...I can help him on Tuesdays

I just started a job at the beginning of January. I work with Kortney at Lonnie's Cleaners (It is a dry cleaners) and I have really enjoyed it. I honestly didn't think I would for several reasons. The biggest reason being that I am just really lazy. I had a job with an insurance company last summer and it stunk. I hated it and quit after 3 weeks. Even though I felt justified in quiting because it was pointless work (just busy work really-like the crosswords in Physics) and I didn't need the money-I still felt like a failure. I felt like I had failed because I wasn't able to make that job work.

I was really hesitant to get a new job because I didn't want to fail again and I didn't want to dread going to work everyday. Well I did get the job and I still work there a month later.

I actually kind of like it. I am constantly doing something and I am working other people. We all have to get it done before we can leave so we have to work together and learn to get along. I like that feeling. I also get to work with the customers and I love working with people.

Sometimes it is a little frustrating when I can't find their clothes or there is some other problem but I like figuring it out. I like searching the rack until I know that they know I have no idea what I'm doing. I like apologizing to them for someone else entering the information in the computer incorrectly, so they know I care and I like finally turning their problem over to the manager...

A couple days ago we had this guy came in (we will call him Tom for our purposes) and we couldn't find his clothes so Tom said he had an errand to run at Ream's and then he would come back.

While Tom was gone we found his clothes. Everything was good but before he came back another guy (aka Bob) came in. We got Bob's clothes, no problem. It was only about 10 minutes after he left that we realized he had not only taken his own clothes but Tom's too! We didn't know what to do.

There were really only two things to do; laugh or cry. We laughed until we realized that Tom was still going to come back for his clothes and one of us had to tell him that Bob had stolen them.

It actually went over really well. We called Bob and left a message on his machine politely informing him that he had stolen another customers clothes and we would be very grateful if he could return them. Tom came back from Ream's and was really nice about it. He realized that it wasn't our fault and that we were doing the best we could to try and get his clothes back.

It was a bit stressful but after it was all over I felt good. I had been in the middle of a crisis (having a customer's clothes stolen is a problem-it not only subjects me to the wrath of the customer but also puts the company's business in Jeopardy. If the word got out that Lonnie's customers had their clothes stolen at the store who would bring their clothes to us?) and didn't freak out. I just found the best course of action and went with it and you know what? Everything is alright now. Both Tom and Bob have the clothes that rightfully belong to them, no permanent damage was done, and I came out of it with more confidence in myself. It's a win-win situation really.



I was driving home today and talking to my 12 year old brother Richard. He is really cool but he is a punk. He was telling me about all of his and his friends girl problems and how they handled them. Apparently his school is having a Spring Dance that the 6th Graders are invited to attend and our conversation went something like this:


Richard: Oh no, the 6th graders are going and Abby will want to dance with me.

Marissa: What's wrong with that?

Richard: I just don't have time to dance with all the girls that will want to dance with me.

I have to reprimand him for being so cocky but I have to admit I was impressed. He is so confident in himself. People like him and he knows that. He feeds off that attention. I have never been like that. Even in Elementary I was kind of a recluse. My mood was very dependent on what others thought of me but if I received a compliment I would blow it off because "they didn't really mean it" "they are just saying that to be nice."

I am jealous of Richard's confidence. After talking about the Dance he proceeded to tell me about this girl that his friend liked but told me that she would never like his friend. Teasing him I said, "Oh, but she'll like you?" And he said, "Yeah I think so. Marissa, I'm attractive okay."

I love my brother. It is amazing how the world changes. It seems like my younger siblings are doing things and learning things that I didn't learn or do until I was at least 3 or 4 years older than they are. I feel like the rest of the world is racing by and I just can't keep up.