The Village

My mother is crazy. I love the woman to death, but yeah, she’s basically a nutter. A very loving albeit pushy nutter, and for the past four years we have continued to have the same exact argument: jobs.

You see, the woman demands I work. Yes, I know this isn’t a bad thing at all (I actually agree, working IS good) however, when that is how every single one of our conversations go, well I’ll just give an example:

Marissa: Hey mom, how’s it going?

Mom: get a job you lazy scum.

Okay, okay, so that never happens, but really—our conversations, at least once, always mention me working or getting a job. This past summer I vaguely remember my mom telling me I have too much free time, and to pick up several more jobs, who cares that I already had a job, but I clearly needed to read less Percy Jackson, and invest myself more diligently in the Arby’s franchise.

And nothing changed when I came to college; I’ve managed to hold her off for the first several months, but those wimpy walls of “but mom! I’m just getting adjusted!”  crumbled when it hit November.

I live in a teeny tiny town, but the next town over, about 35 minutes away is a booming metropolis of about 25,000 people (this is massive in Nebraska) and allows for many more job opportunities. So I devoted myself to finding a job there, first I had an interview at Target, that ship sunk pretty quickly when they told me I’d be working Christmas, to which my response was a hasty NO. Maybe I should have realized I needed to lower my standards right there, but no of course not—me lower standards? Pshhh.

As I was pulling away from my dead end interview I saw the Holy Grail, a ‘Now Hiring Sign’ Now, I can’t exactly tell you where, I was forced to sign a document saying I would not in any way electronically slander the company, so I will instead leave a bunny trail of clues:

5. I refer to it as ‘The Village’

4. IHOP is their competitor

3. Would you like toast or pancakes with that?

2. Are you saving room for pie today?

1. Happiness was here once                                    it died.

So long story short here, I got hired at the Village. For reference sake, I call it that because I’m pretty sure that’s the name of a horror movie—and that pretty much sums up my experiences.

Now it all started out smooth sailing, blue skies ahead. Until day two, day two began with the most awkward forced game of 20 questions I’ve ever lived through. So here ya go:

Do you smoke?

No.

Holy crap! You and me are the only nonsmokers here, well except for preggers, but she used to smoke..

Do you drink?

No.

…Well how old ARE you?

18

And you don’t drink!? You don’t even look 18, I thought you were like a freshman!

I totally did not think you were that old, I thought you were like 14.

…yep.

Well, do you have a boyfriend?

No..

Why Not?!

You do not ask her why not! What’s wrong with you?

Well I’m just wondering…she’s not ugly or anything. Are you looking for a boyfriend?

Not right now…

Oh…well…I’m straight.

…………………….

Yes, so by the beginning of my second shift I’m pretty sure my coworkers had made some…not so correct assumptions about me… and that made me feel…pretty awkward.

Now, I continued training, until they scheduled me for Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve, and by that point I was pretty tired of things, not to mention the pretty gross conditions. I won’t name names, but I’ll just say: unwashed hands. I felt very out of place in The Village, and this made me pretty sad, but I pushed through days three and four. And then, IT happened.

I’m a big believer in lessons, God lessons, things that change the way you look at the world. Now I’ll be real, with you, after day three I talked to my mom on the phone and told her all the things going on, and that I basically hated my life and didn’t ever want to go back to ‘that place’. But among the things I said, I recall saying how, if this pathetic ‘temptation’ was Satan’s way of luring me away from God, it was just that, pathetic, I don’t give into peer pressure—I never have. And I said it smugly.

On day four I was cleaning in the line-up area, when my manager and two other gals came up. The manager asked me what I was going to school for, and I said counseling but the thing here was, I cognitively thought about saying Counseling Ministries; but I thought that’d be weird to say, they’d think I’m weird. Not two seconds afterwards I mentally slapped myself saying I totally just pulled a Peter, and denied Him. I was then told to go sweep the floors because the vacuum was broken; and while doing this (**okay, you know when you’re doing something, but focusing on something in your head, be it praying, replaying a scenario or just daydreaming? Well I was semi-praying**) and I just asked for forgiveness, for my denial, and along with that, I begged to take that moment back, and be given another chance. And I kid you not. Probably 30 seconds after thinking that, my manager comes up to me again and asks what my major is. To which I proudly responded Counseling Ministries!

The next day of work was the worst of them all; my trainer took approximately 10 smoke breaks in the span of 3 hours. And I just cleaned every surface I came in contact with out of pure boredom. Right before I got off, I asked if I could go outside for a sec, where I called my mother told her about everything, and asked for her blessing.

She gave it, and I went back in and quit my job.

Quit my job of 5 days.

Guys, I didn’t even finish training.

Man, do you have such a story?

But the manager was extremely kind, and wished me good luck in all I do—I take this as another good omen.

So that’s it guys, I’m jobless, but I learned a lesson; so what if peer pressure doesn’t affect me? The thoughts of people affect me; I’m always worried about how I appear, how people see me. But I also learned that my God is greater than any folly of mine, and if he wants me to learn a lesson, then I’ll learn that lesson.