Midwestern Folk

Isn't it funny how the smallest occurrances or most off-handed comments make us stop to think? For instance, today (my 2nd-to-last day at Starbucks) I was requesting a plain bagel toasted for a customer in the drive-thru. Granted, it was early in the morning, but the person who retrieved it for me returned and asked me if I was from Wisconsin. It took me by surprise, and I answered, "No, I'm from Iowa." She then requested that I repeat my request. I, again, asked for a bagel (with a long "a"--sounds like ba-gel). She said, "Oh, it's a bagel." (with a short "a" sound--sounds like bag-el) Then, my assistant manager turned around and offered his two cents: "No, its a bagel". (with an "ah"--sounds like boggle). The 10-second conversation left me wondering--what's the real pronunciation?

I had a momentary mental crisis (Really?! Did she just correct me on word pronunciation?! Am I wrong? Is she wrong? Is he wrong?) and filed the conversation away in my brain. When I got home, I called my sister (okay, so I took a nap first, checked my email, and then called her). Being the resourceful and curious person that she is, she looked up the word "bagel" in the dictionary. Though it turns out that the correct pronunciation is "ba-gel" (with a long "a" sound), the thing that made me take note is how annoyed I was that someone had the audacity to think that I pronounced a word wrong...and then I practiced self-talk. I thought: 'Janelle, you need to get a grip on yourself. Its just a word pronunciation...yeah, you were right, but that's not the point--its not something to get all up in arms about and, really, as long as we all know the item in question, who cares whether we say it with a long "a" sound, a short "a" sound, or an "ah" sound?' I realized that I really just need to accept the difference, and stop being so prideful about growing up in the Midwest--the land of no accents (or so I thought!). And for tomorrow...well, I think I'll just start requesting "bread shaped like a donut". :)

God's Provision

It's so unbeknownst to me why God works the way He does, and that's okay with me. About a week and a half ago, I interviewed for the Taste of Trinity coordinator position on-campus. I heard about this last available job through a friend in my Trinity Wives' Small Group and thought I'd give it a shot. Jeremy and I both went into the situation feeling that if God closed the door on this opportunity, I would stay at Starbucks a little longer and start looking for alternative opportunities after the holidays. I hadn't heard back from them after a few days (even though my contact had said that I would hear sooner than that even) and began to suspect that I didn't get the job. I'll be honest--it was a very discouraging couple of days for me. But, at the end, I decided that Starbucks was definitely where God had me and He would continue to meet our needs throught it. I was contented with my situation and Jeremy was too--disappointed, for sure, but contented.

And that was where we were at until yesterday afternoon when I got home from work. I had a message both on my cell phone and on my home phone (and an email in my inbox) from the Human Resources department asking me to please contact them about the position I had applied for. I was thankful that they were letting me know "in person" that I hadn't gotten the job...as opposed to sending out a letter or something like that. After playing phone tag, I finally caught up with the woman who was trying to get a hold of me. It turns out that she was calling to offer me the Taste of Trinity coordinator position! It was such a strange feeling, though, when I found out wha tshe was calling about. I had been so sure that I hadn't gotten the job and so sure that Starbucks was where God had me for awhile that I was kind of shocked. (Incidentally, Jeremy had much the same reaction when I told him.)

I'm super excited to be working on-campus. There are so many benefits! Jeremy gets one free class per semester, I get one free class per semester (if I choose to take it), I get 18 personal/vacation/sick days per fiscal year. Oh yeah! And did I mention that not only do I get Thanksgiving and the day after off (paid and I was going to have to work on them if I stayed at Starbucks), Trinity is shutting down all campus offices for a week (paid!) over the Christmas holidays. What's so cool about this is that we had already planned a trip (that very week!) to Nebraska to visit both of our families and we would have had to take it completely unpaid before. Jeremy and I were just talking about how we were going to make ends meet that month and God has already provided a way! I will get a 1 hour lunch break every day (yeah!) which I will get to go home for!!! Oh yeah, and for those of you concerned that I'll have to give up Starbucks coffee, be concerned no longer. There is actually a Starbucks coffee machine right outside the Admissions office! I can still get Starbucks coffee every morning for free!!!

