My Ten Cents

I hate Desis sometimes. I'm sorry but I really really do. They just do the dumbest stuff that just rubs me the wrong way and I have to do everything in my power to control myself from grabbing them by the shoulders and shaking the bejesus out of them!

I had to go to the post office today and before I mailed off my goods, I needed to make a photocopy of a receipt I was turning in just in case the mail got lost somewhere and I was left without any proof and backup. Strategically attached to the post office is a printing & packaging store - today run by a hijabi desi auntie. Oh, you know where this is going...

Now - let me just tell you how completely meaningless this visit to the printing store was supposed to be. All I needed was a copy of my receipt for which I'd give the auntie a whopping total of 10 cents and move along my merry little way. That's it. 10 seconds, 10 cents aaaaaand done. But here's what happened that chapped my ass so bad today, I could have released every Urdu curse word my mother's ever used at us! The auntie takes my receipt which is 3x5 - about 1/4 the size of the sheet of copy paper it was supposed to be printed on. The auntie makes me a copy and gives it to me asking for her $0.10. I look at the copy and notice she's cut off the bottom of my receipt which should easily have fit - no question. I point out that she's cut off my receipt upon which she looks and says "oh, I'm not sure why. Would you like me to make another copy?" at which point my blood boils.

Had this been ANY other place - the clerk would have said "sorry, let me try again", whipped around and properly placed my receipt in the right area and printed it the right way. But no - not this auntie...of course not. I tell her I'm not sure why she didn't print it right but yes, "I'd like to her try again." She tries again - unsuccessfully - and I know that she's just placing it wrong but I'm running out of time and I've got my mail on hold at the Post Office counter behind me and I just can't take the idiocy anymore so she laughs and smiles like its some joke and I say "nevermind, I'll just write the last numbers on the bottom with a pen" and I dig into my purse searching for a dime when she looks at me and says..."20 cents."

TWENTY CENTS?!?!? You didn't even do it right you idiot woman who's wasting my time while people are getting angry in line behind me because my package is on hold at the register and had you just placed the receipt the right way - it would fill the 8x10 piece of paper with all of the information that I need instead of stupidly cutting it off and you have the nerve to charge me for a copy that YOU effed up to being with?! ARE YOU SERIOUS? I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE DESIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ugh...if it weren't for the nihari and sparkly outfits - I'd denounce you my own culture altogether and go join any other race in the entire world instead so I don't have anything to do with this type of ludicrous behavior! I take a deep breath, lower my voice and firmly ask "you're going to charge me for a copy that didn't even print right?" to which she matter-of-factly replies "yes, because you know it took a whole sheet of paper to copy." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! Why, why, why??? I don't care about the 20 cents - here take a DOLLAR...but you're an idiot and YOU messed up my copy so why are you making me want to choke you????

To deter myself from committing assault & battery and getting sentenced 5-10 years in prison, I put a quarter on the counter. And while the typically oh-so-desi/penny-pinching/no goodness in their hearts/can't own up to their mistakes/biggest waste of existence/no wonder our country is drowning in its own self-serviance auntie SLOWLY fumbles in her drawer for my nickel in change I yell "Please! Keep the change!"

If I EVER see this woman again, I'm going to toss her a C-note and tell her I'm making a donation to the "How to make a proper printer copy" class she obviously needs to take!

Work Ethic

Everything in life that's worth anything requires work. And sure, everyone knows it. Your resume requires work, the way you "market" yourself to the world requires work, your career requires work to get to your goal position, your body requires work to look good, your cooking requires work to taste good, your family requires work to keep the bond tight, your friendships require work to maintain contact and involvement in each others' lives, your relationship requires work to keep it exciting and strong, your car requires tune-up work to run properly, your eyebrows require work, keeping your teeth white requires work, your nails require work, your image requries work, jotting notes and becoming a good presenter requires work, heck even taking time out FROM work to NOT work requires work.

But I think the one thing we aren't taught as kids is that, while getting to your goals requires work...maintaining them requires...well..maintenance. And lots of it. Its true that the hard part is in the achievement of the goal, but so many of us (myself in this group at times) forget that the ongoing is just as important.

So why am I bringing this up? Because I've made a recent vow to myself that while I may mashAllah se have a lot of things I'm priviledged and blessed enough to come by, I'm going to make it a point to revamp my work ethic. Because if I don't, I just might not get to feel this grateful for very much longer. I'm going to take small steps and figure out what work I need to do before I haphazardly throw out lofty goals that I won't be able to commit to.

I'm committed to adding little pockets of work into all of the categories of my acheievements and my relationships and fill those pockets with things I need to always do to help me appreciate them more. I'm going to try my best not to yell "GET A REAL CAREER AND STOP WASTING MY MONEY!" every time my brother tells me about his music major activities in college (try, try try.) I'm going to start small and make an effort to remember just one thing that happens in my friends' lives that we don't really discuss and make a point to be conscious of it - knee injuries, family deaths, broken relationships...whatever it may be. I'm going to have a cheerier disposition at work and remind myself how lucky I am that I have a job that I love and how priviledged I am to have it. I won't bore you with the details on all of the work I've got cut out for myself. But I hope that you notice it in the very near future and I hope I have the good sense and ethic to always work this hard.