hours ago and now I'm just too damn tired to think about the global affects of the Olympics (sounds fun, huh? no seriously it is). So I'll write on here instead, about nostalgia and how it can hit you at the most random times and about things you never stopped to think about before. I'm talking about my place of work...it's an odd thing for me to be nostalgic about if you've ever heard me complain about work (and I have. ask my mother.)
     I started at ______ in October 2007 after hosting and serving at a different restaurant. I had applied to ____ when I was 15 but my horrible lack of math skills kept me from getting the hosting job (silly I know and kind of pathetic...I laugh about it now). So instead I concentrated on being a teenager and getting through my junior year of high school, worked at a boutique and then got into the restaurant world by way of a different restaurant who was so desperate for hosts that they looked at me and said "when can you start?" I was there from Jan 07 to Sept 07 when my boss at restaurant #1 moved over to ______ and said "if you're not at _____ in a month i'm coming back here and physically bringing you over!" I didn't need that because without her, I really didn't want to be at restaurant #1. Plus I knew the owner at _____ and really wanted to work there.
      When I first started at ______ I LOVED it. l-o-v-e. I was working with a family friend and the money was better and the customers weren't snooty. plus I didn't have to wear head-to-toe black (major hint at what ____ is). I had fun, my coworkers were nice, if not eccentric. Made a few friends there and got to see others more than I had in a while. Plus, a lot of people I knew came in all the time so it was fun to see friends at my work place. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world aaaaand my favorite manager (I've told him this, he knows it) moved on to a different store and things kind of went downhill, slightly from there. But it was ok because I was moving away for school and would be transferring to a different location anyways.
       I've now been at location #2 of _____ since last January, over a year now. And boy has it had its bumps and bruises. The thing I dislike MOST about restaurants is how damn cliquey they can get (staff, not customers). It's like being in high school all over again. I didn't like high school when I WAS in high school. I just never got to know my coworkers here and for that reason have felt a liiiittle bit "on the outside looking in". Ok I feel like that most of the time, but I do have some friends there who agree with me that most of our coworkers are, well, eccentric.
      So you're probably asking yourself at this point "what is she so nostalgic about?! sounds like she doesn't like it." Well I'm only at ____ for a few more shifts (2 to be exact unless I pick up another) before I leave. I'm not quitting but I'm not sure if I'll go back once I return to school in September. And thinking that these last few shifts are the last ever at ____ makes me a little sad. I've worked with this company for 2 and a half years, and lived off of it for most of that time. Sure I have thought about quitting a ton of times, but I'm not a quitter. Well unless there's something better lined up for me. Which is what I plan to do. But these last few nights have just got me thinking about when I first started. Also, the fact that we have a few new people gets me thinking about that too. Ooh if only I knew what I was getting myself into.
      SO _____ thank you for the good times you've given me, the lessons you've taught me and the money you've helped me earn. If we meet again in the fall, so be it. If not, I will always know where to get the most delicious and affordable steaks, if my cravings call for it. Weird how nostalgia works, huh?

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