I met with a couple of people from the department today about pinpointing a starting date and found out that circumstances beyond anyone's control prevented them from calling me before yesterday. Isn't it strange how God works things out? I'm still a little in awe over how God changed my attitude and then BOOM!: He gave me another job opportunity. It still seems surreal.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about why things happened the way they have. I don't know for sure the whole reason why, but I've come up with some positives:

*The salary for the job on-campus is a little lower than I probably would have accepted in July. However, since that time, God has shown me that we can be frugal when we have to be. I probably wouldn't have accepted this position had it been offered to me in July, but now, I'm thankful for the opportunity and appreciative for God's provision of money to meet our financial obligations (and a little extra!...but not much). :)

*Jeremy and I have had to become better communicators when dealing with our finances. We are more on the same page now than we ever have been. We have started good habits that we plan to continue into this new job situation.

*I have learned to be content in a job that I don't necessarily like.

*I have trusted God more.

*I stand amazed at how God works out details.

Praise God for His provision!

"Do You Think It Will Last?"

It seems that most of the posts I write anymore have to do, in some shape or form, with Starbucks. Maybe someday I'll have something to say that doesn't have to do with it, but that day is not today. Be forewarned: the following post contains information related to Starbucks.

When I had only worked at Starbucks for a couple of weeks, someone asked me if I was married, I said yes. She asked how long, I said 2 years. Then she asked me a question I wasn't expecting: "Do you think it will last?". This stopped me for a moment. I was so surprised, I didn't give a very good answer. It was more of a, "yeah, I think it will" rather than the "We love each other. We are committed to making it work. We knew it wouldn't be perfect when we signed on, but divorce isn't an option for us" response it should have been. But the more I get to know this girl, the more I am understanding where that question came from.

This particular girl is a Middle Eastern native. She came to the United States two years ago, and lived in another large metropolitan area before moving to Chicagoland. She is a 22-year-old flirt, self-described as someone who gets bored easily with relationships. Her work clothes, although they meet dress code, cover only as much skin as needs to be covered. She wears her short shirt unbuttoned as far as she can make it go without exposing herself and doesn't tuck in her shirt, so that it shows just a little bit of skin in the back.

On the other hand, she is very good at being a barista (when she shows up, which is a story told in a previous blog). She knows the customers and their drinks and can make them fastly and efficiently. However, working with her has proven to be somewhat of a challenge. She comes off as helpful and "nice" at first, but becomes demanding and abrasive to the point of rudeness the more she works with people. Oh, its said in a sweet tone of voice: "Janelle, will you........for me?" or "Janelle, don't do......, do it this way.", but the intent is that I am there to answer to her. Other times, she will call drinks when I'm not ready (and I've said I'm not ready) or say them so fast that I can't get them written down. Its almost like she's trying to prove to me that she is better than me. Ok, I give up--she is! I really could do without the point being driven home every time we work together.

I became so frustrated with the situation this week that I asked my managers to put me in a different part of the store than she was because I just needed a break from her. I felt awful that I couldn't get along with someone until I talked with a friend and fellow co-worker who helped me see the situation in a different light. This friend told me that everyone in the store has had to have some sort of confrontation with this girl to get her to back off. She thrives on ordering people around and making them feel incompetant while showing herself to be better than them. My friend reminded me that this girl is lost and she needs Jesus. Really, I should be pitying her because she is trying everything and anything to get attention from co-workers and customers. She has self-image issues just like the rest of us and just wants to be loved. No wonder she asked me if I thought my marriage would last. She doesn't even know what real love is. Once I started seeing the situation in this light, my attitude toward her is changing.

