So I walked into the Farmacy Soda Shop today - the place right across the street from Naidre's that got renovated just before I got here - just to pick up some old-fashioned iced tea mix to bring home to my peeps. It's a super cute place, all old-timey and beautifully old-fashioned and whatnot. Anyway, when I got up to the counter, the owner (who frequents Naidre's) takes a good long look at me and goes, "I was thinking about talking to you today." I'm like, umm . . . He says, "I want to offer you a second job." I must have looked perplexed, so he goes, "I know your shifts end over there at three, we start over here at three. You seeing my drift?" I'm like, umm . . . And he says, "you have a husband? Kids?" Umm . . . "Good, then you can work like crazy!" So at this point I finally pipe up and say, well, I'm going home for a week, but after that . . . He says, "going home? Perfect. Spend all your money. Don't save a thing. Spend all your money, then come back and work like crazy." I'm still just pretty much smiling, holding the tea in my hands, and he goes, "take it, take it! Before I change my mind! And remember, spend all your money at home! Save nothing!" So when I get home, I have a second job all lined up if I want it. Which I do. At this point, it seems as if I might actually be saving up some money this summer rather than just blowing it all on living cost (and not too cheaply, because I'm me).
I got cafe-recognized today for the first time. I feel like that's a bit of a momentous occasion - when you're recognized from your workplace for the first time. As I was walking up the street to stop in at Farmacy, I saw a woman who comes in at least twice a day and gets iced coffee. She was coming from the opposite direction, so when she got close enough, she looked up at me and waved. It was a little bit touching, to tell you the truth. I feel like, very slowly, I'm opening up the doors to the community. It's really just sad that I'll be leaving them pretty much as soon as I open them wide enough to get through.
I got oddly taken advantage of today at work - I got the server slice of tips (that is to say, 10%) rather than the swing slice of tips (which would have been equal share) because I was working for Casey (this big ox that literally just takes people food and clears dishes). Yet I ended up doing actually most of the swing work on top: stocking, cleaning, making teas and coffees, and sticking around as long as needed. I would have been more annoyed had I not actually had a really nice time hanging out with work-Sarah the last several hours, talking about movies, and music, and boys, and whatever else. That girl is sharp as a tack, and really has a lot of stories I'd like to unlock - turns out she worked as a DP (director of photography) for the Power Rangers TV show for a couple of years, but decided to get out of the lifestyle before she got addicted to it. Really an interesting girl.
So I walked outside tonight to sit on my stoop for a few minutes and enjoy the night air, and all three of the Irish girls from upstairs were sitting out there. I was a bit taken aback at first, because I'd just been expecting a few quiet minutes to myself, but decided the best thing to do would be to just go chat with them. So I sat outside with them for about twenty minutes, discussing how we felt about being outsiders in New York, the struggle to get a summer job, what we were studying, so on and so forth. They have these beautiful lilting accents, and they use slang that I'm really intrigued by. I invited them to my birthday shindig, which at this point has very many attendees and currently no plan of attack whatsoever. I need to work on that . . .
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