Saturday, May 1, 2010

My Life as a Parady - Part 1 - The Breakfast Bar

Today is day two at my new job. I guess I've been there long enough to work a Saturday morning continental breakfast all by myself. It is amazing to me how the harder you work the less you get paid! Not that I miss my $18.50 an hour job where I worked 20 minutes in the morning and surfed the net all day. I'm sure I could run a company into the ground for $100 million, but I digress. I want to preface the rest of this blogpost with a disclaimer that nothing I am about to say is in any way complaining. I am not complaining - just relating to my reading public the days events.

My loving heavenly Father in His infinate wisdom, mercy and grace has been imparting to me amazing spiritual truths in this journey. Sometimes lessons can only be learned under certain special conditions. The hard way, for example.

So mad hungry hordes descended on the breakfast bar and I scrambled eggs and made orange juice with hot water because the orange juice was frozen and tried to put on the ridiculous plastic gloves that were too small for my hands, so I just had to give up and touch the food. I opened cupboards and searched for plastic silverware but couldn't find any and the phone would ring so I would go around to answer it and it was a housekeeper saying, "Work today?" and I would say, "Heck ya! Get in here!" Check a couple people out and have people come up to the counter to say that we are out of waffle batter and we need more coffee and that the orange juice is out (AGAIN?!) Two housekeepers show up but they do not speak any english and I say I need you to go to the storage basement in the next building and get plastic silverware and I need towels in this room. The bell at the front counter rings and the man there says, "I was just wondering if you knew where the little people live?" and I say, "the little people?" He says, "Yes, you know, the midgets, or dwarves?" I say, with a smile on my face, "No. I'm sorry, I don't know where the little people live." (although now that I am sitting in my bedroom and everything is quiet, I do know where the little people live. - I'm sure he was talking about the people on the show, "Little people - Big World." who live in Hillsboro I think. Why didn't he say that?!) so he said, "Ok, I was just wondering." and he leaves and I say to the woman behind him "Do you know where the little people live?" We kindof had a laugh over that one. (grrr now!)

The maid comes back with towels but says that there is not any silverware and then the bosses come in and help and it is a little better. It is 9am.

Later when the breakfast bar is over and the hordes have gone and the dishes are all washed and put away it is quiet. Then the bosses get into a huge gnarly argument in Mandarin (I think) and I leave the room - and the girl boss is yelling at her husband in another language - and she stops to say in a really nice voice to me - to put something away for her. Yesterday the girl boss told me that American culture was very different and that if I notice something is American culture to tell her. They both leave again and I am alone and I decide to have a little cry (not a big one because I dont have time for it, but just a little one.)

The Lord puts it on my heart to pray for the bosses, especially the girl boss who I was assuming was unhappy with me because she was gesturing in my direction when she was yelling at her husband. She comes back in and I say, "In American culture - when a husband and a wife start to argue, everyone else has to leave the room." I ask her if she is ok and she starts to cry and tells me that some friend called her in the middle of the night with a big problem that they put on her shoulders and she told me that the argument with her husband was not about me but about something little and dumb - the way that old married couples can do sometimes (I wouldnt know of course). I was so glad that I had prayed for her - and I think it meant alot to her just to have me understand how hard it is to learn American culture sometimes.

But the real lesson was that not everything is as it seems. I am going to be a prayer warrior on this place - praying and lifting up my bosses and co-workers and the hotel - that it will be filled and prosperous. That the bosses and the place will be at peace. I'll write more on that later.

Reminds me of a joke, Do you know where the litte people live? No, but if you hum a few bars...

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