adapting my image of self
I accidentally find myself employed. After a month filled with cover letters, resumes, and way too few interviews, a fit of stressing about having no work led to an afternoon hitting the pavement which led, after an hour, to a job. The change of reality is drastic. After six weeks of nothing to structure my life, I start tomorrow. And after four weeks of constant job search, I find myself strangely with nothing to do. That in itself is an image makeover.
Add to that the concept that my job falls completely out of any category I would have imagined to be working in. Yesterday I inquired about, interviewed for, and was hired as a hostess and serving assistant at The Melting Pot. All in the span of about an hour.
What confuses me most about this position, other than the fact that I needed to purchase a black cocktail dress for my shift tomorrow, is that none of my life experience has been preparing me for this line of work. It wasn't even on my radar and I'm struggling to rationalize it as a part of my identity. Bekah, the academic, the pacifist, the mennonite, the baker, the knitter, the lover, the passionate. Bekah, with the passion for restoration, committed to justice, idealist and emotional. Bekah, the hostess at a high end fondu restaurant?
Incorporating this employment into my identity is intriguing. It is reminding me of the complexity in all the people we interact with everyday - of the labels I apply to people and the assumptions I make without realizing that individuals are much more complex than the roles they are playing. And as I continue to look for work within my field and experience, work that I assume will be gratifying simply because of its title or job description, I hope that I will look beyond the label of wait staff in my evaluating my experience at the Melting Pot.
Here's to adapting my sense of self - and also my assumptions about other selves I encounter.
Add to that the concept that my job falls completely out of any category I would have imagined to be working in. Yesterday I inquired about, interviewed for, and was hired as a hostess and serving assistant at The Melting Pot. All in the span of about an hour.
What confuses me most about this position, other than the fact that I needed to purchase a black cocktail dress for my shift tomorrow, is that none of my life experience has been preparing me for this line of work. It wasn't even on my radar and I'm struggling to rationalize it as a part of my identity. Bekah, the academic, the pacifist, the mennonite, the baker, the knitter, the lover, the passionate. Bekah, with the passion for restoration, committed to justice, idealist and emotional. Bekah, the hostess at a high end fondu restaurant?
Incorporating this employment into my identity is intriguing. It is reminding me of the complexity in all the people we interact with everyday - of the labels I apply to people and the assumptions I make without realizing that individuals are much more complex than the roles they are playing. And as I continue to look for work within my field and experience, work that I assume will be gratifying simply because of its title or job description, I hope that I will look beyond the label of wait staff in my evaluating my experience at the Melting Pot.
Here's to adapting my sense of self - and also my assumptions about other selves I encounter.
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