The Preposterous Rants of an Unemployed Graduate

The Preposterous Rants of an Unemployed Graduate

"How can I help you, may I take your order?"

Often I find myself operating on auto pilot in this journey to find myself while pursuing my dreams. What is finding yourself? I think most of us master this concept sometime in life, however I hope to do so before I get too old. Back to the monotony  that has become my life which I am ashamed to admit but at this point of time, I feel propelled to share. You see, currently I work in food service, I wont name what company I work for, for I fear potential legal consequences since the internet is an open market.

So I work in food service. This came to be when I made the decision to move to the Washington DC Metro area from Los Angeles California without a job, or housing. This was a sudden move to say the least but much needed to preserve my sanity. Now that I am here and living in the the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area life has set in and I have bills and adult responsibilities to tend to. The bills, responsibilities of being adult is not what bothers me, its the consistent upward battle to gain financial stability being under employed. I deem myself under employed because as a college graduate I believe I am intelligent, articulate and possess enough skills to be gainfully employed in a professional environment but that has yet to happen.

So back to my rants of being employed in the food service world. Working in food service has truly been good to me, after all I am grateful to have a job however it too has its challenges. First and foremost, I've learned more Spanish working in this industry than I have in school (LoL). Secondly, customer service is not for the lighthearted. I truly believe rudeness is part of who some people are and let me not fail to mention those supervisors, shift leaders and general managers who take their job way too seriously and who partially treat you as if they actually own you as their slave. While at work, sometimes I think to myself this can't be real.

In addition, daily I recite the most common food service phase "How can I help you? May I take your order?" This question has the power to reduce, subdue and humble anyone as it has shown me that no matter where you come from we all have to do what we can to make a living. Through this daily recitation of this phrase I mingle with my weekly regulars conversing with them about our monthly specials while enticing them to spend more money on food I believe is already over priced!
Its amazing how repeating something over and over can begin to take your energy. It has began to drain me. Now, I understand that there are a lot of hard working poor people in America which in my opinion are the people working in food service for minimum wage. A meager 20-25 hours per week is still not enough money to live off of to eat and pay rent. What gives? Am I the only person that needs to eat everyday and pay for shelter? They say strife don't last always and those who weary in their good deeds shall not fret. Well too late, I am weary, fretting and over extending my energies to every potential professional job that comes my way. Most times I wonder are there other under employed college graduates in my position? After all I did not attend college and spend all that money to work in food service, I did it to serve in other means. But let me stop ranting and continue to muster up the patience to endure. For this is obviously not my season to reap whatever it is I am supposed to reap!

Song of this post: Wildflower by New Birth




Sincerely,

The Burgeoning Turtle