LINK: somewhat normal
Things between Five Star and I are back to normal. Or at least… whatever “normal” was for us before. She’s back to sending me a steady stream of texts, memes, DMs, and a video of her latest win. Last night she won over $33,000 on slots. I was truly happy for her.
Part of me is very relieved because I tend to overthink things in silence or write it out in a post and get feedback from y’all. Maybe she just needed to sleep, win a shit ton of money, worried about her dad who has cancer, or she’s done with her monthly woman disease? Or maybe I’m just being overly sensitive and reading too much into it, majorly stressed with life, or I too was ridiculously fatigued?
Either way, I’m glad the awkwardness is over with. I didn’t know if I should call her up and have a woman-to-woman conversation about what happened, or just ride it out. I chose the latter. Mostly cause I do not like conflict. At all. My friends sometimes think that I’m a pushover or a pussy because I avoid it.
Take for example: Yesterday, two colleagues asked if I wanted to grab ramen for lunch. We’ve been there before and it was pretty good. As soon as we stepped inside, it was obvious the place was way understaffed. There was one woman who was seating people, taking orders, running food and drinks, and bringing people their bill. As soon as we were seated, she went on a short break and a prep cook from the kitchen helped cover for her.
One of my colleagues immediately started complaining, loud enough for half of the small restaurant to hear, “Can you take our order or do we have to go somewhere else?” Then she added that she didn’t want to leave a tip, which made every muscle in my body tense up. I hate that kind of energy, specially when it’s clear that the person is clearly struggling.
The other coworker kept trying (and failing) to flag the staff down for water, getting more and more exasperated. Meanwhile, the dining room is completely full and the woman helping us wasn’t even a server.
I finally looked at them and said, “It’s a holiday week. Half of the workforce is probably out right now because of vacation, illness, or just cause. It looks like she’s really trying because she’s all over the place and trying to attend to all the customers as best as she can. Let’s just order, eat, and go. I’ll pay for the meal, no worries.”
They agreed. Once we finally placed our orders, everything else went smoothly. Food came out hot, we ate without any further drama, and we got back to work on a timely basis. They Venmo’d me – minus the tip, which is fine, since I did agree to pay for their ramen anyway. For the record I did tip, its the fucking holidays…
Maybe one day, if I’m at work and on the struggle bus, I would hope that someone would provide me with grace and mercy too…
*** For six months when I was uni, I worked at the dorm cafeteria washing dishes, bussing, and waitressing. It sucked, but it helped pay for my books.***
When I’m on the clock though at work, I’m sharp, direct, and assertive. It’s because peoples lives are at stake and time is of the essence. It takes a lot of energy to be like that and after working for nearly half the day, I’m exhausted and my bandwidth is depleted.
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