Work & work
My job offer was supposed to be at a surf shop as a sales assistant. In reality, all my expectations of a wooden shop by the ocean, filled with surfboards and tanned, athletic customers, collapsed hopelessly. I was sent to a store that belonged to a chain of surf shops, but not at all like the one I described above, and which, in fact, wasn't a surf shop at all. It was a store for beach, fishing, and sports clothing. The logo featured a huge swordfish, and when people asked where I worked, I would point toward the shop and say: "This blue shop with fish." The fish were hung all over the inside of the store, and to my surprise, they were actually for sale—and what's more, people were buying them. My schedule was hellish, with no shifts and no stability. Today until 5, tomorrow from 3, and on Wednesday until closing. With a schedule like that, there was no point in even talking about a second job. Moreover, the boss often changed the existing schedule, and I would only find out about it when I arrived at work. Problems and misunderstandings arose, and later the boss started texting me my schedule. But that could be just 2 hours before my shift started. We fought constantly; he would give me unscheduled days off or turn my shift upside down, he only issued my first paycheck after I got my SSN, which was 3 weeks after I started, and I, in turn, was late and sometimes messed up. In the last days of work, we had another disconnect regarding my last day and my final paychecks. He kept telling me confidently that I couldn't finish on the 2nd, given that I had a bus on the 3rd, and that I was supposed to work until the 14th, but at least until Monday the 4th. He pressured me, I answered back, he had the last word, and he just walked away. I couldn't take it, probably for the first time in my entire time working there, and I let the tears out. I felt like the main character of a TV show, walking through the store with tears on my cheeks, music playing from the speakers, customers walking right through me. My colleague, a Filipino grandmother with whom I had the best relationship, called me over and gave me some advice, and then the boss called me. I approached with hope, but he told me to wipe down all the glass shelves. I went to the bathroom and just sobbed.
What did I do during my 2 months at this job?
There was plenty of work, and it felt like some of it was invented specifically for me. All because of his love for my persona.
My daily duties were divided into 2 types:
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Merchandising, when new stock arrived.
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Maintaining order and helping customers in my section, and sometimes in the whole store.
Additional entertainment:
· Cleaning everything possible and impossible: glass shelves, t-shirt tables, the floor, the toilet, huge glass doors, shelves, and lockers. Cleaning the huge glasses cabinets, which I had to do while standing on a ladder—it felt like they hadn't been cleaned since last summer because you could choke on the dust and cobwebs. I also had to wipe down those favorite fish of mine and sometimes take them down for customers.
· Sorting hangers, stuffing backpacks with air pillows, re-hanging items on hangers of the same color, carrying things from the warehouse and hanging them up, going to Starbucks for coffee, ice water, and just cups of ice.
Regarding Ice and Starbucks
Americans put ice everywhere, and not just a couple of cubes, but mountains of ice, filling the whole cup.
The same goes for sugar (in any form: syrups, cream, chocolate). The first time I ordered an ice coffee, they asked about flavors, syrups, and so on; they don't even consider regular coffee. And yes, the size. A "medium" is like our "large," or maybe even our "small" is their "large." But a medium is a fair volume, though I think it's impossible to drink more, and a large one can last you 2 days. A classic cappuccino at Starbucks isn't great, but treating yourself to a Frappuccino with chocolate and desserts is quite possible and even necessary. However, keep an eye on your figure and the $ in your wallet.
