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37 Lessons From Last Year Alone...

I'll Be Taking Some of These With Me Later...

By Kent BrindleyPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 10 min read
2
1984

1984. That’s a good ye…

(Takes sip of...water; spit take).

"I'm old."

Anyway, I guess that you're never too old for another year to teach you some new things (and what better time to set a new calendar year than on your birthdate?)

In the final wee hours of my being 36 (or, on some technicality, my 37th year on this plane), let us explore only SOME of what has happened to/for me since September 8 of 2020 (the day I turned 36)...

1). On the EXACT day of my 36th Birthday, my Furlough at Bronson Wellness Center was lifted after six months of our being out of work because *cough, cough-cough*...Reasons (...as in "reasons that put nearly everyone else out of work right around March 2020 as well.")

2). September 15th: We had our meeting SPECIFIALLY EXPLORING returning to work. This was really happening; we WERE coming back! Except...

3). "Wellness Center operates under the umbrella of a hospital system. Yes; you will definitely wear masks; especially when working out. The facewear of gaiters/bandanas/kerchiefs should suffice..."

4). (April or May 2021) "...Just kidding; Michigan CDC so states that Face MASKS are the only acceptable option because...well; hospital system."

5). Why, yes, we employees DEFINITELY have the authority to remind people about the mask policies (right along with the cell phone policies in the locker rooms or with reminding our members about the new closing time). Certainly our members will always remain 100% respectful, considerate, and understanding; even when being told by a janitor "Locker Room Attendant."

6). ...#5 sounds REALLY good on paper and is kind of null-and-void as a lesson because I saw the ACTUAL response coming from a mile away.

7). If the club AND Locker Rooms BOTH close at 8 these days (and HAVE done so ever since last September), 7:30 is the opportune time to begin to project/dread what the next half-hour/forty minutes/forty-five minutes is going to bring you; especially from the same members who keep you after every single night and KNOW what time your "temporary" new closing time is.

8). Offering members the answer that "MORE employees and more membership dues could keep us open" doesn't bring people running to fill out job applications; and for our members to scurry AWAY to a nice 24-hour, maskless gym isn't helping their precious gym hours either.

9). With a shift shaved off of the end of the day, those of us still around have to scramble for shifts.

10). Working 9 hours/week, and being paid every OTHER week, wasn't exactly financially stable for having the grand old time that people missed out on in 2020...

11). Staying at home and relying on the generosity of "the government" (the ACTUAL generosity of the working class that those staying at home for the past year SNEERED AT far louder than usual) was more financially lucrative than getting back up and returning to work; but I was ready to EARN at least SOMETHING again...

12). When your best friends in the community right now are ALL in the restaurant industry, it can lead to GREAT service and even better conversation...

13). ...Maintaining this vaunted "greatest customer in the place" stature can be costly on your wallet and on your emotional investment in your servers.

14). Being "besties" with your favorite servers (well into your 30s now; aren't you married YET?) has caused you to shiver in your seat at the behavior of these customers emerging from the darkness of a year of quarantine and having ALREADY forgotten how to behave in a restaurant. This is emotionally taxing on you AND the server (and financially taxing when it's your DUTY to make-up for "bad" customers [a good life-lesson for next year will be "..the HELL it's YOUR duty <to make up for someone else's piss poor behavior!> YOU are responsible for YOU"]).

15). Back to ONE part-time job at 9 hours a week and pay every OTHER week: "You need MORE."

16). When the fourth place you apply to is the one who finally says yes, you take it with a smile on your face. Hello 13 and a half hours a week at original job; and approximately 9 hours a weekend at the secondary job (that pays EVERY week).

17). Working the closing shifts rather than opening or midday can really hurt a single guy's social life...

18). ...You are indeed 36 pushing 37; and still unmarried because you still haven't met the first steady relationship.

19). You may be underworked; but your favorite bartenders (95% of them female) are feeling overworked right now. One more RGK/A ("Random" Gimmick of Kindness/"Appreciation") could be in order here...

20) Your side gig is an ice cream shop; and your ABSOLUTE "favoritest" bar beauty right now has a massive sweet tooth.

21). Said bar beauty is 26, you're (at present) HOURS away from 37, and we're after your first girlfriend, not your third wife. Also, you won't just walk away; AT LEAST keep conversations CLOSE to the surface level. ("How's your day?/How YOU doin'?/What can I do to make your day better?"; laughing and joking banter; honest dialogues on anything BUT relationship status/"hey, I like you"/"damn, you're hot!/" etc.).

22). Girls LIKE being told that they're pretty (ONLY once in a very great while and once you've known them long enough[yes, I practiced THIS particular notion on one slightly closer to my age]). "Pretty/Beautiful" and "HOT" are COMPLETELY different things. (FOOD is "hot," WEATHER is "hot" [and, when it is, makes crabby people even worse], FIRE is "hot," Paris Hilton overuses the word "hot," etc.).

23). An Ice Cream Register Attendant has to deal with FAR more than cashing people out...

