Tact without Tack (Sharp words)

I’ve learned the quickest way to make yourself miserable is to try to make everyone else happy. Even so I chose to work in the hospitality business where it’s my job to make everyone happy. The tension among employees is already beginning to rise as more of them arrive. People are starting to click or rub each other the wrong way. Three out of eleven haven’t even been on the island much more than 24 hours. If this is how it is going to be, it will be one long summer.

I don’t mind making the customer happy, with the aim of is my job, to create an enjoyable memory people want to hold onto. I just hope that I can learn tactfully enough how to put everyone at ease so that they might enjoy their work here. As difficult as my job is their job is almost more difficult because they live with their co-workers. I occasionally get a break from them. 

I'm also learning to give direction without too much criticism or sharpness. No one here really knows enough to even know how to do anything right, so there is a good chance they may just get it wrong. That is not their fault everything is a learning process.

I'm no longer in school but I'm still trying to Ace the test. 

A Little Like Alice

The still beauty here is unreal, although I prefer the tangled rugged chaos of the wooded area. There are a great many trails left to explore. At times I feel like Alice in Wonderland on the island. Occasionally I am too big to fit in and too little to be noticed. I’m too young to be taken seriously and too serious about my job to be entertaining. I don’t know exactly where I fit; randomly I’ll end up following a zig zagging path across the island to pass the time.

I don’t doubt I can if nothing else make a place for me here, I just haven’t figured out how to do that yet. For now though I'll just keep being slightly out of place, which honestly is probably where I belong.

What Do You Do At Work?

This week has been rather interesting and honestly quite long. Even though I suppose it’s never any longer than any other week. Work has been one day of adventure after another but I’ve been having a really good time too. Now, I just wish the weather would warm up a little and then l’d be cozy up here.

It would also be nice if I learned to sleep in just a little. I woke up at 5:55am today, without any help, I definitely went to bed last night sometime after 1am.  I’m not tired, I will be by like 1pm, but I know I could use some more sleep. Most of you are thinking okay then go back to bed, and I could, actually I probably will, but I won’t sleep. My body hates me sometimes.

At least when I go into work today, we are making donuts, that is what is on our itinerary for today, making donuts. My job has some obvious bonuses. I hope these donuts live up to their reputation, according to my sources, they are well known and highly thought of by the locals.

Day Four On The Island

Geez sounds like a line out of “Survivor” or something after today I feel like a survivor, it was the craziest day I can recall as of late. I’m already sun burnt; don’t ask me how other than I’m usually very pale. Everything tried to break today, and most things succeeded. At present our clients have little or no way of communicating with us. Our phone lines hang up on you after one ring and our website server has crashed…I wish those were our only problems.I wont even enter into the rest

Thankfully the last few days I’ve met about 10 new people I day, and I like most of them. My friends also help me keep my chin up.

Odd side note my bathroom is either trying to kill me or, cause me bad luck. The medicine cabinet fell down, the screw originally holding it up has completely stripped the drywall, it almost broke the mirror. Also, my floors in there are extra slippery, as though someone used way too much hairspray. I do my best to stay up right, just the same.

Today, I found a penny (heads up) and picked it up so all day long I’d have good luck…work- wise it failed…friend- wise it is one awesome penny.

Uncharted Path

So today, was moving day or half moving day. We packed up the office this week, and pieces of our home into roughly 55 plastic tubs and 20 odd sized boxes. Along with totes, backpacks, bikes, of all shapes and sizes. I commuted an hour to work just as I always do, just an hour earlier to meet the packing truck. The actual loading only actually took about an hour, with all the help we had. In order to celebrate we went to Panera’s for breakfast.

Once, we had our fill of breaded delights, myself and my coworkers split up to traverse our own way up to St. Ignace, MI where we would stay for the night. Because sitting in a strange room in an unfamiliar town for a prolonged period of time, did not appeal to me, I decided to take a 4 and half hour drive from Ann Arbor, MI and turn it into a 12 hour adventure.

