Fear, Change and Tending Bar
No one likes change, not even those strange people who will shout it from the mountaintops in their quest to convince the rest of us that they adore change. (I had someone use that word, ADORE). I adore a lot of things, and change is most certainly NOT one of them. Deep down, I believe those people are the ones who fear change the most.
As previously posted, I was going to follow Julia Child’s four simple rules for life. More precisely, Rule #2 “Make the most of the makeshift” and #3 “Make it up as you go along.” These two rules, along with my fear of change, all collided yesterday.
Yesterday, I took a job as a bartender. That is where rule #3 “Make it up as you go along” would fall. It is a job in a hotel, and I’ve had tended bar at ONE event before being hired AS A BARTENDER. Against all logic, I was hired and was to start in 2 hours of my interview…just like that. “Make it up as you go along” was my mantra all night. Thankfully, it was a Wednesday night, and it was somewhat slow. I will, however, need to get my shit together by Sunday. Sunday is a home game for the Titans, and the hotel is within walking distance of the stadium. Yes, I am terrified of Sunday.
Rule # 2. “Make the most of the makeshift” This bartending gig is, in theory, a makeshift plan until the tour bus comes in. I am hoping that the bus does come in with my bunk reserved because I’m not so sure how long I can last as the hotel bartender. Although, on a side note, some older gentleman did leave me his room key on my first night.
Change and I are most definitely not friends. I resist change with every fiber in my body. But I realized last night driving home, if you take change by surprise, you don’t have time to react, you just act. I had not applied for the bartending job. I did not send in a resume. I did not wait for the call for an interview. I did not check my email every five minutes to see if I got the job. I did not worry for another week until the job started. Instead, I got a text at 11 pm on Monday asking me to meet the GM of the hotel the next day. My interview was at 10:00 am, and I was hired by 10:30 am and was behind the bar slinging drinks by 3:00 pm. I had zero time to let the worry about change paralyze me.
I have taken Julia’s advice, and it hasn’t failed me, not ever, not while making Boeuf Bourguignon or in life. Tonight my mantra, once again, will be “Make it up as you go along,” all night. Hopefully, I’ll be aware enough not to scream it out loud, but I will be, very much, screaming it out loud inside my head.