Month: August 2013 Page 2 of 11

Disclaimer: The experiment at the end of this piece never actually happened. I know you probably figured this out, but I am just sayin’…
Part of the lyric to the Doobie Brothers hit song back in the day, is today’s blog headline. It is as true nowadays as back then. While we all share the fact we struggle in life to some degree or another, there is nothing like a smile or outright laughter to put us back on a healthy track.
While some think the amount of money CEOs make is obscene, I believe their inaccessibility to their minions (under them) and to news media requests, are chief executive examples of lewd and offensive behavior (not to mention blown opportunities for positive press).
I plan to feature some interesting people in interviews here in the coming weeks and months on hittingthesweetspot by Bob Skelley. Some of these people you will know, or at least know of. Others have done nothing to merit any coverage either online or in traditional print media, other than being human beings trying to get through life every day. You will find the stories of non-celebrity types equally as compelling, if not more so, than their counterparts of greater, worldly stature.
Everyone has a story and you are invited to submit yours and your ideas for one, to me for telling here. Every story is only as good as its storyteller. At hittingthesweetspot by Bob Skelley everyone from minimum wage workers to CEOs are invited to reach out to me. Much like Dr. Frasier Crane…”I am listening.” And listening is the first part of the process of bringing a good story to the table.

It’s taken the better part of six months, but my back is back. No, I do not mean my butt. I mean my back back is back. Working as a dining room server since late February, has helped my core and back to the point that I am actually more stout than I have been in quite some time. Serving is hard work. You are on your feet all of the time you work and when you combine squatting, moving, darting, changing directions on the fly (faking left and going right), lifting, bending and carrying, your body goes through more than a full range of motions to activate certain physical fight or flight mechanisms.
Everyone who works in the restaurant business or does some serving of some kind knows what I am talking about. Your body screams while it is making adjustments to the very laborious, physically taxing nature of the work. Once it adjusts (and the human body is amazing at withstanding all that we thrust upon it), you actually begin to feel better. So, instead of wanting to get the flock out of there, you dig in and fight your way through demanding shifts.
I could have used all of this as an excuse when I did not do as well in school as I should have. But maybe I was afraid to not have working part-time serving, as an excuse for not doing well. Fact is, if I was not prepared as I should have been, it was because I just did not prepare as well as I should have. Working part-time as a server was really never a legitimate excuse.
Everyone who works in the restaurant business knows what it is like to be working in a team environment. Not everyone feels at the top of their game each day. Unlike sedentary jobs, you cannot just stay in your chair longer if you are not able to stand for long periods of time. If you cannot stand for long periods of time, you cannot be in the restaurant business period. So, workers, although we have our aches and pains, have to take care of ourselves enough to be able to withstand the physical rigors the job places upon us.
One of the best things about working as a server is I get to foist my dry sense of humor upon my co-workers. Laughing is not optional when you work with me. Even if you do not like me, you still wonder why anyone would laugh at anything I say or do; like since you do not like me, it pisses you off that someone may like me because they are laughing at something I have said. And once you start questioning yourself about things like that, you have already lost that one—you might as well like me as you just may find I am not entirely hate worthy.

Some people think I am funny, some do not. Some people like me, some do not. Anyone who has ever worked with me anywhere, though, knows I like to keep things loose and fun. Although we can get serious here at times on the blog, if I do not laugh a lot on any given day, then that day was probably not so good.
I do not know how to end this and so instead of taking a bow, doing a curtsy and listening for applause I cannot hear, I offer this story to politicians who signed off on the Affordable Care Act without actually reading it:
A scientist was conducting an experiment with a frog.
The scientist says, “Jump, frog jump,” and the frog jumps.
So, the scientist cuts off one of the frog’s legs and says, “Jump, frog jump,” and the frog jumps again.
The scientist is intrigued, cuts off another leg and says, “Jump, frog jump,” and the frog obediently leaps once more.
The scientist proceeds to cut off yet another leg and says, “Jump, frog, jump.” The frog manages to thrust himself into the air via his remaining leg much to the amazement of the scientist, who feverishly details all of the frog’s behavior—keyboarding it all on his laptop.
Finally, the scientist cuts off the frog’s last leg and says, “Jump, frog, jump.” The frog just sits there and croaks at the scientist.
“Jump, frog, jump!” says the scientist again.
“Rib-bit, rib-bit,” answers the frog.
The scientist begins keyboarding on the laptop again…
“Cut off fourth leg, frog no jump.”
“Conclusion: Frog deaf.”