It’s over for Jack and me. After three months into this crazy journey of pain and reward, I finally took off my hat and waved goodbye to the net that fished me out of the sea of unemployment. I’m no longer the elfin drive-thru girl working 2-10 pm daily; I’m no longer the co-worker with the limited vocabulary of si, no, and gracias.

I stopped working four days ago, and my decision to quit my job wasn’t out of dislike for my colleagues nor fury towards difficult customers. Right before I started my “career” as a fast-food employee, I already knew that I won’t be staying for long. I had my mind set on greater goals other than flipping burgers and cooking fries. I had to leave this soon because I need the rest of the month to prepare for that higher goal, to condition myself for that new life that I’m bound to take on my 20th birthday.

This scattered dropping of clues might puzzle you, but I’ll explain more in another entry. For now, let me share with you some insights/things I’ve learned from my first work experience here in the Land of Milk and Honey.

1. Fast-food chains are breeding grounds for robots. You follow the same routine every day, say the same words to each person in line, and see and smell the same food prepared in the kitchen. You don’t have much room for growth because you don’t get to exercise you creativity and don’t get to practice a higher level of thinking. Therefore, I made the conclusion that it's always best to return to academia, to EARN that diploma before collecting your paycheck. Doing so will bring greater rewards and satisfaction, and money in the long run.

2. But while that is the reality behind hamburger stands, I dare say that fast-food crew members are one of the most obedient, resilient, and physically strong human beings on the face of the earth. They won’t complain over colossal orders. They easily bounce back when atrocious customers condemn them for strands of hair dwelling in their salads. Most of all, they could stand eight hours a day without sitting down and could carry gallons of ice and heavy boxes of ketchup and hotsauce without breaking down.

3. Just because I already found my perfect set of friends back in the Philippines doesn’t mean that I have to shut my world to other people. I learned to step out of my own little circle to appreciate the other people around me and I realized that there is beauty in each person that we meet.

4. You don’t have to speak the same language to connect to other people. It’s the things left unsaid that creates the ties of friendship. In my case, the fact that we share the same hidden irritation for picky eaters, the same hidden impatience towards those who take forever to decide on a meal, the same hidden disgust over those who couldn’t clean up their own mess, the fact that we share the same human feelings make the relationship take on a different level.

5. Fast-food restaurants are a subculture on its own that needs appreciation and respect. People working there are not merely flipping burgers and cooking fries, they’re feeding a family, paying their rent, and saving money in hopes of going back to school. Some of them are not educated, but that doesn’t give us reason to threaten them when they make mistakes. Let us treat them with more love, that’s what they need.

Three months is a relatively short time, but truly, I've learned that much which will last forever.

May 6, 2006

Tonight I had the chance to watch a live theatrical performance of Grease, that 50’s smash hit Broadway musical that put me into an if-highschoolers-half-a-century-ago-were-that-wild- then-what-more-today type of thinking. You know, all that booze and Marlboro and making out and skyrocketing ego, and all other horrific teenage behavior that’s driving every parent crazy. But I love Grease, despite the wild convention of the Rydell kids. It’s from Grease that I started appreciating the music and the dance of the oldies, and from Grease that I started devouring the energy that is rock and roll.

I watched the stage play with my three sisters who are likewise theater-lovers and my parents who tagged along. Not in Broadway though, but in my college’s Burnright Center Theater. It’s amazing when I think of it for a community college to stage performances and own facilities like that. Talagang namangha ako. Theirs were props and stage designs much like a Repertory/Trumpets performance back home! They had a real Greased Lightning buick onstage, and a baby orchestra plus conductor creating music the entire night, to think that this is only a college-level activity! Even more, each actor had his own micro-lapel that blended with his skin tone, a luxury that only professional thespians in the Philippines could enjoy. Ibang klase!

As for the quality of performance, well it was laudable, save for the latter part when the actors started getting tired from all the twisting and turning and mooning and skakin’. Danny Zuko started losing his singing voice in You’re The One That I Want, which prompted my four-year-old sister to say, “Ate Majo, parang hindi na sila magaling.” That little critic, always finding angles to lambast. But no matter, it was a good performance still---and right now, I’m still high with the music.