I’m proud to say I maneuvered 6 or so different highways today, without getting lost. All the more impressive because I don’t own a GPS or a data plan on my phone. The trip originally began in Jackson,  MI then to Ann Arbor, MI to meet the truck and then for fun up to Frankenmuth where I stopped for lunch. I’ve been there quite a few times but thought I should find something new. So, I visited a clock shop I can’t remember ever having been in and purchased an inexpensive clock for “kicks and giggles’.

I then traversed what is probably considered some of Michigan’s back roads to maneuver over to Mt. Pleasant, to visit some old friends. I was surprised at the number of Pure Michigan signs I saw, the whole time I was driving but also because they were in some really remote areas. Next, time I drive that way I should check some of them out.

Finally, my last stop before the bridge was a very tasty little pizza place called Vivio’s, just off I-75, and I don’t even know what town I was in but that was half the fun. Today was a combination of adventure and comfort. I tried something new, and saw some old friends. It was nice to not really have a schedule or a deadline, and for awhile no specific destination, just wherever I wanted. It was a taste of freedom and it was lovely. Sometimes, it’s better to take the uncharted path.

Sleepy Yet Sleepless

Today is Friday the 13^th, and I lucked out. It was a very lengthy day for me, but it was also very productive. I even got to spend time with one of my oldest friends while I spoiled myself rotten. When I look at my bank account tomorrow, I might not feel the same way about the $15 plate of food, glass of wine plus dessert. For now all that just made my day. I tried something new, I got some errands done, and I had fun.

Recently, I’ve been really exhausted by 10pm, but I have been unwilling to go to sleep. I just don’t want to; I’m not ready to give up on the day yet. I just wish I knew why, because truthfully I am awfully tired. The few times I do try to just go to sleep, I lie awake, my mind circling over the days’ events, like the tread on a treadmill. Always, moving without getting anywhere.

I dream about work, not every night, but often enough for me to resent it. That is why socializing tonight was so great! It got my mind off work for awhile. Maybe, when I dream tonight, it will just be about walking under a latter, and being stuck in an elevator stopped on the 13^th floor. I hope everyone else’s Friday had as good as an ending as mine.

Speak My Language?

Warning Language Tangent

I interviewed a gent’ from Scotland today and I was propelled with excitement because he seemed like an honestly good fit for my company, and interesting to boot. The kid is taking Spanish, French and Cinema. I won’t lie; I’m interested to see what he is going to do with his life.

Languages are so unique, not only in how we communicate but express ourselves. I am always intrigued when people know how to speak more than one. I’m not as articulate as I would like to be when I am talking with others, but I’ve always thought language was something you would never stop learning.

Even insults are unique between cultures, in German, for example if you were to call someone “a big monkey” (eine grosse Affe), that would be more insulting that a string of German swear words. In English the reverse would be true. Sadly, this is the best excuse that comes to mind right now. Other than in German and Italian, all nouns and some adjectives have a gender, which confuses my mind way too much.

English is supposedly, one of the most difficult languages to master, which I’m sure, is easier to believe, if unlike me, you haven’t spoken it your whole life. But when you start assigning nouns a gender, and there is suddenly 20 different spellings of the word “the”, I’d then like to argue that the difficulty of English.

It amuses me because I have no idea how I ever learned to understand written English. At one point I’m sure, pronouns, proper nouns, adverbs, conjunctions ect. were all properly explained to me. However now, if I were to pick apart a sentence longer than five words, I’m not sure I could categorize each word properly. My professors have tried to teach other languages similarly (pronoun, adverb ect.), and I’m too busy translating to realize whether “brutto” is an adjective or adverb in Italian. My Italian is a little rusty and I only had a semester so it’s only cosi-cosi (so-so).  

I like how different languages emphasize different things as well. In German, every noun except “I” is capitalized, in English, locations, people, days of the week, months, and languages are all capitalized. In Italian, names of people, days/months, and locations (not store, office ect.) are capitalized and nothing else.

Gestern, am Dienstag, sah ich Elaine am Lager.

Yesterday, on Tuesday, I saw Elaine at the store.

Ieri il Martedì ho visto Elaine presso il negozio.