I haven't worked closely with her for a couple of days now, and I'm sure that her micro-managing isn't over. I have decided, however, to not let her decide how my day is going to go. I have also decided to pray for her regularly and for our interactions. I'm sure that one day soon there will be a confrontation of sorts in which I will have to assert myself. I'm not looking forward to that moment, but I'm not afraid of it anymore. If nothing else, Starbucks has certainly been a world of new experiences and growing opportunities. I can't wait to see what is coming down the "Pike". (Ok, only Starbucks customers or partners would get that that's a reference to Starbucks' Pike's Place Roast, which is a coffee brewed daily and that is named after the first Starbucks store in Seattle .)

Apparently Parents DO Have Wisdom...

My dad has a theory that children don't start seeing their parents' logic until after age 25. While I don't think I had to reach that magical milestone in my life before I started seeing the wisdom in their advice, I do continue to see it in various areas as my life progresses.

Take, for instance, a job. I started at Starbucks about 6 weeks ago. (Its going much better, by the way, thanks for asking.) When I was interviewed, I was asked questions such as, "What would you do (and what have you done in the past) when you are sick or unable to make it to work?" and "How many times were you late in your previous job?" I thought they were kind of weird questions to be asking--I just take it for granted that if I can't work, I need to find a replacement and if I'm scheduled at a certain time, I'm needed and counted upon to be there. I'm finding out that not everyone has those foundational understandings when it comes to a job. After responding to these questions, my interviewer mentioned that I would make an excellent candidate for shift manager (Really? Is it that hard to find a reliable person?)

My dad always said that all you have to do is show up on time and do your job and people will like you. I used to think it was bogus, but its becoming more clear to me that this is so true! I work the 4a.m. shift most mornings. When I started working at this hour, the management (both the Manager and the Assistant Manager) made the comment to me that they enjoyed opening the store with me...it took me awhile to find out that they didn't like opening with the other person available at that hour because she (direct quote) "lacks a sense of urgency". Basically, all I had to do was show up and they were happy! :) It was an interesting situation because at first, it wasn't even that they liked me all that much--I just wasn't the other person.

The other thing about this person is that she talks. A lot. Most of the time, working takes the back burner to talking. So again, all I have to do is show up and work and the management likes me. Now, this is not to say that this one person in particular is the only person with issues at Starbucks. One of our employees relies solely on public transportation, but often misses the bus. Again, it goes back to the principle that the reason a person is scheduled at a certain time is because they're needed at that time. She is now viewed as an unreliable employee--last week, of the four days I was to work with her, she was late 2 and didn't show up for 1 (quick mental math reveals that she only put in 1 full day of work at her scheduled time). Again, she's not the only one, but, wow! I can't imagine myself doing that...

I was discussing this with my sister Joy and I came to the conclusion that I am going to become unreliable and unresponsible. She doesn't think I can do it. She's right, you know, because it would go against everything my parents taught me. So, I guess I'm saying thank you to my dad, who cared enough to instill occupational responsibility in me at a young age.

One of Those Days....

Have you ever had "one of those days"? You know the ones...nothing seems to go right and instead of thinking of each incident as isolated, you start to wonder what else is going to happen. Today is one of those days for me.

Last year, I started to develop a kind of dislike toward Mondays. My student library assistant helped me out during 1st period and Mondays became a running joke between us, in that I seem more disoriented than other days (if you can believe it!). I had hoped that I was going to leave that trend behind in Nebraska, but it seems to have followed me to Illinois.

This morning I started working at 5am, which wasn't the problem--I was awake, or so I thought. I tripped over something on the floor and landed square on my behind, catching myself with my left hand. I was okay at the time, but am now starting to feel the effects in full...achy back, neck, wrist...ugh.

I am kind of still training, as well. I have the register pretty much down, but today I kept hearing orders that weren't really orders. It was really frustrating because I am actually a lot better at my job than I exhibited today. In my defense, though, that one lady told two of us that she wanted her maple scone warmed...how was I supposed to know she wanted it cold?

It also seemed that anything liquid lept out of its respective container to make a mess on the counter, the floor, or the wall.

