Introduction

Today, I set my alarm for 4:00 a.m. and arrived at work at 5:00 a.m. I prepared and served breakfast for about 200 high school students, and then I served lunch to a small group of school superintendents. I broke two dishes and dropped an entire crate of dirty silverware on the pavement outside. I had to crawl under a truck in the pouring rain to retrieve the silverware. I finally got off work at 4:00 p.m. after eleven hours on my feet. This was a typical day.

I suppose I should begin this blog by explaining why I have this job in the first place. I'm currently between college and graduate school, and I had to find a summer job that paid above minimum wage. I also had to find an employer who would hire me for only two months -- not easy in a college town full of student workers and minimum wage jobs. My job pays $9.25 per hour, the hours are flexible, and I can request time off for my obligations out of town. And for the most part, I like my coworkers.

The downside: I'm exhausted, sore, and miserable all the time. I regularly work between 8 and 11 hours with only a 20 minute break. I steal five minutes when I can, but I'm essentially setting up, serving, busing, and scrubbing for the entire day. I come home dripping with sweat and filthy with food. I've had wet garbage spilled on me twice. And my feet ache like you wouldn't believe. By the end of my shift, I can barely stand -- and that sounds histrionic unless you've been there, but it's true.

So, I have started this temporary blog to complain about my job. It's basically going to be a lot of bitching, moaning, and ranting. Sure, complaining doesn't solve anything... but it makes me feel better. Feel free to listen, comment, and commiserate.