A Broken Parakeet

I had known when I took on the position of part-time Utility Worker that it was not something I wanted to do forever. With my out-going personality, I had asked incessantly to be allowed to greet. Being a Greeter would be the perfect job for me.

My first day as a Greeter actually began on my car ride to work.  As a diabetic (since 2004), I’ve gotten good at realizing when something just doesn’t feel right. I believed I was going to have the awful sensation of bottoming out (or dumping) as I was driving. Obviously last night’s insulin injection had been too much. I quickly squeezed the packet of gel glucose that would correct this issue.

When I got into the building, I discovered two things, the greeter I was shadowing was sitting on a bench feeling ill, and she’d never been told she was training anyone. I was given about fifteen minutes of instruction in our other minor duties besides greeting. We were then split up at opposite entry ways. I was at Grocery, and my trainer was at General Merchandise.

I discovered being a Greeter was not all it was cracked up to be as I had anticipated. Being on your feet for two and a half hours at a time in one place is a bit painful no matter how comfortable your shoes are.

Though there is no set script to say, I chose the same greeting of, “good morning (or afternoon)” After a while, I sounded like a faulty parakeet with a repetition disease. I got so tired of hearing my own voice, I wanted to scream. As I looked outside to see the cold Utility Workers bringing in the carts, I felt a small twinge of regret, but quickly realized I loved the heat.

One older male customer asked if I was a greeter. (Maybe my uniform hadn’t made it obvious enough.)He quickly clarified his question with, “there weren’t a lot of men that did this job.”

My breakfast had not stayed with me. Spending several ours looking at the produce (deli and meat/seafood) sections, with a shelf of Oreos behind me, and the Easter candy a little ways down the center aisle to my right really made me hungrier by the time my lunch break arrived.

Several things broke up the monotony. One of the people, who walked in my door, was a friend I knew from a previous church I attended before I met Bobbi. I found out she was a full-time Hospice Nurse, and a part-time Greeter at a funeral home.

Later in the afternoon when there was a shortage of utility workers, I was asked to do a “carry-out” It was nice to be able to do this without the entire winter garb on. It turned out this woman was part of a family Bobbi and I knew from yet another church we’d attended. Her son and our daughter had been born a week apart in 1996.

Though she could back in all the groceries into her car, the 30 pound bag of dog food was a challenge for her strength. I quickly placed it in the trunk. Though the family was doing great, the large dog was playing havoc with her allergies.

After my lunch break, the last part of my shift was spent over at the General Merchandise doors. No food to look at here just the Pharmacy, Customer Service, flowers, and hygiene/health items. The most exciting thing happened at the end of my shift.

A young woman tried to walk out with a whole cart of groceries. She asked me if I would watch the groceries for her as she went to the bathroom, I must have spooked her off because she never returned. The suspicious guy in the white hood that was watching her turned out to be a detective.

I wondered if any surveys had been done to prove the store made more money with Greeters than without. The next day, I swallowed my pride, and asked my supervisor if I could resume my Utility Worker duties the following week as I didn’t care for this job. He graciously said, “Yes.”

To celebrate the occasion, I went out and bought tan suspenders to keep my pants up in the afternoon (see Downward Slide). I should now be able to get a lot more carts moved.

Have you ever wished for something that you got? In the harsh light of reality did it turn out to be not quite what you expected? What do you do now? Make a change by going back to the beginning (if you need it). It could be all you ever wished for, or maybe the best option is your current reality. Either way, what do you have to lose? Never stop believing and dreaming because it is what makes you human.