I recently did, however, change up my ‘day’ job. With all my kids grown now, the youngest still living at home, but sleeps all day and works all night. Hubby out on the road for countless days on end, well, let’s just say I’m fond of alone time BUT there is such a thing as too much alone time.
As most of you know I live in Small Town USA. In fact, if you think you are going anywhere when driving down our main street, you better turn left when you get to 10th street because it’s a dead end after that.
We have one store in town, a Circle K convenience store and recently I was complaining to hubby I needed something to do that got me out of the house. See I have publishing ambitions that I really wanted to foot the bill for myself, and being an author, you do spend a good deal of time alone with the characters in your head. We just happened to pull up in the parking lot of said store at that very moment and seen a HIRING sign on the door. Omen, I think so...
So I started working there a few days a week to get me out to play with the 3 dimensional people. I didn’t know if I would like it at first, but I fast came to enjoy this little hotspot in our tiny town.
Oh the things you hear in a small town store, where regular customers are seen a hundred times a day. I recently chased down a drive-off (someone pumped gas and drove off without paying) and one of the regulars came to my rescue and brought the man back to pay. Well, another regular saw the whole thing transpire and in good ol’ small town fashion that regular customer has stretched that story every time he’s been into the store since, so much so that I almost can’t remember the real story anymore LOL. Of course his stories are much more ‘book worthy’ than the actual truth, LOL.
Would I give a character this job? I do believe I would. In fact, the first week I worked there a story idea formed and even though I have yet to act on it, I’m going to say the possibility of it becoming a future story is pretty certain ;)
I’m a firm believer in it doesn’t matter what you do in this life as long as you make the most of what you do. A couple of tips from an old job gypsy:
Go into that job with the attitude that it is the most important job in the world.
Keep a smile on your face, even when you would rather, cuss, scream, and throw things.
Find the purpose in doing this job and do it to the best of your ability.
If you are in a position where you see numerous people on a daily basis, show interest in their life, this may be the only time each day they have someone to talk to.
And above everything, always always enjoy what you do.