Especially when they have to eat crow and do something they swore they never would.

Oh, how many people I know who've had great, high paying, cushy jobs, flaunting their luck and good fortune in everyone's faces, playing "keep it up with the Jones" just because they had the shit-ton of money to do so, and talking down about all the workers busting their asses at the places they shopped  (target, walmart, the mall), ate (fast food, restaurants) and got their lattes (starbucks, the gas station).  Because, of course, they're providing a necessary service, so it isn't like they shouldn't exist, but they'd never stoop to working there, because, yeah, service industries are for poor people.

And oh, how so many of those people are now without jobs and are having to suck it up at work in those service industries, providing service for people just like that, and finally getting a taste of working in one of the most unappreciated, shit-on industries.  The same job they swore up and down they'd never do -- even as you told them you'd been doing that for years.  It's amusing to interview people who go on and on about all they did with their last c company, only to get really upset when they falter and fail on the customer service part of the questionaire.  Just because you were good at your job doesn't mean you'll be good at mine.  Whatever you think of us, it takes a damn special person to do customer service.  Inter-office drama doesn't really count for much here.  Sure, there's a shit-ton of employee drama, but if you can't deal well with customers, you aren't getting the job.  Because that's part of our job, and putting up with the people who are like you once could afford to be takes a damn special person too.  I don't care what anyone says.

I have a family member who was like this, who secretly (and not so secretly) scoffed at me and others in our family who work in the service industry.  After all, she was far more skilled than we were, right?  Even though some of us went to college or have technical degrees but just couldn't afford to not have a job while sitting around applying for other jobs, so took what we could find and then got stuck there when the economy bombed., we still didn't count for much because of our lack of skills.  She recently came to me about getting a job with my company, and hopefully using my name to get her through the process faster.  It doesn't exactly work like that here, but sure, I can do that.  It just proves I'm the better person.  So she got her interviews, sat them, but didn't get offered the job -- not because she wasn't an intelligent, likeable, skilled individual, but because she lacked the customer service skills needed for the position she was hiring for.  Her app would have been put back into the pool and reassessed for another, less specialized position, but she was so pissed, she didn't take that option.

Naturally, her not getting the job was the company's fault, not hers.  Out of curiosity, I asked the supervisor and manager who'd done her two interviews what they'd thought of her and why she hadn't made it to the job offer, and both of them told me that her attitude absolutely put them off.  Arrogance and superiority may have gotten her pretty far within her own compnay, but in the service industries, they just don't fly.  Doing customer service takes the ability to be kind, humble, respectful, and extremely patient in the face of people who are almost never showing you the same respect.  And in this kind of job market (read: non-existant in our area), even the service industries can afford to be that picky.

The manager told me that it didn't help that she constantly dropped the "I never really expected myself to be doing a job like this..." line while answering questions.  It isn't good to make the interviewer feel like you don't respect those of us doing that same job, that you really are just lowering yourself to do this for the money.  Like my family member couldn't understand, we really don't have to hire you.  There are many, many others out there who need the job just as badly, who aren't ashamed to be applying for the job, and who understand that this may not have been where they could have seen themselves even two years ago, but that this was a job that could still give them skills they could trade on later when their own industries started hiring again. 

It may not seem all that flattering to put "Walmart" or "McDonalds" or "Mobil" on your future resumes, but I bet you'd be surprised and just how many CEOs have worked those same shitty jobs and remember just how many kinds of people skills, problem solving skills, and teamwork skills (not to mention patience!!) it took to do that job.  And after coming out of a recession like this, I know more companies will be putting greater effort into customer loyalty, even if it's just another business using their services, and all this tried and tested customer service experience you're getting will actually benefit you more than the next guy who may have the degrees but not the down-and-dirty people skills.  Not to mention you'll have greater people skills just from interacting with all the different people you'll work and serve at this strange job of yours.  Being able to make a perfect stranger feel so good about themselves and their shopping/dining experience that they'll keep coming back is a great skill to have, and you'll never learn how to do that without it screaming total bullshit faster than if you're working in a service industry.

This family member learned her lesson.  After her bitchfest and stewing, her mother and husband both finally said that she needed to learn to not talk down to the people considering her for a job, no matter how much more skilled she thought she was.  She even came to me so I could tell her what had gone wrong with her interview.  She has an interview for another retailer next week, so hopefully she'll do better this time around. 

Still, it was fun to see her dropped down a few pegs.  She may have scoffed at what I do for a living (like I'm not currently working to put myself through schooling to get a better job), but she can't deny now that the only places still hiring on a regular basis are all those service industries she looked down her nose upon.  Because let's be honest here, Big Bad Money-Making Corp may not outlast a recession, but there will always be McDonald's, Wal-mart, grocery stores, and gas stations, so there will always be jobs in service industries.  So suck it up, take the job, try and learn everything you can and hone your people skills, and make yourself a far more well-rounded individual in your next interview.

I never really expected to be an aunt.  The general opinion of the extended family is that I would be the first and only of my parents' kids to have children--and even that wasn't a given, since the buggers annoy the shit out of me 5 days out of 7...  Also, my sisters are eight and ten years older than I am, and while that isn't much to worry about in this day and age (35 and 37 aren't even blinked at baby-carrying ages), my sisters have always been very career oriented.  Up until a couple of years ago when my middle sister met (and kept) her boyfriend, of the three of us, she was the last one anyone would consider choosing to have babies. 

Yet she's the one who's expecting, as my dad told me at the gas station Thursday night.  Kind of a weird way to find out, and I'm rather annoyed that she didn't tell me herself (though not surprised -- she's despised me since I was born, saying I stole her thunder), but it was hard not to be even a little excited in the face of our dad's excitement.  My parents have wanted grandchildren forever, and they'd pretty much given up hope at this point. 

And let's face it, what sibling doesn't want to be the "cool" Aunt/Uncle?  I don't expect to have much time with the child -- I see my sister and her boyfriend a few times a year, though she lives a half hour away from me -- so I'm not expecting that kind of bond, but it would just tickle me to death for the kid to grow up and see me as the cool aunt.  There'd be some definite smug satisfaction there.

Anyway...

Having had a few days for the initial enthusiasm to wear off (and still not hearing from either of them though my dad swears she'll call "one of these days"), now I'm looking at things more realistically:  this pregnancy is going to be absolutely hellacious for all of us.  My sister is a diva and is the true baby of the family.  She does not suffer any pain or injustice or slight in private -- or in silence.  From all I've seen and heard, pregnancy can be a pretty uncomfortable thing, and it changes your figure forever.  For my incredibly vain sister, this will be the worst of it, and we will all pay for her suffering, even if having this baby was her choice.

Thankfully her boyfriend will be dealing with the worst of it, pity his poor soul.  And as she and I have no real relationship, I don't expect to see her outside of holidays and her baby shower (though, of course, I'll be expected to drop huge amounts of money on the baby, given it's family, and the first), so I won't be dealing with her nastiness all that much even when she is sharing the misery.  The coming months should be unpleasant and interesting, with a large side of surprising, so we shall see...

How bad was it that the second thought to pop into my head after "I'm going to be an aunt...cool." was "Thank the gods, the pressure's off me now!"..?  I'm still amused by that.