Incite Full

For the next few days i’m in training at work. The training itself is fine- the material is both rehashed from school and a bit of new stuff that is actually more pointed and necessary than what I learned. So that’s fantastic. The other people in the training are, to say the least, varied, and to say more, interesting. There are a few other ECH’s, or early career hires, but mostly it’s middleaged to older groups.

The thing about this, is, they are jaded. Not all, but the vocal ones. And it kind of sucks being in a class where everyone cuts everything down. Why are you taking this class, the instructor asks us all; Because no one else can do these right, a man responds. This is the same guy who ripped into the feasibility of a made up mission for activity purposes. I mean, honestly? Are you going to be that guy? Another gentleman- who knows if he’s really gentle-  makes jokes that no one, except he, laughs at. There should be a law that if you make 3 jokes in a row and you’re the only one laughing, you are banned from jokes for a week.

I might push that line once and a while, but not as often and constantly as this guy does. Wow they were lame. And another thing I learned from him is the following: never preface a story or joke with “this is a good one” or “this is funny.” Hands down it will not be good or funny, the expectations have been built, and the bull dozer story will only tear them down.

On a side note, this weekend i went to starbucks to get some food. I know starbucks is not commonly associated with food, but friends were also going, i avoid this type of awkwardness whenever possible. So I’m in the front of line and i ask the barista and ask for a bagel. “Sure!” she says, with a giant smile on her face. And she pauses. after a moment, “Anything else?” and i say no.  “No Coffee?”, no thanks. Another awkward pause. After a few seconds she asks if i want cream cheese on my bagel. I was caught off guard, and said sure, why not. another few seconds pass- causing me to think maybe this girl has some sort of social disorder: “We’re all out”.

What the fuck? Why ask if you’re out? Agh, normally i don’t tip the barista- which is itself a bullshit term to remove the shame of working in the food service industry- which shouldn’t exist anyways. The shame, not the industry. But not giving a tip really does’t stress the point enough here, would it be wrong to take money from the tip jar? I mean, i felt i needed to let her know this service was subpar, even for a lousy bagel.