Excuse me, Ma’am. . .

[imood mood at time of entry: nervous]

*clears throat and clasps hands authoritatively behind my back to read an important notice from the owners of McDonald’s*

To the customers:

“I regret to tell you all, McDonald’s is not open. The official opening date has been pushed back twice this week due to severe thunderstorms that have plagued the city for the past week. Constant rainfall and flooding have kept our construction crew from finishing the parking lot and arranging the landscape. Until further notice, please visit another McDonald’s location near you to receive less than the stellar food you would have received here if we were open. Or you could make the short drive to our own wonderful sister location located on Main St. That is all. Have a nice day.” *smiles brightly*

To the staff:

“I know that all of you are disappointed, but we are going to pray that the rain stops long enough for us to pave the parking lot. We are excited to get started working here because we are the best McDonald’s in Houston!!! Aren’t we?!? *waits to allow cheers and shouts of agreement* That’s right! Now, we are all going to introduce ourselves and eat a little something. Welcome to McDonald’s!” *more cheers*

This is pretty much what I heard today for four hours. It was not necessarily bad per se, but it did keep me from writing my research paper that was due today. It did not even seem like four hours had gone by. I thought the mandatory staff meeting for all the employees training at the Main St. McDonald’s to head over to the new McDonald’s, would only be an hour long. Surprisingly, the meeting was actually a lot of fun. I made the whole speech sound a little pompous and irritatingly chipper, but I was simply getting to the meat of the matter.

While we were there training, and looking at all the shiny equipment, people kept coming by trying to buy food. The place is all set up, but the parking lot is not finished.

I am excited and nervous to begin working in this spacious and scary McDonald’s that is starkly different from the one in which I trained. At least the manager that trained me will be there with me, and so will the trainees that I knew from the other McDonald’s.

Just being at the meeting, which I almost missed, has helped me feel more comfortable. The owners and managers are so supportive and loving. I have never worked in such a peaceful and cozy environment before. Everyone there is just like family. Everyone supports one another, even though not all of us speak the same language. It was a rough start, but once everyone got a feel for one another, we’ve been looking out for one another. It was pretty exhilarating, and yes, I admit it, I got a smidge misty-eyed a few times.

So that is that. I will get to work more hours at the trainging McDonald’s until the store opens some time next week, provided that the raining stops.

I am also nervous about getting my journal reviewed by the new DDCritic. I was intrigued and excited when I saw that a new person had taken over. I have wanted to get my journal reviewed for a while now, and I even sent an email to a critic, but she never got back to me. It’s not that I did not give her enough time to get to me either. I sent that email in early November of last year. I even figured that she would not get to my email until mid February of this year. *hunches* Maybe she does not use that account anymore.

At first, I was not even going to submit my journal to be reviewed by someone who came off as mean spirited, but then I read her other available review. I went to the sites she reviewed and she tends to reward bland sites with not a lot of imagination to the design. The lighter, prettier ones didn’t fare so well in the design category. This leads me to believe that she is a older woman rather than someone my age. I will not withdraw my bid simply because I have a more “girly” design right now. (I like to to spice things up, since, I get tired of looking at the same background and coloring all the time.) I would like to know what someone with different tastes thinks of my journal. I have been wanting some constructive (keyword “constructive”) critism, and if I don’t like what (s)he has to say, (s)he is not the only critic in the world. Either (s)he likes my journal, and essentially, who I am, or (s)he doesn’t. It’s not up to me to make up her(him) mind for her(him), but whatever (s)he decides, I will take it into consideration because an objective voice can help to shift one’s perception on an idea, event, or decision into an area that it had not poerviously thought to venture.

That said, I am going to get out of here now because I am tired and hungry.

Until later,

Danielle