Celebrating A Milestone: Part Two

Part Two: Putty In Their Hands

   My first job ever had me working at a tiny meat shop in a plaza that featured a 7/11 and a Thiara Market. The owner was a man half my size and I was only 14. I learned a lot from the people I worked with. My foul language at this point was pretty limited and extremely unoriginal but I was willing to work on it. I knew swearing was for me the minute my parents told me it was wrong and that I shouldn't do it. When I showed up for my first shift and met the man I'd call boss, I didn't know that I was about to meet the man who would open my ears to a whole new world of disrespectful language never to be used in front of my parents. What some would call verbal abuse I called language arts. I learned that taking a common swear word and joining it with everyday words or objects gave them new life.

    He was particularly good at put-downs. There was one individual at the workplace who essentially acted as a pin cushion...for samurai swords and battle axes being thrown at him by our boss. Everyday this kid would come in to work and everyday he would spend the whole shift getting dumped on. He was the longest standing employee aside from the owner, and that meant something. I learned from this young man that sometimes it's acceptable to be somebody elses toilet, as long as that person pays you better than everyone else and gives you better hours. Noted.

      When my loudmouth boss wasn't cussing out his beloved employees or out buying discounted meat from local grocery stores and selling it as luxury meat at his shop, he was a very friendly and extremely helpful person. He would help load heavy products into the cars of customers and even offer their children lollipops. I was astonished when I first saw him acting this way. It was such a drastic change in such little time, but how? Two-facing. A life changing ability and one that I've since realized everyone possesses. Again this man was showing me what it meant to be a part of the "real world". It meant being one thing to some people and another thing to others. Yes, sometimes it takes being who they need you to be in order to be who you want to be. So for the lesson in Language Arts and Deception 101, I sincerely thank the boys down at the butcher shop.

   I was putty in their hands and all they did was roll me into a ball and whip me at the wall to see if I would stick... I didn't. I very quickly peeled back and fell to the floor. Next job please!


For a personal online Language Arts Lesson watch this video: