lost...yet again

I never thought that after my holiday I would be looking forward to going back to work. I was sure that I would have more energy and enthusiasm for school and work would be the obligation and something that takes up a bit too much of my time. However, the case is quite the opposite.

My job is nothing too glamorous – I waitress in a small restaurant in a touristy area of Paris. Every night the place is fully booked and a second service is waiting at the bar, taking up so much space that it is hard for us to get to the tables. Thus on a normal night, we – the girls – run around like headless chicken trying to ensure that every single person leaves the place thinking how soon they can come back (and obviously while they are thinking they leave a nice note on the table).

At work I know I am good at what I do. This is something I honestly can’t say about school. And though we are always busy and have to work hard and at the end of it you are, at least physically, completely exhausted, most nights we have lots of fun. And when you know you have done a good job, you can enjoy a glass of wine at the end of the night. And the thing is that you do know and you can see right away why you put in all that energy into it. This is not something I can see about school. It is becoming more and more difficult for me to see the point of it. Ok, once I managed to tell one customer at work the current price of an oil barrel, because we had talked about that at school the very same day, but that is a one off exception. And on top of it all, school follows you were ever you go. There is not one second in a day when I don’t feel like I should be doing school work, rather than watching a dvd or doing something else overly unproductive but yet so relaxing and enjoyable.

Somehow it is so rewarding to see someone leave happy, and even if I know that part of the “thank you” and compliments we get is just good manners without a deeper meaning it is still by far better than a random number in a corner of an essay. It makes me wonder if I really have made the right choices when it comes to school and careers. I could never imagine being a waitress for the rest of my life but at the same time I can’t see myself in an office, talking to a computer the whole day. I love meeting new, interesting people and I enjoy talking and exchanging ideas. Also, I like that my work is valued and I am liked. I would never imagine a professor making me a cup of tea when I have a cold but my boss, and the owner of the restaurant does that on a regular basis. What is even better is to have people asking you to be there waitress – it is like someone at school would specially want to sit next to me, which obviously doesn’t really happen.

What to do?

I think I better go for a run before starting work.