Memoirs of a Working Girl

I got my first job the week after I turned 16. Between then and now, I have worked in two grocery stores and two restaurants. And I saw/heard/experienced A LOT. That's probably an understatement...

The point is that all those experiences made me a better person. It sounds cliche but it helped build up my character.

I'm of the firm belief that every able-bodied person should be required to work at least one year in a job in which they have to deal with the public.

That way when they make that transition into the so-called 'real world', they don't treat people who do work in the public sector like crap and maybe along the way learn a little patience and respect for others while learning how to work with people to achieve a common goal.

 There are people you're going to come into contact with over the course of your life that will vex you. Knowing how to deal with those people is a skill. Working with the public will help instill that skill in a person.

For instance, I wouldn't know how to react to people acting like fools if I had never seen a woman take off her flip flop and chase her child around the grocery store because he wanted a candy bar.

I wouldn't have as much patience as I do if I hadn't worked with a bag boy who was the epitome of a butterfingers. (Granted, my patience ran out and he was banned from my register after the pickles, hot sauce, exploding case of Pepsis, A1 steak sauce, Clorox bleach that ruined my pants and gallon of cane syrup that closed my register and took 20 pounds of sugar to clean up.)

I wouldn't have as much respect for myself and those around me if I hadn't dealt with countless customers who insist on ordering their food while they're on the phone with someone. That's just rude, you know?

My stories could go on and on but I'll resist the urge to tell them all in this post (maybe I could turn them into a book...?).

Now that I don't work with the public, I'm working in the public's eye. I may not be on air, but every word I write, every video I cut, every story I produce is analyzed by countless viewers.

And it never fails that whenever an angry viewer calls to complain, I answer the phone. I deal with them using professional courtesy, although most of the time I want to at the very least hang up on them.

People can be jerks, especially when they're dealing with people who work in a realm they don't understand. Most of the time those are the people who have never had to deal with the public in any fashion.

They don't have the war stories, the friendships forged in controversy and drama, the fortitude of spirit that comes from having countless people tell you that whatever you did was wrong. They feel entitled to their right to have and broadcast their opinions about your performance when they haven't really earned it.

Only when you've worked in the trenches that are public service or had every move you make scrutinized by the public do you have the right to speak out about someone's performance in the same field. The difference, though, is that most of us won't.

You know, unless we're a jerk. And if we are, well then we need to do another year of service.

An Open Letter to "Mr. Fabulous"

this one's for my work friends

 Dear Mr. Fabulous,

Your email updates are a constant source of entertainment for our newsroom, but don't go thinking that's a good thing... We usually end up making fun of you, that is when we're not plotting ways to eliminate you from our lives.

Things are just so hectic!

 So that's why you are the way you are? I'm sure most of us would say it's because of something else...

You turn one story a day, and yet you always find some way to stir up drama. Whether it's pitting your stations against one another or pissing off your producers, there's no shortage of drama where you're concerned.

Things are just so crazy around here!

You think it's crazy in your bureau? You should try working in our newsroom. Or maybe not. I'm not so sure you'd make it out of there alive. If the work load didn't do you in, I'm sure I or one of my counterparts would. At the very least, I'm positive you would end up crying at some point.

So be a doll, won't ya, and tone down your fabulousness so the rest of us can tolerate working with you.

Sincerely,

Your Fabulous Producer

P.S. What's the deal with the billboard? Seriously?!

September 11th 10 Years Later

It's been a decade since that image lit up television screens across America.

It's amazing how short that time span seems to have passed...

10 years ago I was a freshman in high school, watching history unfold before my very eyes.

Since then I've watched our country change.

September 11, 2001, is a day that Americans won't forget. How could we? That day when two hijacked airplanes flew into the World Trade Center in New York City, another crashed into the Pentagon and still one more was grounded before it could inflict further damage upon our country marks the largest terror attack in the history of the United States.

Some 3,000 people lost their lives that day.

As we all pause to remember the lives lost in those attacks and pay homage to those who risked their lives to save others, we shouldn't do so with hate.

One day I hope we can look back on September 11, 2001, and instead of seeing the destruction, death and hatred brought forth on that day, see the progress we've made as a people. I hope that we'll be more than the borders that define our countries, the religious books from which we draw hope and the languages that separate us. I hope the hatred that led to and arose from that fateful day will have dissipated and that we will no longer be fighting hate with more hate.

But no matter how long it takes us to reach that point, I hope we will never forget. You have to know where and what you come from to move forward, and there's nowhere else worth moving.

Life of Me: Wet Blanket

When it comes to my alcohol consumption or lack thereof, I've been called a wet blanket, party pooper and lame. I rarely drink, and when I do decide to turn it up it's not much.

Sure there have been times, mostly in college, when I drank more than I should have and did things I shouldn't have, but those times were few and far between when compared to the frequency with which other college kids were/are getting hammered.

I can't say that my decisions are based on lack of enjoyment. I enjoy the taste of alcohol. What I don't enjoy is that feeling of losing all control of whatever situation I happen to be in.

I've only been in an out-of-control situation once.

A few of us went out to a bar one night. I had one drink... and ended up in the emergency room.

I don't remember much from that night other than being scared out of my mind for no reason. And I'm not in any hurry to repeat the experience.

Then there's the fact that my biological father is an alcoholic. I've grown up watching him get increasingly worse when it comes to his habit. I can't say that he struggles with it because he doesn't actually fight against it, but it has given me this sense of awareness when it comes to drinking.

He's the type of drunk who will forgo buying food for his family in lieu of buying a case of beer for himself, and maybe a pack of cigarettes. He pops his first top at lunchtime or earlier and when he runs out, he drives himself to the store to buy more. I've seen the way he influences my siblings, treating them as his friends instead of his children, using them as drinking buddies and letting them pretty much do whatever they want when they want to do it. He gets crazy when he drinks and even violent. While he's never raised a hand to me, he has to some of the people I love the most.

I refuse to turn into him. I'm terrified that I will.

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It should be noted that I do not consider my biological father my dad. To learn more about the amazing man who fills that role. click here.

Carpe Diem

I've been on vacation this week, and it's made me realize how much I miss having time off.

Once you've graduated and moved into the so-called real world, life all-too-often becomes a pattern.

For example, Monday through Friday I work from 2:00 until 11:00 p.m. I get an hour lunch break at the same time every night. I'm off on weekends. I get paid every two weeks.

I rarely have time to just sit and do nothing for an extended amounts of time. Or rather, I rarely take advantage of those times because if I do I run out of time to do something else.

When you're a student you get lots of time off, not counting weekends. There's Spring Break, Christmas vacation, summer and in some cases even a Fall Break.

When you become a working girl, you get ... well, weekends are your only guarantee. So far this year I've worked every single holiday except for New Year's, but that doesn't count because it was on a weekend, and my 'holiday' has been scheduled for a random weekday.

I guess it's true what they say - you don't know what you've got til it's gone.

In 23 days, I'll have been working a professional job for two years. In that time, this week has been the most consecutive days off I've had. And boy did I need a breather.

It's been so refreshing not having to worry about being somewhere at a certain time, not having to deal with the storm leading up to my shows, not having to put on makeup or even fix my hair. Recharging my batteries, so to speak.

How many of us have forgotten what that's like? We get sucked into that pattern our careers force upon us and before we know it the days have become weeks have become months have become years have become a lifetime.

So here's my advice to those of you reading this...
Take time away from your job every chance you get without abusing the privilege, i.e. no false sick days. Don't just live for the weekends that you've filled with all the things you didn't get to do during the week. Everybody needs a break every now and then, even if it's just one extra day all to yourself.