So as Dev may have mentioned, we are currently working at a fastfood chain. And we're doing a pretty good job so far. In fact, I am having my eyes glued to the prize: Money!
Money's a good motivation, at least for Dev and I. Imagine, all that hard work and labor, converted to usable cash. So anyway, (greedily angelic side is showing again) yesterday wasn't as good as the other days.
See, we are so-called "trainees," and we've been learning a lot of things about how the company works. We work at the dining station, so we are basically who the customers deal with. We're the people who could not afford to lose temper. We must remain patient at all times.
And that is not normally a problem for me. I am amazed how Dev can handle all the mean customers, but I have never mishandled a situation requiring patience...or so I would like to believe.
But yesterday seemed like a real test for me.
My work day started early, because I recently lost my cap (a vital part of my uniform. I can not face the customers with an incomplete uniform.) and I had to spend time borrowing a cap from the kitchen staff (and that is not as easy as it sounds.)
Rejected by a couple of people who held on dearly to their own caps, I got anxious over it. My borrowing scheme has become a disruptive commotion from within the store, and I did not really want that kind of attention.
Eventually, this guy lent me his, and I was finally able to clock in. I began my eight-hour duty, bearing in mind that the end of the day I'll be returning the cap to its owner, and I'll be having to borrow somebody's cap again the next day.
I ignored that bothering thought for a while, because I had to get to work. It was a Sunday, and as expected the people kept rushing in, giving us no time for a breather.
It wasn't so surprising that I'd eventually splash some ketchup over my polo, without even noticing. So I had to spend the rest of the day with a very dirty uniform, topped off with a cap that wasn't even mine.
To make matters worse, my throat installed some barbed wires to torture me every time I swallowed.
To make matters worse, the customers were unusually grumpy yesterday.
To make matters worse, my eyes were trying to close themselves on its own.
The "matters" were definitely the "worst" yesterday. I was just so sick and not in the mood. But keeping it professional, I smiled and served the people as if nothing is wrong with my day. The only side effect of all the bad things that have been happening, is that my skills were a bit rusty yesterday.
It was a pain checking out the clock, only to find that you've got five more hours of that same thing. I swear, if I wasn't sick, I would have been fine. My cap has been missing for days, and it didn't worry me this much.
I guess it all just stacked up.
I just told myself that it's one of those boundaries I had to cross. It was one of those moments that will be used to measure all the other hardships that are coming next. If I survived it, then I would have no problem overcoming all the minor struggles.
Sitting alone in the crew room, during a 30-minute break I didn't appreciate very much, I ate my meal.
Afterwards, I pondered over the next hour and the hour after that...I will have to stay in this store for still quite a while.
Finishing my food, I took in a deep breath and did the sign of the cross, thanking Him for my meal. I stood up, and came across this kitchen guy, on my way out. He seemed to have been taken aback by what I did last: the sign of the cross.
He talked to me, and asked where I borrowed my cap from. After I told him, he said that he had an extra cap at home, and that he would bring it the next day for me to use temporarily (that is until the next stock of uniforms arrive.)
I couldn't stop thanking him, to be honest.
It was like a huge boulder was carried away by this guy. And that managed to keep me smiling for several hours, until my shift eventually ended.
I'm not saying the sign of the cross fixed my problems. Neither am I saying that it's the reason the kitchen guy decided to lend his cap to me. I'm just saying that I think it's His way of saying, "Don't worry. I'm here with you."
That was enough for me to survive the boundary I was talking to you about.
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