24). You'll overhear how your scoopers (aged somewhere between 16-19) are being treated and YOU, Mr. 36-Year-Old Adult, will get PISSED!

25). You will SERIOUSLY think about at least screaming at (if not PUNCHING) quite a few customers; providing that it never reaches fruition.

26). A properly placed Face Mask makes it very easy to silently mouth what you're subconsciously REALLY thinking right now...

27). The customer is sometimes WRONG; and when they're wrong about the size of an ice cream scoop that you keep trying to explain to them (they've oversized it and YOU understand the sizing chart), you will be presented with the great moral dilemma of whether or not to save the customer some money or let them walk away crowing about the satisfaction of "being right" this time and all of the times.

28). Being an ice cream cashier means being a referee because people think it's humorous to CONTINUE debating about who's paying as two/three credit cards are fluttering in my face (this is ice cream and SOMEONE'S paying. WHO that person is does not register on my list of importance right now).

29). Being an ice cream cashier means that the decisions that you make are personally responsible for race relations. (Example: "The night that I was in the middle of cashing out a woman at the credit card cash register when a 20 dollar bill started being fluttered IN MY FACE from the next register over. *One moment, sir.* Back to the woman who I had been in the middle of caring for. [Technically, one moment later]: *I haven't got all day!* The woman is in the middle of selecting her tip option and already has her card back; it's not ABSOLUTELY necessary that I literally talk her through selecting a tip, signing, and selecting her receipt options. I step down, thank the gentleman for his patience with close to a straight face, cash him out, hand him his change, and...am informed, as a longer line has formed to overhear this, that I am some kind of racist monster that I hadn't DROPPED EVERYTHING and left a woman who had already been plowed by twice by someone else on THEIR ways to/from the register on behalf of a black gentleman with at least emotional, if not mental, issues. [On technicality, I suppose he was right about my prejudice; except it was to his BENEFIT. I KNEW this gentleman from the community and knew that he had his problems; or my response to him would have been vastly different from *I'm sorry to have kept you waiting and I am sorry that you FELT personally slighted or offended.* By this point, that is ALL that I had to apologize for; at least, to him.")

30). Little kids under the charge of their parents couldn't be quicker to go "thank you!"/"have a nice day!" (at least to their cashier). Groups of around 5 30/40/50-something ADULTS carrying around the big important "Indiana/Illinois Money" are the bane of any food service worker's workday.

31). ...Apparently Indiana and Illinois switched to (Yen/the Euro/gold/Kerium/functioning Cryptocurrency/a monetary unit that inflates with their egos/etc.) without this being bigger news. It is the only way that I can explain this mindset where "Indiana/Illinois Money!!!" is worth more than the U.S. Dollar carried by every other State in the Union.

32). Being informed (platonically, of course) how "loved" you are by a bartender or two whom you know are both (naturally) taken (one in a relationship; one MARRIED) can still make you feel extremely appreciated; all because you appreciate them.

33). When your birthday weekend falls on Labor Day weekend (and most of your friends work in the bars), your friends with families (and NOT in the bar industry) will ALSO have plans with their young families; and WON'T always RSVP to your "big" Pre-Birthday-Weekend-Town-Crawl-Extravaganza. Don't let it sour your mood too badly; the very bartenders who tend to hang out with you after hours once you get out of YOUR night-place-of-employment will be GLAD to see you! (At one place, providing that you've brung ice cream; at the other, only providing that you bring in your sweet, open, honest, still-single-with-nothing-else-to-do self).

34). Being (PLATONICALLY!) "loved" by women is not ALWAYS a bad thing (a decade and a half ago, it might have even been endearing). At this point, EMBRACE the appreciation (and try to monitor the time on the PHYSICAL embraces that you're dishing out).

35). A new ($25) Haircut from a new place can turn some heads at any age (oh yeah; $45 with the beard trim). In fact, I might repeat this lesson Seasonally or so; the work, and the RESPONSE, was that impressive.

36). Sometimes, you'll meet your "Angels" (all taken in some form or another) BEFORE you'll meet your actual available girlfriend. Take it in stride and embrace the quips/rebuttals/shared jokes.

37). You're not yet too old to learn to drive/get your license, to move to a new community in a place to call your own, to get a better job, to meet a nice woman, to land a traditionally published book deal/MOVIE deal for said book deal, and to form a family (hm; THIS yearly life lesson sounds familiar...)

I shall take these life lessons from this past year and go forth into a NEW one (age wise, if not calendar year).

Many blessings to you and yours as I prepare for 37...

Interested in joining the Vocal+ community, complete with perks like Quick Edit or Vocal+ specific challenges?

This COULD be your opportunity to say “yes” to a great community!(Through one particular person's handy, personal link. Help me to help you...).

Thank you.

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About the Creator

Kent Brindley

Smalltown guy from Southwest Michigan

Lifelong aspiring author here; complete with a few self-published works always looking for more.

https://www.instagram.com/kmoney_gv08/

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