Tuesday, May 19, 2015

MAYBE IT IS POSSIBLE AFTER ALL

I've often written about how utterly stupid I find being an adult to be. You know, how much bills suck and how making big decisions is hard and all the stuff all the adultier adults already know about. But lately, this whole adult thing has been growing on me. As in, I think maybe I'm starting to figure out things. Gasp.

By no stretch of the imagination do I have all of the answers to anything, but I guess maybe I don't go around proclaiming that being a grown up is the stupidest thing I've ever done anymore. Instead, I'm actually rather enjoying this season of my life.

I used to sit and daydream about when life would actually start and when would I have a place of my own and when would I this and when would I that and yada yada yada. I used to walk through home goods sections of stores and wonder about the sorts of things I would have in my own house someday. What kind of plates would I eat off of? What kind of couch would I come home to sit on? Always imagining, never knowing anything other than eating off of someone else's plates and sitting on someone else's couches.

But recently I've been watching the HGTV shows that Netflix has obtained and it has caused me to do some rather large thinking. Nathan talks about buying a house in the area and coming up with timelines and we're talking about buying cars and taking trips and doing things that I knew someday I would be doing but all the while feeling like maybe it wasn't as real as I hoped it would be. Does that make any sense?

Like you sit on the front porch swing when you're little and you dream up all the big plans for your life and as you go through the years you think maybe those plans might actually never come to fruition and then you wake up one day and realize that actually, yes, you can go out and do those things and there's nothing stopping you anymore. Can I just say how freeing of a feeling that is? Like, is this even real life?

I used to believe that I was too little for a real house. You know, a "real" house would be too big for me. I wouldn't be able to reach the top shelf and people would come to my door and ask for my parents and I would shake my fist and be all indignant and say sassy things. But now, having a "real" house, (not just an apartment or small living space) seems like less and less of a distant daydream and more and more of an impending reality.

It wasn't as if I really believed that I would never have my own house, it's just that...I kind of believed I would never have my own house. Or car. Or what-have-you. Like it was all just beyond my finger tips. I could look and I could smell, but I couldn't touch it. Not yet.

And now, maybe, I'm the closest I have ever been. Dreams are starting to become reality. Adulthood isn't looking so stupid anymore. It's like, what is even happening to me these days, you guys? You guys! I mean, I still have no idea, but it feels awesome!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

PEOPLE BE CRAZY

Recently at the juice bar we found ourselves in the position where we needed to let one of our employees go. These kinds of situations are never fun for anyone and I was dreading the actual conversation we were bound to be having. As the manager, I am part of the hiring process and that means I'm part of the firing process as well. I have never been fired, but I have been laid off. I know it sucks. I know it makes you angry and feel like you've been treated unfairly. It's not fun for your employer either.

I am not a very reactionary person. I tend to clam up in uncomfortable situations, which keeps me from saying something I might later regret. I have not been witness to people who generally fly off the handle and spew word vomit like a teenager when something doesn't go their way. Mostly because this behavior is reserved for children, not thirty year olds.

It was shocking for me to sit through that conversation as this employee argued and interrupted with excuse after excuse about how this was unfair and we were playing favorites and no one provided a chance for improvement or been honest. I couldn't believe that this employee absolutely refused to take any responsibility for their actions, but instead kept throwing the blame back on us and how terribly we were treating them.

I'm sorry, but in what world is being fired or let go ever fair? When is the timing ever good? I will argue some people may be let go unfairly but that is maybe the exception and not the rule. Whatever the case may be, it is in your best interests to keep your damn mouth shut. Employers and business owners talk to each other. If the community finds out that you are a juvenile disrespectful employee who constantly makes excuses, no one is going to hire you.

If you want any advice from this situation, it would be this: bow out gracefully. Keep your dignity. Don't leave a bad conversation and then text mean, unnecessary comments to your former employer. It just makes you look immature and reaffirms that they made the right choice in letting you go.

Anyone that needs to tear down other people in order to make themselves feel better has a lot of growing up to do.

But even though that was a rough day, I'm glad to have gone through that experience. Not only is it a vibrant reminder of how not to act in a serious situation, it shows me how other people with different temperaments react to the world around them. Not everyone is a dignified, classy member of society. And also, some people will never learn.
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