Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005
... So glad we made it
Thoughts on work.
I realize just how important the people at Quiznos were. How much Becky and Blair made that job what it was. I mean, I knew that I wasn't there for the job, but I didn't realize just how much I wasn't there for the job, if that makes any sense. I mean, I don't mind my job at B&N, and I don't dread going to work, but I definitely don't look forward to it in the same way that I used to look forward to Q. At least, the way I looked forward to it some days.
There are people there that I'm starting to connect with, but it's just not the same, and honestly, I find that have little patience with some of the people there. I don't know... I've been in customer service for long enough now, that maybe I just don't have patience with people who don't pick up as quickly, but for whatever reason, I find myself losing patience much more quickly.
Part of that, too, is the job itself, I'm sure. To me, it's indicitive that I just don't love it the same way. I mean, there are days when I'm more or less patient in every circumstance, but really, when I love what I do, I have greater patience with it.
I've also discovered that I'm not one for working for the big corporation. Q was different, because it was a franchise, and our store was pretty small. I liked the family-run feel to it, and that kind of overshadowed the corporate thing. With B&N, there's just so much protocol that's dictated by head office, and that bugs me. I'm more into the smaller feel, and a more small-business, independent feeling. Like I said, I know that Quiznos was a part of a bigger picture, but our little piece of it was small and intimite and homey, and that's something that B&N is definitely lacking.
I like having the freedom to make decisions and take action based on the circumstances--not even necessarily that I have to be the one making the decisions, but I like having the freedom within the business to respond to the immediate stimuli, instead of the responses being filtered through (again) a major head office and corporate headquarters, and then sifted down to every store in the area.
All of this makes me think that, just maybe, I'll be successful at running my own small business. I mean, there's still so much that I need to learn, but I think that my instincts are in the right place. In business, the things that attract me are the qualities that I can see in a small business.
Even disregarding the whole aspect of exactly what it is that the business does--obviously (at least, theoretically), I'll be more passionate about a theatre business in any regard than I'll ever about food. There should be no question about that in the slightest. But putting all that aside, I think that the structure and model of a small business is much more attractive to me than a big corporate model. And, if business is the route I'm going (and that seems unavoidable), best that I learn what types of business are going to appeal most, thereby giving me the greatest opportunity to succeed. You know what I mean?
One year ago today: It came at the right time, too. Most of the conversation was just catching up and talking about life, but we talked about art and music and theatre, too, and it was nice to have that perspective thrown into the mix of what I experienced all week. Nice to have someone remind me that even though I'm a "theatre person," I still do have music in me, and the dichotomy that often seems to be there between the two is something that splits me in two, too. Theatre may have been what I've chosen as a career, but that doesn't mean that I love music any less, and hanging out with all these musicians all week is an easy way to discredit my own musicality. But it was good to talk to Logan and to be reminded that I am both, even if one takes precendence over the other.
infinite || abyss
posted at 10:09 p.m.
