We’re sitting in the café marketplace having a business breakfast, (these Texans know how to grill up a mean frittata) we’re having a pretty intense discussion, but I can’t seem to take my eyes off the bus boy.
Was he that hot? No no, it was nothing like that. I found myself fantasizing about what it would be like to be him – about my job requiring nothing more than clearing tables - gather up the dirty dishes, put them in the plastic tub, take them to the kitchen.
This is not to diminish the job of busing tables – I did it for a few years and it’s physical work. But what would it be like to have a job that simple – where you could go home at the end of the day and leave work behind…where your boss could look at the tables, see they were all clean, and know you’ve done a good job….where failure and success have clear boundaries….where you don’t wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat having nightmares of never ending tables with plates you can’t seem to clear away no matter how hard you work.
Sign one – bus boy envy
Then I go back to the hotel and the soda machine is out of water – completely out, all 3 buttons. I attacked the machine. No – I didn’t just yell at it – I physically attacked it. I pounded its face and kicked it in the shins. I threw my shoulder into it hoping to topple it on its side and extract water from it like blood.
Sign two – irrational soda machine attacks
Realizing that I was attracting unwanted attention from the fellow guests deciding they didn’t really want that soda/water if it meant going near “that crazy lady”, I went to the hotel fitness center. 40 minutes into my treadmill session I actually started to tear up – I was thinking about my father. 90 minutes later, I finally got off, well- got off isn’t exactly what happened, I stopped walking and went to push stop but missed and went flying off the back of the machine into a heap on the floor.
Sign three – losing it on a treadmill in a crappy hotel fitness center.
Have you ever looked longingly at someone who has a job that looks so much easier and simpler than yours? Have you ever felt beaten down by the world and found yourself taking it out on those who don’t deserve it? Have you ever done your best to escape and run away from your fears only to find no mater how fast and far you run, they catch up with you anyway?
