Jimmy Johns

So, after NOT graduating as planned, I've decided to live and work in Marion for a while. Well, I was probably going to take a year off anyway, but this just kind of further cemented my plans. Graduation was on Saturday and I didn't have to move out of the dorms until Wednesday. Up until Tuesday night, all I knew was that I was going to live and work in Marion.

My aunt and uncle have graciously let me stay with them. I'm not sure how long I'll be here, but it's very nice. The bedroom is about half as big as my dorm room and the bed is twice as large. Luckily, Matty said I could store some of my junk in her shed. She's nice sometimes. I like living here, but I feel like I'm not around much due to work and friends. About the time my aunt and uncle go to bed is when I feel like going out with friends. I haven't gotten much friend time this summer, but's it's been okay. I'll probably post more on that subject later.

My good friend Bethany found out that I was looking for a job and said I should apply to Jimmy Johns. After taking in the application, I sat down with an interview with one of the assistant managers Willie. He's really nice; I like Willie. The interview went pretty smoothly so he gave me a list of the sandwiches to memorize so I could take a test on them a few days later. I texted my mom that night and said, "Food. Memorization. I love those two things. This job will be a piece of cake." Took the test, finished it in three minutes with a perfect score. It was glorious.

I handed in my test to the manager Jordan. Bethany said I would like him. She was right again. She tends to do that a lot actually. After grading my test Jordan said, "Yeah man, I'd have to be retarded not to hire you. I hope that's not offensive? It's probably not politically correct either, but it's true. You want a job?" To which, of course, I said, "Yes."

I started work last Wednesday and it's a lot of fun. I sing and dance. I sweep. I clean up vomit. I make sandwiches. That's pretty much all I need to be happy. My co-workers are a strange yet wonderful mix of personalities. One of my first meetings was with Crizvaun. He's been working there for a while and he has a very interesting personality. We went out on a delivery together so I could see what it was like. . . Yeah, it sounded strange to me too. Crizvaun is very sarcastic and very familiar with people, two things I can definitely identify with. However, I think he's a little worse at discerning how much is too much and sometimes he can seem pretty rude. I have more funny stories about him from last night, but that's already been promised to a different post.

My second meeting was with Micayla. She showed me how to run the cash register. Micayla is very small, maybe 5'3" 120 pounds, with long, dark hair and a spray on tan. She puts on the air of a dumb blonde most of the time. I don't think that's her true personality, but it seems like it's something she's done for a while and it's slowly taking over for real. I hope not though. She also has no sense of personal space. As I was messing around at the register, she was about two inches away from my face just staring at me. It normally wouldn't bother me, but I had only known her for about 30 seconds so I was slightly freaked out. We're besties now though. Totes for real yo.

Micayla's best friend at work is Megan. Megan was really quiet when I first met her and spent most of her time on the slicer. It seemed like there was something wrong but I didn't know her at all so I wasn't going to ask about it. I've worked with her since then and she is very much a fun and outgoing person. She's also picked up the habit of winking at me. To be fair, it only started after I awkwardly stared at her in feigned ignorance about how to clean the slicer. Thursday, Megan and Micayla surrounded me when I was doing dishes, looped their arms behind my back, and sang, "We are the three best friends there ever was. . . ", for quite some time. I pretended to be creeped out, but it was all I could do to keep from laughing.

Some of the other guys I work with are Mike, Mike, Sergio, Chris, and Jake. One of the Mikes is really into music. I'm pretty sure that's how he relates to people. He works at Meijer as well. He seems like a pretty interesting guy. The other Mike, as I found out yesterday, is the Pastor of Exit 59 Downtown. He's pretty cool too and very helpful. His employee number is 2 meaning he's been there FOREVERRRRRRRRR. But, he's leaving to finish his masters degree so he won't be here long. It'll be sad to see him go. Sergio is another driver. He always talks about being the "bros" and gives the girls a hard time. He's fun to work with. I've only worked with Chris once be he seems like a good guy. Anddddd, his mustache makes him look like Luigi so it's an automatic win. Jake started the same day I did. He is younger and kind of reserved but I like him. I think he's good friends with Willie.

The other girls at work are Victoria, Olivia, Tori, Abby, and Regina (at least that I've worked with). I pretend to be indignant around Victoria and she pretends to get angry at me. It's a fun game we play. I found out from Pastor Mike that she and I actually live in the same neighborhood. Yesterday she invited me to her Hello Kitty themed graduation party. The woman is obsessed. She apparently was given a lot of expensive watches from her boyfriend. They've been dating for 4 months and he's bought her over $4,000 worth of jewelry even though she's told him not to. Not sure how I feel about that relationship but she seems to have a good head on her shoulders. Regina is always laid back and usually works the drive through. That's about all I know of her. I worked with Olivia once. She seems cool but is still in high school so can only work weekends. I've worked with Abby twice for similar reasons. She seems like lots of fun but doesn't speak up much. Maybe it's just the company? She went on a tennis date after work on Thursday and I found out she plays/played for the high school team. I'm half tempted to challenge her sometime but I don't want to get shown up. Tori is interesting. She checks out girls more than most guys I know. She's just very confident in her sexuality I guess. She's pretty nice but a little vulgar at times.

Josh is another person I work with. He's older and has kids. He's always so stoic in appearance and expression but the things that come out of his mouth definitely are not. We discovered a shared love of Final Fantasy the other day and I found out he has a tattoo of Vivi on his arm, one of my favorite characters from Final Fanasy IX, one of my favorite games. I like him more now.

I work with Bethany as well but I saved her for last. She's a lot of fun. We've only had one shift together but it was a blast. We're both ENTP's so we mesh well together. We understood what was going on and how one another reacted to things. We also have a very similar work ethic so we spent a lot of time bustling around doing dishes or sweeping while the others talked. Everyone was convinced we were related because we're so much alike. It's fantastic. I hope I get to work with her more this summer after she's done with Pl-(M)-ay Term.

Jimmy Johns is a good reminder of the secular world though. IWU is nice, but it is a shelter. The talk at work is much different than I've been used to for over 5 years. I went to public school so it's not really a surprise so much as a reminder. Cussing is just a common thing among most of my coworkers. I tend to shy away from it as much as possible. I don't judge them for it, but I don't want it to become a part of me at all. That's part of the reason I bustle around and keep myself as busy as possible. That and I just like to work I guess. xD

Overall, I love my job. I've taken so many hours they won't let me work any more this week. People think I'm crazy, but I'm okay with that. The job lets me be around people. I'm fascinated with my coworkers and can't wait to continue building relationships with them. Jimmy Johns also gives me a focus and a purpose. I know it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life, but I am very content with it for now. I'm sure there will be much more to come to talk about, so hopefully you enjoy reading about it. I'm so grateful to Bethany, but most of all to God, for allowing me to be here at this season in my life.

Oops

This post makes my last one a lie, for which I apologize. However, I think it's worth it.

My next post SHALL be about Jimmy Johns.

The one after that will be about my crazy night on May 18th/19th. (Spoiler Alert: I get into a bar fight with a co-worker and win).

That is all. . .

Brief Snippets

First post on new Blogger... Not sure I like it.

Car likely died for good today.

Work is fun.

I really need to blog more.

My next post will be much lengthier and contain many of my thoughts about work. I really wanna talk about it.

Missing friends.

God is good.