Trying Out: Leasing Myself Out (Week Forty-Six)

I have had the same job for fourteen years.  I had no desire to work up the corporate ladder.  A few dollars more an hour is not enough for the amount of responsibility (and night shifts) I would take on.  I liked the people I worked around, so why risk getting moved around on the company’s “development plan”?  No, I am paid enough.  I liked seeing the regular customers.  I stayed put.

That is, until the hours became slim.  I asked for thirty to thirty five hours a week.  (More would be nice, but I am not greedy.)  For the last few months, I had been scheduled twenty or so hours.  I took some vacation, I kept quiet, but so did my bank account’s balance.

I work for a rather large company.  Other work sites were not far off.  So, for the sake of trying something new (and because my cat like to eat), I loaned myself out to another location.

I had nothing to prove.  If asked, I mentioned how long I had been employed. 

(No one likes braggart-boy.  “Oh yeah.  <scratch scratch>  I’ve been around for more than a decade.  <burp>  I  know pretty much everything there is to know.  <scratch>  You need anything, you ask for The Big Man.  That’s me.  <belch>  Would you like me to show you how you’re doing everything wrong?”  Humility works best; especially when you are a guest.)

Happily for everyone, someone I had worked with before was at this location.  If the others had any questions about my abilities, they probably checked in with her.  For the first four or so hours, I was mostly left to my own devices.  Nobody bothered me, nobody hovered.  They checked in on how I was doing once an hour or so.  By and large, they trusted me to take care of things.

The location was not that far from a museum I had visited this year, so I knew there would be some nice scenery to take in on my lunch break.  I walked up to a bench, noticed the goose droppings around me, and shook my head.  Looking up, I saw another bird, perched precariously up in its branch.

“If you could not poop on me, that’d be great”, I said to the birdbrain.

It must have sensed my loathing for it and its ilk.  Not too many minutes later, as I sat and enjoyed the blue sky with nary a rain cloud to be seen, I felt moisture fall on my neck. 

Clearly, not everyone was overjoyed about me visiting a different branch.  Stupid bird.  (It was a small deposit; but still.)

I returned to work, engaged a few customers enjoying their leisurely Saturday, and spent the rest of the day working with my friend.

It was much easier than my normal shift.  It was slower, and I knew if I worked there on a regular basis I would quickly be bored.  Still, I appreciated how much these folks trusted a stranger to work for them.  Trust goes a long way with me.

I proved to myself that I actually do know what I am doing, even in a mildly-foreign element.  Since then, I have worked four shifts in four different stores.  And my old job is still waiting for me, even after I tried something new.