On the edge of something Monday, January 19, 2009

I know I don't talk about my job very much, but this is important. Last Thursday I went in to work at my scheduled time. I took off my coat, put on my apron and name tag, clocked in, and said good morning to my bosses. They told me they need to have a staff meeting with all of us, but instead of having us all come in at 5 Friday afternoon, they're just going to talk to each of us individually as we come in, to save time. They let me know we've all been too slow completing orders, we haven't been giving good enough customer service, blah blah usual "you're not meeting our expectations" talk. They called me out on yelling "OH SHIT" in front of a crowd of customers the Saturday before when I dropped a pan of bagels on the floor. And then, out of seemingly no where, they tell me that, not because of the 'oh shit' or the customer service or anything, they're going to have to lay me off. They're having to go into savings to pay payroll and they just have to let one person go. They didn't want it to come to this. My last day is Saturday January 24th.

Ok whatever, so I'm laid off from the job I didn't like in the first place, (Ok to be fair, I loved the job, I just couldn't stand my employers). But here's what's messed up: I'm not the most recent hire. I've been there for at least 3 months longer than the most recent hire. I've been working there for 5 months now - as long as I've been living in Beaverton. But then again, I'm not really surprised that I'm the first to go. I've felt since my second week that they didn't like me, that they were looking for a reason to fire me. My job performance has been absolutely fine, I make bank tips, I'm great with customers, I'm fast enough to make customers happy. I haven't had any customer complaints since my first month (and that one was a customer complaining that I wouldn't give him a discount when we ran out of the blend of coffee he wanted. He was full of it.) I get along great with my co-workers, I'm friendly to the bosses who treat me like ass and only motivate with negativity.

So there it is. They can't afford to give one of us hours and I'm easily the least favorite. And there goes my employment. I've decided not to seek a new job at the moment. I'm going to try to get 7printciples off the ground, and get more tutoring jobs. Hopefully that can sustain me for a while.


We got up at 5:30 this morning to be part of the live studio audience of today's special broadcast of Think Out Loud in honor of MLK and Obama's inauguration tomorrow. We were informed space would be limited, so we got there at 7 for doors at 8. We were easily the first people there.

When we got into the studio there were pieces of paper and pens on each seat. The papers were to facilitate the conversation. I filled mine out, but didn't turn it in.
Name: Jessie
Where are you from? Beaverton (originally Corvallis)
Describe yourself briefly (Engineer from Portland, student from Hillsboro) Recent college graduate, recent minimum wage lay-off, disgruntled 20-something from Beaverton.
Question/Comment: I am at a turning point in history and in my life. In less than two weeks everything is going to change. I'll be 23 years old, unemployed (laid off from a minimum wage job I hated, but couldn't afford to quit), and we'll be under a brand new administration. I am so unsureabout what will happen in the next few months, not to mention the next four years. Really, all I can do is hope for the best.