Employment Errors

I have a few things to say on the subject of jobs, the people who do them, and the stereotypes formed about them.

First, concerning the fast food industry...the assumption of the general public is that, to be working in a fastfood joint- in any position, even manager- you are obviously uneducated, ill bred, not even remotely intelligent, thick-skinned, dull-witted, unobservant, in the wrong, and that you have all the time in the world to serve. In this area, it is also assumed that you are an immigrant, you are doubly ignorant and uneducated, you speak Spanish, and English is your second language, if you speak it at all.

Let's use me as an example: I graduated high school with a GPA over 3.0, I come from a prominent local family that has been in the area for generations, I am a Gifted student, and I have an ACT score of 29 from a test taken when I really didn't care about how well I did. If you insult me, I will take offense. I can make a quick, pleasant joke in the time it takes you to count out $.37 for me. I will notice that your hat was purchased in Kodiak Alaska, that your daughter is wearing a t-shirt from a small arts high school in Las Cruces, that you have a Rescue Rangers tattoo on your left bicep, that you have a classic New Yorker accent, and that you and your friends are tracking mud all over my clean floor. If I repeat your order back to you twice, say each item as you order it, and then you decide that you want something else after I've given you your food, it is not my fault. If there are three people behind you and a line trailing out the door after them, you need to be quick and clear to me, not yakking on your cell phone and holding up the line. I probably speak better English than you do, and I write it better, too. I speak enough Spanish to tell you that I can't speak it. I've very good at charades. I am a United States citizen, from a military family, and I don't appreciate being talked down to because I work with immigrants.

Second, concerning the work to be had at an airport...this is a small airport, we have only three service employees, and there is only so much we can do. If you have a problem with being served by a woman...tough luck.

I am a woman. I can haul fuel hoses as easily as any man. I can drive a fuel truck, tow a plane, fuel anything from a SuperCub to a Lear jet to a military helicoptor with no trouble. I will hand tow your little plane out onto the ramp if it needs to be, then go back inside and rent you a car, taking pause to answer the radio and tell someone what the temperature and windspeed are today. I can park a Sovereign jet, single-point fuel, and I perform a fuel-farm check in ten minutes. I'll jumpstart your plane for you, tow it all the way down the strip and back it into your tiny little hangar, and I will smile when I'm finished. After that, I clean the building.

I am fully capable. So are the other people in my position. Get over yourselves.

Meme for fun

Five things you will find if you open my bag:
-At least one notebook
-Spare change
-Too many pens
-Bubblegum
-A vampire novel

Five things in my bedroom:
-FMA pillow
-Realistic stuffed animals
-Heaps of manga and books
-A basket of clean laundry
-Artist's wooden model, desk size

Five things I’ve always wanted to do in my life:
-Travel
-Go parasailing
-Publish a novel
-Visit Mad Mama's Pie Shop
-Get a professional massage

Five things that make me very happy:
-Apple cider
-Homemade jerky
-Rain on a metal roof
-Lightning and thunder in the mountains
-Cats

Five things I’m currently into:
-Airplanes
-Volunteering
-Writing
-TetrisFriends.com
-Ornamental Plants

Five things on my To-Do list:
-Oil Change on the Jeep
-Hike Kachina Peak
-Get a Haircut
-Make garb
-Service my Bike