My first job was as an ice cream scooper and cashier at The Lone Dawg Cafe. A brand new business, I replied to a Craigslist posting and got hired. Everyone there was so sweet and truly believed the business would succeed: a joint hot dog and ice cream shop flanked on both sides by abandoned buildings, on a road people only drove to go down the shore or visit Blueberry Hill. I was too inexperienced to know the business was likely doomed from the start. Three weeks after opening, I called the store to get my hours and didn't get a response. I called a few more times, decided everyone was probably busy, and resolved to call back some other time. I never heard from them again, never even got my paycheck. They had gone out of business. Above: How the name of the restaurant probably was formed Note: I had to draw both of the featured photos on this article because I don't have any photos of pizza and I don't want to run into copyright issues with Domino's or Lone Dawg Cafe A few odd jobs, a number of babysitting gigs, and six months later, I still hadn't found a new job. Granted, I was sixteen and whatever money I earned sat idle in my savings account accumulating a whopping 0.04% interest monthly, but I knew I needed a job regardless. Working minimum wage as a teenager fosters empathy, work ethic, and the understanding that tipping is always mandatory. Unsure of what to do, I returned to Craigslist and started replying to job listings. I got a few interviews, one of which was at Domino's. I got the job and worked there for about a year and a half before leaving for college. For the time I was there, I met so many different kinds of people; people I would never have met otherwise. There was one customer who always had the same bizzare request: a triple pepperoni pizza with no sauce or cheese, run through the oven twice. If we would have followed his instructions, the pizza would be black as soot, if not flaming. Not that we ever burned his pizzas: it was against our quality code. Even after we told him this, he would argue with me or the manager on shift about it. Every time. It happened at least four times when I was there, and he always seemed surprised when he opened the box and it didn't look like 'The Enormous Crocodile' after Trunky threw him into the sun. Above: 'Beautiful pure pizza' vs. 'Is this even a pizza anymore?' I was always so surprised when burnt pizza man's order came through. He would do the same thing over and over, never getting what he wanted. So why did he keep on trying?
Maybe he genuinely believed that we would give in eventually. Maybe a previous manager burned his pizza to hell and he thought we were just being stubborn about the policy. Maybe he was just plain mad, because you'd have to be to do the same thing again and again expecting a different result. I say this, but I am burnt pizza man. Well, not really, I'm a vegetarian, but I'm a lot like burnt pizza man. I never wear a coat because I forget cold exists until I'm in it. I put sour cream on my tacos even though I know it makes me sick. While these examples are pretty harmless, I've also burnt-pizza-man-ed myself with my depression. I isolate myself, stop doing things I love, basically let my depression make me become nothing, and I'm left wondering why I feel so hopeless. But I won't burn the pizza. I won't become nothing. That's why I write this blog even when I don't feel like it, because it's something larger than myself I can contribute to. Even if sometimes it just results in scattered nonsense, seeing the culmination of my efforts in a tangible way helps me to keep going. All because of a man dead-set on burning his terrible pizzas. It's the little things, you know? Keep on exploring!
3 Comments
Steph
1/25/2017 01:12:06 pm
I'm so proud of you for not burning the pizza! Very interesting metaphor, but it really is the little things. I enjoy reading your blog posts as they are both funny and insightful. You're doing really great Jill! Love you!!
Reply
Jill
1/25/2017 08:01:18 pm
Thank you so much!! i try to always write with a purpose and a lot of times writing things down helps me to take action. love you lots!
Reply
Dear
3/13/2017 04:25:56 pm
Wow!! Keep writing, Jilly! Great stuff! So proud of you! Love you😘
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
The BlogA day in the life, minus the parts where I do dumb stuff in the name of science. Archives
December 2017
Categories |