Glitch

This began, not because I wanted it to, but because I had bills to pay. Money was leaking from my account faster than the lemonade pitcher sweats in June. Something had to be done. And that something consisted of walking into my current place of employment (which I will never name on this blog, that is, until I can find employment elsewhere..and then maybe I will BOLD and Italicize and Underline this place of employment to my heart's content but for now, I will refer to this as RH, or Retail Heaven), and applying for this job.

This is not to be confused with CH, or Cedar Hell, where I was employed last summer. We will never confuse this with that. This is Heaven we are talking about, after all. Stocking and Smiling and Acting Passive-Aggressive, when need be.

RH was a glitch in my plan. I was supposed to be at Grad School, somewhere in Montana or Oregon, hunched over Camus and critiquing other student's essays on living abroad and loving it. I was supposed to be mingling over wine and chai, under streetlamps and in cafes and in the darkest of bars on the coldest of nights.

Ha. Just kidding. That wasn't really where I was supposed to be. Nobody likes the darkest of bars, anyway. What I meant to say was this: I graduated with my BFA in Creative Writing, and now what?

It took two months of lounging on my front porch reading the lazy summer away, and three months of actually applying to jobs that I thought were close to my field (writing, editing...or something like that?), and being turned down by every single one of them. It took five months total for me to realize that college teaches nothing about what to do when there are no jobs in your field, or Grad School in your future. College didn't prepare me for the heartache and the restlessness and family members who figured I was wasting my higher education (and life) by holing up in my room, in my comfiest PJ's, on a Friday night, and reading novel after novel about the life I wish I had.

But no! No! Lo and behold, I was not wasting my life away, accusing family members! I was preparing myself for the real world. I was preparing myself for living the life of an employee of retail...at least until something else came up. Or I came upon something else.

I began this job on October 6th, but there is something unique about the situation...first of all, I work in the retail part of a restaraunt, and second of all, it is brand new to our area. So I went through training with everybody else. I went through a month's worth of sweaty labor and tormenting acronyms that begged to be memorized, and a newfound light-heartedness that crept up when I least expected it. Ha, Working World! Watch Out! I can do this! I can work and make money with the best of them! In retail! Not even in my field!

I can be a SALES PERSON!

This, at least, was my mantra during that one month of vigorous training. And it partly worked (mostly on days when I wasn't quite awake and didn't fully grasp that I NOW HAVE A JOB, YO!)...mostly on days when we didn't have to role play with the cashiers.

This blog is for my personal entertainment only. I must relay this information without even cracking a smile. Because one day, I will look back from my personal library, on the 28th floor, and cackle at the stories I will have shared here about the days when I, Aeriale, was a SALES PERSON. It's quite laughable. And, as always, there will be more to come.