Wednesday, October 28, 2009

When's the last time you've had to swallow that pill—called pride?

So I never told you guys about this, but about two months ago I applied for a part-time job at a spinning studio to work at the front desk. (It's actually the same studio I told you about in this post.) I was asked to come in and try a class and then get trained for the position. As I was being taught how to clock people in and fold the towels a certain way, I was thinking to myself, Am I seriously doing this right now? Am I really this desperate? Apparently, I was. It actually wasn't so bad. The people were cool and I got to take a free spinning class, but I knew it wasn't for me. Dealing with grumpy rich women who've had entirely too much Botox and haven't ingested anything other than non-fat lattes in over a week is not my idea of fun. I was only there one day, but if I had heard a bitch complain about how her "assigned bike isn't close enough to the front of the room" one more time I would have shot myself. In the foot. 

I wasn't technically offered the job, so when The Knot emailed me the next day about helping them with a research project, I jumped on the opportunity. Honestly, I never thought that at (almost) 29 years-old, I'd be cruising Craigslist for the same type of jobs I had when I was eighteen. 

Even though the consistent paychecks from my current gig are certainly helping, I'm nowhere close to being financially comfortable yet. So, when I was recently asked to babysit on a Saturday night until 3am, I said yes. (Is it terrible that I asked for cab money home in addition to my hourly rate?) Babysitting is fine, and the girls are sweet, but I do feel a little weird about it. I mean, it's just totally awkward when the parents come home wasted and hand me a wad of cash. 

So yeah, I guess you could say I've had to just suck it up and swallow my pride lately. Can anyone else out there relate to this?

10 comments:

  1. ummmm, yes. I'm serving again, which I haven't done since I was 20, living in Lex, and working at Atomic Cafe. it's a little embarassing to be working with girls 5 years younger than me and I have to bite my tounge when they start talking about how hard they have it. it's also hard for me to keep from talking about the places I used to work, cause everytime I bring up that I just moved from LA, people ask what I was doing there...then they look at me like "oh...and now youre a waitress?". ouch.

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  2. Ohh Dean, I feel ya! At least Atomic has good food :) I've learned that confidence is key though. If you're secure, you'll project that and it really won't matter what your current situation is. When I first lost my job and people asked me about it, I'd stumble over my words as I tried to explain what happened. I was SO insecure. Now, I'm just straight up and even makes jokes about it, and it's really not a big deal.

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  3. Just found your blog..i'll be back!

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  4. Oh,Yea! Years back I was out of work and got a job taking baby pictures at peoples houses.Let's just say that if I had to deal with one more mom standing over my shoulder shrieking "smile","smile for mommy" and playing director to a child too young to understand, I was going to make some kid an orphan.I quit after a week.

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  5. Haha, Joe, that is SO funny. You should have stuck it out longer though—I'm sure there would have been some hot, single mamas you could have met ;)

    And hey there Barbara—come back soon!!

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  6. Ellen, there was and that's all I'm going to say ;)

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  7. Some nights, I am forced to take about three before bed time. It's all in good nature.

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  8. i hate swallowing that pill. but all those stinky jobs and tough moments make you appreciate the good stuff even more. think about all those botoxed women at the spinning studio that have no idea what hard work is!

    sorry to sound cheesy.

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  9. Haha, twentyfifth, I just may have to start poppin' some pills myself soon!

    You're so right, MA--not cheesy at all!!!

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