What Lights You Up? - episode 96
Here’s what I noticed right away about Lauren, our By Request guest for today. At her young age she has already dabbled in many different kinds of things. She’s taken her entrepreneurial spirit and applied it by being creative, freelancing and doing what is necessary in her work to be exactly who she wants to be.
Not only is Lauren trying the new thing of coaching, she is doing it with gusto. She has confidence it will work out and is not afraid to seek the help of those who have gone before her. I have no doubt she will land on her feet no matter how this latest chapter goes. Lauren will take what she has learned and will remember to pivot.
Curious. Creative. Brave.
— Lauren Jackson
I Made Toast
Thoughts from What Lights You Up?
While listening to Lauren and the various jobs she has tried, I began to take a mental inventory of some of the wide-array of work I have done over the years. The first ones were definitely not career moves but ways to make money. Take a walk with me down memory lane if you would.
Toast-maker: that’s right. For my very first foray into this rite of passage, I was hired with my good friend at a big hotel not far from us. She would answer the room service phone and I would work right beside her making toast. Six days a week, six hours a day, all summer. We didn’t drive but our bikes got us where we needed to go. We met at a specific corner at 6:30 am and road together down the boardwalk to get there. We were clocked in by an older man they called Crutch. We were scared of him! He had a gruff voice and was very short with us as he sat there in a small wooden box clocking everyone in and out. (Thankfully by the end of the summer he actually decided he liked us, dubbing us Mike and Ike and even giving us each a box of that same-named candy.)
The co-workers I remember so vividly. There was Mr. Ragsdale who was the manager. Tall, elegant, he almost seemed British and expected good things from all of us. He didn’t appear too often but when he did we were sure to be on our best behavior. Bobby who was the main cook/chef. He literally spoke in rhyme all the time. I did not ever hear him speak without rhyming his words and this was before rap was popular. Pedro the pantry chef who was in charge of all the good stuff like avocado, shrimp and cheesecake. I don’t think I ever heard him utter a word. He would walk over to where my friend and I worked and sneak to us food that none of the workers were actually supposed to have. How sweet is that? Then there were the two male servers for room service, Naiim and Leonard. Naiim was from India with an accent. He was a proud man. Leonard was round, hard of hearing and very sweet. They often argued and were not above stealing toast that belonged to the female servers who worked the dining room. The gals were colorful too. Molly would walk by the toast station and pick up the buttered crumbs with her fingers then eat them - really. There was Juanita, June, Judy and Randy. They are the ones that come to mind. And if you’re wondering how it all worked, it went something like this. Imagine a small counter top with four, four-slot toasters. Loafs of bread: white, wheat, sourdough, rye, English muffin, butter, margarine and small plates. Servers would walk past my station and yell out what they wanted. Two white, one wheat, one English well done. Multiple that by all the varieties imaginable and I would get to work toasting up a storm. I got the hang of it. The tricky part was keeping everyone’s order straight. No, Naiim. That is for Judy. You cannot have it. You get the picture.
Sometimes I can’t believe my first job experience was so ripe with diverse characters. The job itself is unique. I haven’t yet met another toast maker! Not to mention how well I remember the richness of this time. The recall and detail I have for this is astounding to me as if it happened recently not many years ago. I really want someone to incorporate this time into a movie or TV show. Oh, and did I mention this hotel had a seal in the fountain out front? It was quite the draw for the tourists. (I always felt a little sad seeing it there.)
Order-taker: This was my one fast food experience - see below. I don’t have the recall for it like I did for my first job. I know I had fun as lots of kids from our high school frequented the store including many friends. I worked there with one of them. I rather enjoyed taking orders on the mic and was known to improv a bit when the manager went to the bank. There were dares and there were laughs. Of course. (If you know me at all, you know laughing is essential.) And truth to be told I was fired from this job for laughing. Yes, you heard that right, laughing. It seems there was a shopper who came in. These were people who worked for the company who would come in, incognito, and order things like a regular customer. You never knew who they were. Well my friend accidentally got her foot stuck in a trash can and I laughed. Who isn’t going to laugh at that? Apparently there was a shopper in the store and a couple of days later I got the boot.
Hostess: I think we call them all hosts now regardless of gender, but back in high school this is the position I held at a high-end seafood restaurant on a large, docked, steam wheeler ship. Not much to remember about this time except the long, maroon, velcro skirt and white blouse I had to wear. Oh and there was the cute busboy Daryl. He made the shifts go faster. I was secretly fantasizing he would kiss me at midnight on New Year’s Eve when we both had to work. I can still kind of see his face. Did I quit that job? No, I was fired because there was some social event I could not possibly miss. It was dire as is often the case for the teenage girl. My boyfriend (yes, I had one of those - a quick fantasy about Daryl did not interfere in the slightest with this relationship), called the restaurant and pretended to be my dad, telling my boss I was sick and couldn’t come into work. Hmmm, I wonder how they could tell? Insert winky face emoji. I didn’t really care about being canned as it was a long drive each way and I must have had fun at the social event I couldn’t miss.
There were many other jobs through the years. I take a little piece of something from each one. Overall I learned about what makes high-quality service, doing an excellent job, working hard, and the challenge of doing your best. Plus I got to meet a lot of fascinating people along the way. Thanks to all who crossed my path. I’m a better worker today because of you.
Work hard, be kind and amazing things will happen.
— Conan O’Brien
(Yes, there is some serious feathering of the hair going on here.)
