one thing to do before you die

there are things in life that everyone says you should do or see before you die.

now that i have done it for longer than just a summer, i think that one of those things is to work in the service industry. working any sort of face-to-face customer service job has its ups and downs, just as any job does, but it is a lot harder than people think. whether it's being a waitor, or barista, or in fast food, or store clerk, or hair dresser, etc etc etc, it's hard. it's hard to deal with people every day and have to put on a happy, friendly face no matter what. it doesn't matter if your dog just died, or your boyfriend just broke up with you, if you have a headache, or just happen to be having a blah day. you have to put it behind you because in many of these cases, your livelihood depends on it. as a barista, i make minimum wage. without tips, i would not be able to pay my bills. without a smile on my face, i do not make tips.

yes, generally, the actual work is easy. we don't have to try to find the cure for cancer or know how to land an airplane or fight fires or do manual labor. but oftentimes, i think people don't give service industry workers enough credit. i don't even think i give myself enough credit for doing this sort of work. in a recent conversation about places to meet decent guys someone asked me if i ever met any at work. and i replied, "not often, but i serve a lot of professionals and i feel like they just think i'm stupid cuz i work in a coffeeshop. i think they just assume i don't have an education or much to offer." now, i don't usually feel that these customers talk down to me or anything, i just assume that they don't see me to be at their level. they don't know that my tip jar is basically my "send me to grad school fund."

anyway, i guess the point is, that the people who serve you deserve your respect. they have bad days and stressful lives too, and they have to deal with complaints and requests all day, and with a smile at that. the only people who really seem to understand this, are the people who've done it. at the park ave fest today shannon and i got henna tattoos. we met the tattoo artist earlier in the coffeeshop and chatted with her about her work. she was probably one of the friendliest people i've ever met. after she was done doing our tattoos, she said something to the effect of, "thanks a lot, and you guys are awesome, cuz you work in a coffeeshop." at first i found that quite surprising, because as i said above, i often feel like people don't see us to be smart, or motivated, or "awesome." (and of course there are those of us who aren't, but that's another story). but she explained that she knew how hard it was to work in customer service (obviously) and that she really appreciates what servers do. i thought that was really cool for her to say, and obviously got me thinking.

so that's that. my advice is, before you die, take a job in the service industry. and if you really want to be hardcore about it, try a minimum wage one. :)