Can I Be Of Service?
A friend just told me he signed up for the Meisner Progression. He is a casual friend, who I have run into at a number of shows with Next Step, several of which he was cast in (the company doing Neil Simon's Rumors). I have also seen him at Exchange Theatre where I ushered regularly. I also saw him in a show with Edge of the World. He is a very good actor, and what I have noticed in most of his roles is his humanness. When I saw him in Dancing at Lughnasa and The Foursome there was a compassion appropriate to the roles which seemed palpable. We had dinner several weeks ago, where we talked about the Meisner Progression. I told him the pros and cons from my perspective. I hope he gets as much out of the program, and shows compassion for any encouragement I provided.
I am looking forward to the long weekend. No solid plans so far, though I am thinking of finally going to the zoo tomorrow or Sunday. It looks like the weather may cooperate this time. I want to find an animal, or at least narrow down my candidates. I remember last time I found my animal by surprise, and much sooner than I expected. I also want to read the script a few more times, and maybe even do some script work on my laptop. Now that I have put this down on paper, so to speak, I realize I really am craving these activities. Craving an artistic weekend I suppose.
I saw Google news headlines about a couple Saddam statues which were blown up or torn down and melted down to make a statue of a U.S. soldier in mourning. At first I was disgusted with the insensitive arrogance of making a U.S. memorial in Iraq, then to my relief I saw the statue was dedicated at Fort Hood. That's not so bad. Then I realized it was made of bronze looted from the country we invaded. I understand the sentiment, but find it tragically ironic we couldn't be bothered to glorify our sacrifice with materials which weren't stolen.
The deli lady at the cafeteria here at work called me Trouble today. Normally I'm Cool, which I really like though I don't have a clue why she calls me Cool, it sounds so cool and friendly the way she says it. I suppose it's what I get for showing up at the very end of the lunch hour. She is a black woman a only few years older than I, and we usually chat up a storm while she is making me a sandwich. She gets distracted, so it is always a bit of an adventure to see what I'll bite into when I get back to my office. On the up side, I usually get very generous portions in my sandwich. I tend to get much better than average service from people in service jobs. I like to chat with them, remembering all my service jobs, and truly enjoy the interchanges. A real life win-win situation. More people should try it.
Last year when I was working at Microsoft a man at the cafeteria made a scene because he was unhappy with the way his food was prepared. He was loud, obnoxious, and flat out wrong. I don't remember the specifics any longer. I do remember his dish was prepared the proper way, and quite well. I had the same thing. The server did everything he could to make the man feel better, including an offer to recook his serving, or a fresh serving. He was ignored by the man, who just got louder and started mocking the server's dialect. Eventually the manager came out and managed to mollify the man. When I got back to my office I wrote an E-mail to the food service alias, commending the server for how he dealt with this lunatic. The cafeteria manager wrote back with heart-felt thanks, and I told her I'd be willing to relate the incident to the abusive man's manager or Human Resources if they wanted to follow-up. They considered it, and I suspect she contacted the manager, and confirmation was not necessary. I didn't think anybody there associated my name and face, but I did seem to get preferred service after that.
Why are personnel offices called Human Resources? Personnel and least sounds like personal. In this country resources are things we exploit until they are depleted and/or exhausted. It means Human Resources may be a more apt description, but since when have we had truth in advertising?
I am looking forward to the long weekend. No solid plans so far, though I am thinking of finally going to the zoo tomorrow or Sunday. It looks like the weather may cooperate this time. I want to find an animal, or at least narrow down my candidates. I remember last time I found my animal by surprise, and much sooner than I expected. I also want to read the script a few more times, and maybe even do some script work on my laptop. Now that I have put this down on paper, so to speak, I realize I really am craving these activities. Craving an artistic weekend I suppose.
I saw Google news headlines about a couple Saddam statues which were blown up or torn down and melted down to make a statue of a U.S. soldier in mourning. At first I was disgusted with the insensitive arrogance of making a U.S. memorial in Iraq, then to my relief I saw the statue was dedicated at Fort Hood. That's not so bad. Then I realized it was made of bronze looted from the country we invaded. I understand the sentiment, but find it tragically ironic we couldn't be bothered to glorify our sacrifice with materials which weren't stolen.
The deli lady at the cafeteria here at work called me Trouble today. Normally I'm Cool, which I really like though I don't have a clue why she calls me Cool, it sounds so cool and friendly the way she says it. I suppose it's what I get for showing up at the very end of the lunch hour. She is a black woman a only few years older than I, and we usually chat up a storm while she is making me a sandwich. She gets distracted, so it is always a bit of an adventure to see what I'll bite into when I get back to my office. On the up side, I usually get very generous portions in my sandwich. I tend to get much better than average service from people in service jobs. I like to chat with them, remembering all my service jobs, and truly enjoy the interchanges. A real life win-win situation. More people should try it.
Last year when I was working at Microsoft a man at the cafeteria made a scene because he was unhappy with the way his food was prepared. He was loud, obnoxious, and flat out wrong. I don't remember the specifics any longer. I do remember his dish was prepared the proper way, and quite well. I had the same thing. The server did everything he could to make the man feel better, including an offer to recook his serving, or a fresh serving. He was ignored by the man, who just got louder and started mocking the server's dialect. Eventually the manager came out and managed to mollify the man. When I got back to my office I wrote an E-mail to the food service alias, commending the server for how he dealt with this lunatic. The cafeteria manager wrote back with heart-felt thanks, and I told her I'd be willing to relate the incident to the abusive man's manager or Human Resources if they wanted to follow-up. They considered it, and I suspect she contacted the manager, and confirmation was not necessary. I didn't think anybody there associated my name and face, but I did seem to get preferred service after that.
Why are personnel offices called Human Resources? Personnel and least sounds like personal. In this country resources are things we exploit until they are depleted and/or exhausted. It means Human Resources may be a more apt description, but since when have we had truth in advertising?
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home