“We've Had A Complaint!”

Whilst my father was in hospital, towards the end of 2011, I was working somewhere where I had the opportunity to speak to a lot of people. When I first started working there, there were a number of things that I enjoyed.

There were a number of people who I got on well with, and then there were the people who I spoke to each day. The manager wasn’t too bad either; generally, he was easy-going and fair.

A Big Difference

After I had been there for a few weeks, I was asked if I could stay behind and help move a few things. I was happy to do this, and the manger thanked me for what I had done once this had taken place.

I felt as though I was appreciated and valued, which caused me to feel as though I was part of the team. From this moment on, I was only too happy to help the manger in any way that I could.

Contemplation

There were plenty of customers who ended up becoming friends, and this meant that we would talk about all kinds of things. And when I didn’t have anything to do, it gave me the chance to think about life.

Being around so many people also meant that I picked up a lot of insights, and I would write about these later on. It wasn’t all positive, though, as I would often go home feeling burned out.

Two Sides

On the one hand, I loved speaking to people and listening to what they had to say and, on the other, I could have done with working fewer hours. Still, the energy I received through doing this made it a lot easier to handle.

However, the second year I was there just wasn’t the same, and there were a number of reasons for this. I was no longer the same person and it was a lot busier than it had been the previous year.

A Change of Scenery

During the second year that I was there, I was asked if I would like to work somewhere else that was owned by the same company. I thought that this would give me the chance to get out of there and to experience something different.

The trouble was that I was going there because they were under staffed, so it wasn’t going to be any easier. Due to what was taking place in my personal life, I certainly didn’t need any more stress at this point in my life.

The End of the Line

In the beginning I thought that it was fun being there, but my outlook started to change after I had been there for a few months. One afternoon, we had run out of something, and I said to a few customers that it would take about 15 minutes until we had more.

It turned out that one of these customers worked for one of the company’s that supplied the food that we were selling. The reason I knew this was because the manager came over after this had all settled down and told me that this person had complained.

Just another Person

I made it clear that I wasn’t rude to anyone, and the only thing I did was tell people that there wasn’t anything that I could do as we were understaffed. And the fact that this person worked for a fairly big company didn’t mean a lot to me.

In my eyes, the position they held at a company didn’t mean that they were more important than anyone else. I got the impression that this person had allowed their success to go to their head, and this was why they had a false sense of importance.

Putting Things into Perspective

Once this had taken place, I started to think about my father and this allowed me to put what had happened into perspective. My father was in a bad way and here was someone who was making a fuss over having to wait a few minutes for a few lettuce leaves.

Now, I understand that this person was not aware of what was going on in my personal life and that they had every right to be annoyed, but due to how I was experiencing life it made me think about how trivial their problem was. I thought that I no longer have time for this.

Warn Down

In the upcoming weeks and months, my patience started to run out; I was no longer willing to tolerate this kind of behaviour. It wasn’t long before I had to deal with another customer who complained about a drink that he had ordered.

The coffee machines had been changed in order to make more money, and these machines were nowhere near as fast as the old machines. This wasn’t the only time someone complained, though, as it happened a few more times.

The Time Had Come

In the beginning of 2012, I had had enough; I knew that I had to move on. I stopped working there and this gave me the time that I needed to write, amongst other things.

As I look back on this time in my life, it makes me think about how much of an effect our perspective has on our life. And once our perspective has changed, we can no longer go back to who we were before.