Current mood: good
And if I could make another statement more rhetorical than that one I would probably keep it to myself... once rhetoric, twice ridiculous.
I have finally taken off the shirt of a Red Robin server for the last time, and have proceeded to make some progressive steps in my life by taking on a new job which more appropriately suites my need to move forward in life. It is a cut in hourly rate but a big boost in hourly accumulation... and, most importantly, I will shortly be eligible for benefits as a full-time employee at Office Max. Hooray for corporate America! Hmmmm.... I am sure you will not likely hear anything like that coming from me again anytime soon. Anyway, my job title is technically "Desktop Publisher" in the "Print and Document Services/ Copy Max" section of Office Max. I generally love doing graphic design and this job offers me the opportunity, as the job title does not necessarily imply, to stretch out my creative endeavors within the very setting that is paying me to do it. What a sweet bonus that is. And I have been doing it for 15 working business days now.
This story has many predecessors, and I am sure many to follow, which will basically illustrate a general idea of little consequence to most casual observers. What is contained within it is not particularly specific, or even generally interesting, but I did come to some fairly strong emotional disarray as one of the two main characters in it. I have basically recovered today but I did have to sleep that one off... very unusual for me.
On to story number one:
It was a mild, easy-paced evening of leisure and relative non-stress... or... I was at work and it was slow. Typically there are two options in such a situation. Option #1 encourages a person to relax the hours away doing little and feeling little. A general waste of time other than the acquisition of funds at the advantage of poor scheduling or unforeseen business malady. I occasionally take the low road of Option #1 as it does have the certain appeal of ease and self-indulgence. I do not, and never will, promote laziness, inactivity, or non-progression, however, and will usually strive to take advantage of Option A... or any other challenging, fulfilling Option. Option A encourages the positive atmosphere of creativity and inspiration by making games where non superficially exist, usually in ways that are not readily perceivable by the potential few patrons or other uninformed co-workers present. Option A also includes the general drive to make better the experience of all involved in whatever way possible. This description of Option A is fairly loose and is intended to leave much room for personal translation and application. And thus ends my first exceptionally verbose and semi-unimportant tangent.
So as I was trying to engage into Option A mode and doing fairly well, regardless of lacking resources, and a pleasant middle-aged woman came into my part of the store where my manager and I were keeping somewhat busy, immediately posing the question "Who here is good at unusual requests?" or something very close to that. Appealing to my sense of problem solving, and recognizing the opportunity to potentially improve someones day by accomplishing something for them they have not been able to do up to this point, I immediately announced my reply which basically put me at the helm of what turned out to be an extremely easy task. She was looking for acid-free or lignin-free paper which was light blue in color for a project she was working on. Curious about what lignin was I struck up a conversation that rambled all around various different topics of a somewhat eccentric or unusual persuasion. I am almost always interested in these types of things as they often present very new areas of learning exploration and thinking. She taught me how to count binary using my hands, among a few other interesting concepts I was able to follow up on in my own study time later that night. Anyway it was all quite interesting and edifying and then quite suddenly and unexpectedly she reacted very harshly toward me, calling me a jerk and informing me she no longer wanted to speak to me, after I laughed at a small mistake she had made while we were conversing. I laughed out of empathy for her dismay while she apparently took it as something completely different... ultimately this is the point of my story... My good intentions of trying to help, in whatever method I do, was very easily turned into something destructive and ineffective by her misunderstanding of my actions. Several minutes later, after she was finished with her work, she left without a word and in a seemingly bitter mood. I felt terrible the entire rest of the night. Not because I laughed at her but because I offended her at all. I was a large contributing factor in her poor Office Max experience. What a terrible feeling it is to offend someone, intentionally or not.
I know I am not entirely at fault for all that occurred there. I know any number of things, good and bad, could have happened in that little slice of time I have emphasized here. I know that all communication has two responsible parties involved. I still, unfortunately, abbreviate my encompassing description of the whole event with the simple, lacking statement "I have been misunderstood my whole life" in my somewhat lackluster reliance on an Option #1-type of mentality. And it is just so easy to do so.
Anyway I expect I have offended many others without knowing it and for that I must apologize. I never intentionally offend anyone.
So ends story number one. Did you learn anything? I did... in semi-comprehensive retrospect.
I had a good day at work today. No follow-up stories or anything unusual. And even though it is a Saturday, and I will not typically work on a Saturday, I am glad I worked today. Good times.
If you ever want to learn how to count in binary or what the definition of lignin is feel free to ask. I am not an expert on either topic but I can be somewhat informative and would enjoy the conversation.
