Stray Thoughts Run Amok

Good Advice

Early on in my life I received some really good advice. I was reflecting on this recently when my son asked me about one of my early jobs. You see, I was working at a pizza place as a cashier and whatever else was needed. The advice I received one day was "if you don't like it, you can go work someplace else."

The reason I received this particular bit of advice was because of the cup I was using. You see the health inspector had stopped by and told us that employees needed to use cups with lids. We weren't though. The cups we were using were ones we were instructed to use because they were cheaper. But since this was before the inspection, I assumed that this order was no longer in effect. I was wrong.

Now, I did try to protest and explain why I was using the cup the inspector told us to use. I then even offered to pay the difference for using the other cups. That was when I got that bit of advice.

I call it good advice because it's a big reason I got into the career I am in today. You see, that advice made me so angry, that after I left that day, I marched over to a local software shop and asked if they were hiring. I had thought about doing this for a while, but I doubted that I had the necessary skills to do the job. In this moment though, I decided I didn't care. They were only taking contractors, so I then walked over to another local web shop and asked if they were hiring. And two weeks later, I started my first job as a software developer.

Now, the man who gave me this advice might sound unkind from this single story, but he actually taught me a really good lesson. I'll tell that story on a different day.