Today is May Day. In renaissance Europe, May Day was a celebration of Spring, life and fertility. Young maidens would dance around a maypole, holding ribbons that started at the top and danced around until the ribbons braided to the bottom. In Central and South America, May Day is a worker's holiday to take the day off and do whatever you want. Essentially, it's Labor Day (Labour Day for our Canadian friends). And in the United States, it will now be known (at least for a little while) as the Day Without an Immigrant. And on this day when a mostly Mexican crowd goes out to try and prove they are neccessary for the country to function, I can take a moment to ponder my on-going quest... for employment.
I mean, seriously, what does a woman have to do to get a job in this sand trap?
Maybe it's my attitude?
Truth be told, I've actually worked in two places since the beginning of April. The first place was a place I've only dreamed of working at, before. I'll give you a hint: Disneyland. I went down there, after I'd learned they had a commuter assistance program, and was hired the same day. Orientation was great, and I got my name tag which was gold with "Class of 2006" underneath my full name (Pretty's just a nickname, my full name is Gorgeous ;P). For four glorious days, I worked parade control (I met Maynard, and he's nice. If you're even a hint of a Disney Geek, you know who I'm talking about) and trained on Star Tours. Let me just say that the height requirement is there for a reason. I actually got to go below into "the cage" and watch a Starspeeder in flight. When it's in settle mode (not in motion), the Starspeeder sits 10 feet above the ground and 4 stories below the ceiling. When the ride is in motion, it uses all of that space. Watching the Starspeeder like that was the most awesomest thing I have seen. So, if your child is shorter than 40 inches, or your grown friend unfortunately does not have enough of a torso to fit past the safety belt, then it really is in their best interest that they don't ride the ride. And trust me, they won't be able to. Making sure people who don't meet the hieght requirement stay off Star Tours is the number one responsibility of a Cast Member.
Unfortunately, the commuter assistance program they offered wasn't what I thought it was going to be, and I couldn't take part in it. So, a week after I got the job, I had to respectfully resign. Man, was I bummed. Quitting Disneyland was like breaking up with a boyfriend I didn't want to break up with. It honestly gave me the same feeling. I didn't help matters that most of my clothing, accessories, photos, and my computer have Disneyland plastered all over it.
But then I immediately landed a job, here, at a fusion restaurant in the hoity-toity area of the desert. It was terrible! The food and the atmosphere was wonderful, of course, but they are rapidly in the process of going out of business. On average, I made $25 a day for a week. Practically no one came in. And everything was done on paper(eeeww)! On Sunday, I went in and was the only server and busser. I couldn't keep up, because I had to do everything short of cooking and washing the dishes. Then at the end of the day, my manager pulled me aside and told me to forget the schedule for this week, because she completely forgot (uh-huh) that my week evaluation was up, and the managers would decide whether I was staying, and she would call me on Wednesday. So, I'm basically looking for a new job, which I'm completely okay with, because $25 a day won't pay my bills. And if they fire me, I can collect unemployment (woo-hoo) until I find a new job.
So, today I hit our restaurant row. I had a manager at the Scottish Place tell me not to apply at the cookie-cutter corporate restaurants, because it would look bad on my resume. Well, pride is all well and good, but right now my check balance is speaking a little bit louder than my ego. Actually, it's screaming at me and threatening me with pitch forks and torches (I mentally represent my check balance with medieval European peasants, what of it?). All I'm asking is $40 a shift in tips. That's hardly unreasonable. $40 a shift will pay my bills. A server can make that out here, no problem. I kept track of my sales-to-tips ratio at the fusion place (which they didn't like me doing, go figure), and people tip about the same out here as they do in L.A. I just need a place where I can make $40 a day, have a busser, and have a computer system.
Okay, that should cover me for a few days, at least.
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