When Your Wish is a Vegan Dish!

This past Saturday was eventful, meaningful, and delicious!

I got to cater at an entirely vegan wedding!  It was wonderous!

Miss Rachel of Miss Rachel's Pantry was awesome enough to take me on board and in a sense, under her wing.  I am in awe of her hard work, talent, and niceness!

Miss Rachel's Pantry is an entirely vegan business run by a real vegan.  Miss Rachel started her business a few years ago and has been amazing vegans and non-vegans alike with her creativity and her consistency to serve things that are oh, so good!

On Saturday, she and three other lovely ladies, and myself, worked to prepare and serve a small-ish wedding which took place on a gorgeous horse farm.  I got to see horses roll around in the grass and kick their feet up in delight!  I've never seen that before!

The food consisted of about 10 plates (not including Hors D'Oeuvres) for 10 tables.  With each warming of food there was a new, mouth-watering smell in the kitchen, with each placing of the plates on the tables there were "Ooos and Ahhs!", and with each dish there was a lot of walking back and forth.  This part would have been easier if I could have found shoes that were more exactly my size (6-1/2 Wide) but wide sizes are harder to come by.

At any rate, it was all worth it when people were done eating and the team could sit down and chow down.  The food was perfect!

After our meal, we started cleaning up and I heard the Mother-of-the-Bride tell Miss Rachel that she was now thinking of ditching her current "veg" lifestyle and just going vegan because of how impressed she was with the food!  I got teary I was so touched!

I want to do more work like this.

"I want more!"

Promotion Mojo

About a month ago, one of my supervisors from work asked me how I would feel about making a little more money doing what he and the other supervisors do.  I said I was interested.  Truthfully, the way the position was presented to me, it seemed so tentative, I didn't think it would actually happen.

Much to my surprise, about a week later, the promotion was brought up again, this time with mention of training days.  As my boss asked me if I thought I could do the position I felt...short.  That is the most describable feeling that comes to mind.   

I've never seen myself as any kind of leader and I was surprised when my supervisor brought the opening up to me.  I see some of my other co-workers as more model employees than me.  I'm not sure why I was considered before them but I am somewhat flattered, kind of confused, and more than a little guilty.  I have even more guilt over the fact that my co-workers are taking a lot of time to train me and even with an eventual dollar raise, the pay will not be keep me for any enduring amount of time.  But, perhaps with the way my ongoing job search has been going, maybe I won't have to be too guilty.

This has nothing to do with what I'm saying but it looks cool and it came up when I Googled "supervisor".

Training hasn't been easy.  I'm a slow learner, I'm not good with numbers, I'm not observant, and I have problems staying focused.  After the first few days I was convinced that I wouldn't actually get the promotion on account of my seeming incompetence.  The fact that I had two late days didn't help either.

Thankfully, things got better.  Some how I picked up on things that seemed like I never would and as with any new skill I learn, I'm in awe of my brain, both from a personal and a scientific standpoint.  Are other people continually amazed at the human brain's abilities?

Tonight, I was on a practice run of sorts.  For about two hours I worked as a supervisor as though I would if I were on my own.  I made mistakes, yes, but my confidence isn't shaken by them.  I feel pretty good about my progress in fact.  So, because I don't say it nearly enough (and because I deserve it!), "Good job, Me!"

   

I Fall Behind

This week, my work world was changed when the work computer was taken away.  As a result, my blogging fell behind this week leaving me to feel...unexpressed.

At my current job, I sit at a desk waiting for people to come inside so I can greet them.  If no one comes in, which happens more minutes than not, I spend my time looking for new jobs and blogging.  Or at least I use to.  Now I am given projects to busy myself.  I understand, I get it.  If I'm at work, I should be working.  But, the other part of working should be being able to pay for basic, necessary things like housing, bills, and food.  Since these needs are not being met, I find myself resenting my new busy work.  I shouldn't have to busk to pay for groceries and bills on time.  Not when I'm working 4 days a week with a college degree and college loans to pay back.

Luckily, I'm going to New York this week to hopefully fix this situation.  I hope that my prospects can work out.  If not, I maybe heading home soon.  I'm getting tired to barely making it.     

My Best Work

I work at a used bookstore.  It pays the bill, but that's about it.  Some people can go to a job that they don't like, leave and feel better.  That's not me.  I need to have good feelings about what I'm doing to feel good at all.  To feel good, I need to be learning new things, improving the lives of others, and have the luxury to be creative.  Generally, my used bookstore hasn't allowed me to fulfill these needs, until recently. 

This past Tuesday was my best day of work.  A woman carrying a bundle of flowers came into the store and approached the counter asking, "I have sort of a strange request.  My daughter-in-law is expecting and scheduled to give birth tomorrow.  I want to give her some books, light reading books, about girlfriends and things, that she can take to the hospital with her to read.  Do you have any suggestions?"  I was eager to help, but I was feeling out of my area of expertise.  I don't read "books about girlfriends".  I gravitate towards books about animal rights, psychology, and film making.  I try to read classics and books that inspired movies as much as I can.  The only "chick lit" book I've read I bought because my college play-writing professor wrote (which was "Tart" if anyone cares to know.  I liked it!).

So, I pointed this woman in the direction of the fiction section while walking over with her.  I pulled off things from the shelves that were bestsellers because I at least knew that other people had liked them.  I found Confessions of a Shopaholic and presented it to the customer.  She smiled kindly but shook her head, "A girl book but she doesn't like shopping or shoes.  I know, it's a strange request."  Although this was different from my initial idea, I felt like I could better relate to what this mother-to-be might want. 

My mind went to when I was happily working at Blockbuster and swapping books with my manager.  He lent me his Chuck Palahniuk books and I lent him my Nick Hornby books.  I can't remember if my co-worker actually read High Fidelity or just the back cover, but I remember that he didn't finish it.
"It's a chick book," he complained.
 "No it's not!  It's about a guy who can't commit."        
"Well, it's metro-sexual at the very least." 
I saw his point although I doubt I admitted it at the time. 

So, I pulled some Nick Hornby books from the shelf.  A Long Way Down, High Fidelity, and How To Be Good.  I talked about how funny the author was and that the reading was light and engaging.  The woman read the back of the books and held up How To Be Good saying, "This one will work!"  I felt so happy!  I had really helped someone!  Not just rang up their books or answered their questions on the phone, but actually helped them!  We kept looking together and I picked up What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage.  I haven't read it, but I know Oprah likes it.  I like the title and I like the cover.  The woman likes the looks of it too!  She says she's ready to go!

As we walk back up to the counter, I ask if the flowers she's carrying are for her daughter-in-law.  She tells me that they are and that it's her daughter-in-law's birthday today.
"If the baby is born tomorrow, it'll be one birthday after another, and that would be nice."  I agree with her.

I ring up the customer's books and put them in a nice bag.  I tell her to wish her daughter-in-law a "Happy Birthday and Best of  Luck!" for me.  She tells me she will and thanks me for my help. 

As she leaves I find it amazing that a woman will be waiting to bring a new life into being with books I helped pick out in her hands.  Among her last hours before her life changes forever and she becomes a mother, she'll be reading (and probably laughing at) Nick Hornby or a book with abstract art and an Oprah's Book Club Sticker on the cover.  In the grand scheme of things, my hand in the day's events are insignificant but it's the closest I've come to feeling like I'm making a difference in my job so, I'll take it.  I wonder if the kid has been born yet...