At this point in the day, I thought that the incidents were isolated, but I was soon to change my mind. Starbucks makes their own whipped cream. (I'd tell you the recipe, but then I'd have to kill you.) The special recipe is put in a metal container and then pressurized (charged) to mix the ingredients together when it comes out. I found out what happens when one opens a pressurized container of whipped cream that isn't quite empty....it got ALL over the place. It was a good thing it happened in the back room and the managers weren't there, but, my goodness! The sink, the walls, the purses, me...it was a good thing I was standing there, or the computer would have been splattered too. That happened around 10am and I wasn't scheduled to be off until 11am. My goal after that: be cognizent that its Monday--be EXTRA careful! Of course, I still dripped hot coffee on my foot and spilled it on my hand, but at least I got out of there without doing anything else that falls in the major catastrophe category.

So Mondays aren't really my thing, I guess. One thing's for sure...I have developed a rueful sense of humor about it....too bad my managers don't see the same humor that I do. One of my co-workers does, though....she said that she was going to request to work every Monday with me because they're so entertaining! :)

Technology...It's Great When It Works!

Ah, computers. I don't have any idea what I would do without one. How did people survive before they were invented? I'll never know. I don't know a lot about technology, but I do know this: it's great when it does what it's supposed to do. My first computer was a hand-me-down from Grandma Iseminger. She passed on into a place where computers don't really matter, so I, a recent college entrant, inherited her computer. It was great to have my own!! And it worked...for a couple of years. It had had a good run, but wasn't about to last very much longer. It was time to replace it.

I bought my very own computer in 2004. It was a refurbished Dell Inspiron 600m laptop. It weighed only 5 lbs. and I carried it everywhere in my backpack made especially for that purpose. I was a rockin' college student...with a wireless network card, I could surf the 'net anywhere wireless was available (in a college town, that meant practically everywhere). That refurbished beauty lasted me for 4 years...until someone stepped on it, cracking the motherboard and damaging the screen. Ug.

2007. I'm married now, and we are computer shopping together. We need a computer that works efficiently. We're looking ahead to seminary and grad school and think that two computers might be better than one. We had the hook-up with a local electric company who was getting rid of their old laptops. We scored two IBM ThinkPads (paying only a fraction of what they would have cost). These both worked for about 1 year. True, Jeremy's still can't download the right driver to hook up to our printer, but mine worked really well until one day that it wouldn't anymore.

2008.We're not sure exactly what happened, but all of a sudden my computer just stopped working...started shutting down randomly, freezing, and generally not letting us do ANYTHING. Ok, at this point we're all settled in our new place. Online classes would be starting in a week and a half and my computer isn't working...we've tried just about everything we can think of and realize that its time to sink some money into a brand new computer. Back to my old favorite company, we ordered a Dell Inspiron 1525 (mainly because they were having a great back-to-school sale). Today we got it in the mail!!!! It is a beautiful computer. I am so happy to finally have a computer that works efficiently (or at all). And you know what's funny? We paid about 1/2 the cost of the first Dell laptop I bought all those years ago. Technology has certainly come a long way.

Anyway, I don't want you to get the idea that I didn't like each of my computers when I had them. I did--and was very thankful for each. The only problem is that when a computer stops working, its completely worthless (kind of like our t.v.s will be if we don't get those digital converter boxes by February 2009). Every time a computer of mine stops working, I wonder how I could have let myself become so dependent on technology--I feel completely lost without it. Recipes, reference materials, classes, e-mail, documents, picture storage, and so much more.

So what is the solution for my computer dependency? The only thing I can come up with is to have a reliable computer. All the time. Not much of a solution, huh? :)

The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

As you read in my last blog, my husband and I recently moved to Deerfield, IL so he can go to seminary. We are excited to be going back to the college life...working, going to school, sleeping, etc. Jeremy had wanted to get a part-time job while he was in school to supplement our income. A week after we moved, we went job-hunting. The first stop on our trip was Panera Bread. Unbeknownst to us, a location had just opened the prior week. All we knew was that they were hiring. As Jeremy was filling out the application, I did a little shopping at the local grocery store. By the time I returned, he had already been hired! :) I was super-excited because I didn't realize that it was quite that easy to get a p/t job. The benefits are great--percentages off food all the time and free bread when we want to go pick it up! :) It is also great that he is beginning to really enjoy working with the people. Other benefits are that it is only a mile or so away, so he can walk (if I need the car).

