Last night I smiled at the smallest thing, and it’s weirdly going to stay with me for a bit.
When I got to work, it was just the owner and myself taking care of everything. Well, honestly, just me for a good chunk of it because I could do it all myself and I knew she had other matters to tend to.
She told me of an occurrence that happened the other day with a new girl and one of the seasoned teenagers, who just so happens to be my favorite coworker. He told her that the new girl was a bit mouthy, which I didn’t encounter the one time I’ve worked with her. She had never closed before and he was giving her direction on what needed to be done. Mind you, this is a good kid, a hard worker, and he’s really good at what he does. And instead of respecting his leadership, she came back with, “Why don’t you do it?” with as much attitude as you can imagine. He offered to do the task if she’d take over his, but she didn’t want to do that either. She ended up doing what he intentionally told her to do, but when she walked by him afterwards, she was mumbling quite a bit.
Right after I heard that, I could feel my posture change. I put my shoulders back, stood up straight, lifted my chin, and uttered one sentence to my boss. “Nah, that isn’t gonna fly” like I had just been taunted by some 5’nothing dude trying to square up with me at an UFC photo op. Her being the compassionate person she is added that it’s her first job and that she had cried nearly her entire waitress shift the day before because she was that scared and out of her depth, but I told her that it doesn’t excuse her behavior. And she agreed with me. I knew I’d be working with her this weekend, so I smirked and said I’d educate her a little bit. She just smiled and walked away. I, of course, kept thinking of her disrespect and it kind of fueled my anger more than I’d like to admit.
The seasoned teenager came in for his shift, looked around, and then paused.
Him: “…just us?”
Me: ”Just us.”
Him: “Nice.”
And that little exchange just extinguished all the anger that had been built up, and I finally felt centered again. Later on he did bring up the exchange with her, and I softly apologized that it even happened. I think I’m a little protective of the kid, but it honestly wouldn’t have mattered who was on the receiving end of that attitude. The need to readjust her would be there.
But we ended up having so much fun last night that our boss came in laughing asking if she needed to separate us.
And that’s the kind of company I like to keep around me there. Where we know how to shift gears and do the business that needs to be done, but also know how important it is to share some laughs over boobs high fiving each other in our close working quarters. We’ve had our fair share of sassy pants trying to occupy that space over the years, and there’s a reason they’re no longer a part of our work family.
This weekend will be fun though. I’ll observe patiently and give gentle opportunities to improve herself should it be needed. But if I’m met with even an ounce of push back…well, I haven’t had to crack my whip in a bit and I have to say the itch is definitely there to do so 😏
She told me of an occurrence that happened the other day with a new girl and one of the seasoned teenagers, who just so happens to be my favorite coworker. He told her that the new girl was a bit mouthy, which I didn’t encounter the one time I’ve worked with her. She had never closed before and he was giving her direction on what needed to be done. Mind you, this is a good kid, a hard worker, and he’s really good at what he does. And instead of respecting his leadership, she came back with, “Why don’t you do it?” with as much attitude as you can imagine. He offered to do the task if she’d take over his, but she didn’t want to do that either. She ended up doing what he intentionally told her to do, but when she walked by him afterwards, she was mumbling quite a bit.
Right after I heard that, I could feel my posture change. I put my shoulders back, stood up straight, lifted my chin, and uttered one sentence to my boss. “Nah, that isn’t gonna fly” like I had just been taunted by some 5’nothing dude trying to square up with me at an UFC photo op. Her being the compassionate person she is added that it’s her first job and that she had cried nearly her entire waitress shift the day before because she was that scared and out of her depth, but I told her that it doesn’t excuse her behavior. And she agreed with me. I knew I’d be working with her this weekend, so I smirked and said I’d educate her a little bit. She just smiled and walked away. I, of course, kept thinking of her disrespect and it kind of fueled my anger more than I’d like to admit.
The seasoned teenager came in for his shift, looked around, and then paused.
Him: “…just us?”
Me: ”Just us.”
Him: “Nice.”
And that little exchange just extinguished all the anger that had been built up, and I finally felt centered again. Later on he did bring up the exchange with her, and I softly apologized that it even happened. I think I’m a little protective of the kid, but it honestly wouldn’t have mattered who was on the receiving end of that attitude. The need to readjust her would be there.
But we ended up having so much fun last night that our boss came in laughing asking if she needed to separate us.
And that’s the kind of company I like to keep around me there. Where we know how to shift gears and do the business that needs to be done, but also know how important it is to share some laughs over boobs high fiving each other in our close working quarters. We’ve had our fair share of sassy pants trying to occupy that space over the years, and there’s a reason they’re no longer a part of our work family.
This weekend will be fun though. I’ll observe patiently and give gentle opportunities to improve herself should it be needed. But if I’m met with even an ounce of push back…well, I haven’t had to crack my whip in a bit and I have to say the itch is definitely there to do so 😏
46-50, F
