An Exciting True Story

As you all may have already known, I have been becoming increasingly discontented with my job as a pizza delivery guy. It is the same every day; wash dishes, get my shirt dirty, slice meat and veggies, deliver pizzas to the same five places that ordered (Mott's shipping, Mott's security, Route 88 barn, Pitts Ford, Middle or Elementary schools), and sometimes get a grouchy costumer. My boss, Chris, would yell at me for various petty things. I would often overhear different employees say my name while talking amongst themselves. They never let me know what they were talking about though... but I heard my name, so logically I could draw conclusions.

A couple of weeks ago, my boss got into trouble with his boss. We all knew who told the franchise owner about our supposed "less-than-par standards" because he came in all the time. He was a snoop, and he seemed to thrive on making stores other than the one he owned look bad... probably in an effort to climb the corporate ladder, if there is such a thing in this business. But my boss took it very seriously and began making a billion different revisions about the shop, including uniforms and recipes and such.

Previously at Cams, a delivery driver had to wear a white button up shirt with a bow tie. This summer when I went back to work there after a 1 1/2 year absence, the rules had become slightly more relaxed. The white shirt policy was still in effect, but the bow tie was no longer a requirement.

After the run-in with his boss, Chris reinstated the bow tie rule, which was tolerable I suppose. Unfortunately he soon demanded that I buy myself a new shirt and started getting extra grouchy about it. If I didn't buy a new shirt by a certain time, I would be fired. At this point I had already been feeling some pressure to quit, but not having any other job to go to, I had to give in and buy a brand new white shirt for myself, knowing full well that it would be completely wrecked within 2 weeks. The shirt I bought was nice, and it cost me $25.00. I didn't have enough time to look for anything cheaper, Wal-Mart doesn't believe in white button-up shirts. Further confounding the matter was the fact that only the delivery guys had to buy their own uniforms, other uniforms were standard issue.

I had this new white shirt for about a week when I went into work on Wednesday. Upon my arrival, my boss said to me, "Hey, where are your khaki pants? Didn't I tell you to wear khaki pants?"

"No Chris, you didn't tell me."

"Well, you gotta get some khaki pants before too long."

So I worked throughout Wednesday and on Thursday I went to school and forgot about khaki pants. In reality I didn't think it was a big deal, plus I had already spent $25.00 on a new shirt, so why would I want to spend more on pants for a minimum wage job that I didn't even like? I had also noticed something rather suspicious on the schedule the day before; Chris had a new guy scheduled to work some of my normal hours. What could this mean? I let that stew around in my brain for all of 5 seconds.

Friday rolled around and while on my way to work I realized that I had no khaki pants. "Oh well, not a big deal" I mused to myself. I pulled into my usual parking spot at work and grabbed my shirt and hat before getting out of my car and going in the front door to work. I entered like I normally did, greeting my boss with a smile. He was working at the bench making pizzas alongside the scumbag who had ratted on him. Chris looked up from his pizza making and said hello, then I watched his expression change. He looked at me with a rather stern face and said, "Hey Josiah, where are your khaki pants? Didn't I ask you to get some khaki pants? Remember that conversation we had?"

I looked at him with a strait face and said, "Oh yeah, I remember."

He continued, "So... what's the problem here?"

I stumbled over my thoughts for a second and mumbled something that wasn't even important enough for me to remember what it was. Chris pressed me for a strait answer. I looked at my feet for a minute before remembering my interpersonal communications class the night before. We had briefly discussed how well we conveyed our thoughts and ideas to others, even when it might be hard. I struggled with this for a second, the cannons raged in my head as the battle was fought. "Should I tell him what I am thinking... or should I just try and skirt the issue as I had been doing for the past 2 weeks?" I finally decided to just lay it out there plain as day and risk my job... it wasn't like it would be a huge loss to me anyway.

I looked him strait in the eye and explained, "Well, here's what I think: This is a minimum wage job, and I already spent $25 on a shirt, and quite frankly, I really don't feel like spending any more money on a minimum wage job that I don't even like anyway."

Without a single moments hesitation me gave me the news that I knew was coming anyway; "Well then, you're done." he stated rather matter-of-factly. I smiled and said "OK" and walked casually out of the shop. I got into my car and laughed. Then I realized that I probably had a paycheck inside on the counter. I waltzed back into the shop and kindly asked for my paycheck. Upon receiving my check, I turned around and walked back out the door.

So now I am jobless. I am currently waiting for news on any internships or jobs that FLCC might be able to offer me. If nothing turns up there, I may be able to score a job with a temp agency. If nothing else works out, I could always go back to Orbakers... but I hope it doesn't come to that.