My job search hasn't gone as smoothly. I was intending to get a somewhat professional job working on Trinity's campus. I did the filling out of the application and actually had 3 different job interviews on-campus. The frustrating thing is that none of those three possibilities worked out for me. Even though I didn't want to, I started looking into teaching positions. I found one in the area, and even though I submitted my application, I was not contacted for an interview. I am working on getting my Illinois teaching license, but that is quite a process that involves taking 4 proficiency tests. It will be a long process, I can tell already.

So here I am--with an undergraduate degree and going to start a master's this fall--jobless with no prospects. It is getting to the time where I just need something to do. I'm kind of tired of spending my endless days (What day is it again? They are all starting to blend together.) at home. Jeremy has been working 40+ hours/week, which leaves me with very little human contact during the day. Finally, I realized that I just need to bite the bullet and find anything that will help contribute to the paying of our bills.

Last Saturday, August 16, Jeremy and I went out job hunting for me. I decided that Barnes & Noble and Starbucks were the two places I wouldn't mind working, so we Googled them and took off. The first stop was the Starbucks near the Panera where Jeremy works. I filled out an application, but, unfortunately, they were not hiring...so, the next stop was Deerfield. There are at least 3 Starbucks locations on Deerfield Rd., all within about 1 mile of each other, and one of which is located in a Barnes & Noble. It seemed like a good place to continue my job search. By the time I got to the third location on Deerfield Rd., I was getting pretty discouraged. I realized that yes, indeed, it was a Saturday and the managers probably weren't in, so I would have to wait until Monday to hear back about any of them.

I filled out the application at the third location, turned it in, and asked for the manager (not expecting that there would be one there). The worker promptly took my application to the Assistant Store Manager(ASM), got me a coffee and asked me to wait for a moment while the ASM reviewed it. That was promising, right? When the ASM came out of the back area, he was all set for an interview. We got through interviewing and he offered me a job on the spot. The one downer was that the pay was a little less than I was hoping to earn. He then mentioned that he thought I would be a good candidate for a supervisory position and I would have a chance to advance in both status and pay after the initial training period (1-2 months). The benefits are good--Starbucks certainly takes care of their employees. Not only are the health benefits good, the perks are great. I get free drinks during my shift, a percentage off products at any Starbucks store, and 1 lb. of coffee (or a box of tea) free each week I work over 20 hours.

As I was sitting in Starbucks, waiting for the ASM to finalize paperwork, I couldn't help but think to myself, "I knew we were going back to a college lifestyle, but I didn't realize that it meant working retail again. Is this really what God has for me?" And I guess that's what I'm struggling with now. I am a college-educated person! I have successfully held a job (in the same place) for 3 consecutive years. How is it that I am unable to get a professional job?

And then I started talking to other Trinity students and it seems that, unknowingly, I have taken the same path that many of them have taken. They nod sympathetically and identify with the fact that Starbucks is where many students start out. So I guess it isn't that bad after all. My long tenure with Fareway prepared me for life in ways I didn't even know at the time and its really paying off now. Besides, I think Jeremy's right in that it will be a fun job for me, even though its not what I expected I'd get.

I'm not giving up on looking for professional jobs, but I am putting it on hold for right now. I will continue to look for teaching positions and jobs on Trinity's campus, but for right now, I'm going to enjoy the college lifestyle. Our families can expect coffee (or coffee related products) and bread for Christmas...its all we'll be able to afford. :) Who knows what God's plan is? I can only see right now, but He sees the entire time continuum--AND, He has a plan! :) So I guess I'll just wait and see what comes down the pike.