So, this morning I had a hard time getting out of bed. I was very groggy and was having dreams that were both beautiful and strange.
As I have been accustomed to for several months now, I woke up with the vague sense of drab annoyance. Then I remembered I was not in Chicago, but in this gorgeous apartment in the odd land of Kalamazoo. I felt better, and mustered myself out of bed toward the coffee machine.
So it's really cool that everyone is so comparatively relaxed and friendly, but I find myself occasionally slipping into Chicago mode.
Now this is not entirely a bad thing. I find peoples' reactions amusing, because they are so unaccustomed to this. But at the same time, I can't help but feel a little guilty, a little rude.
Let's take yesterday for example. Rob wanted Taco Bell. Rob was still in his pajamas so we hit the drive thru. He asked if I wanted to go somewhere (I'm not big on Taco Bell food. About the only Mexican food I like, between my vegetarianism and inability to handle hot food, is rice. And that is at an authentic place, not a greasy fast food joint. ) but all I wanted was ice cream. Luckily, Taco Bell had choco tacos, so we each got one in addition to Rob's order.
We got our order after a semi long wait, but she only handed us one bag. Since there was hot food, we immediately looked through to get the ice cream out of there. We had pulled forward so the next person in line could get their order. Oops, no choco tacos. So I offered to run inside, since I was actually dressed. Irked that I had to go inside for a screwed up order, I caught the manager and hastily told him how the drive thru screwed up our order. As he started to head back to fix it, the drive thru girl said (after I said "She didn't put it in our bag") "yes she did."
"No, she didn't." I said. "We looked through the whole bag, it's not in there."
"No, you did order it, I'm telling him."
Uh huh. If you knew we ordered it, why didn't you put it in the bag, for fuck's sake?
So the manager got the choco tacos and apologized profusely. I thanked him and left. As I did, some sorority girls were standing around. I said excuse me, but not very loud as I was in a hurry. They looked really startled and jumped back.
Heh.
It's sort of funny to fall back on those old Chicago ways in such a relaxed little college town. I mean, people actually seem to pay attention when you do that shit instead of just shrugging it off, or it taking great reserves of aggressiveness just to get out of a store or a manager's attention. I think to an extent those things never leave you. I mean, my Dad has lived in rural Pennsylvania for the past thirty years and yet you can still sometimes tell that he grew up in New York.
Anyhow, I'm going to the mall to look for retail jobs today. I had another temp interview today but I cancelled it. I am convinced that I don't want to do that sort of work. And Kalamazoo is cheap enough that you don't *have* to work in an office just to make a living, so fuck it...