I was a Fast-Food BBQ Busboy
L.L. Barkat has tagged me for a meme on odd jobs, courtesy of the folks at High Calling Blogs. Count me in!
Here are the rules:
1. Write about the Strangest Job I Ever Had and tell what I learned from it.
2. Link to other “Lessons from Odd Jobs” posts.
3. Tag my post “Lessons from Odd Jobs”.
4. Tag other bloggers, in or out of the HC network.
5. Link back to the Lessons from Odd Jobs page and and email this month’s host at “Marcus AT highcallingblogs DOT com”.
When Sarah and I first read the rules for this meme, my thought was actually quite similar to L.L.’s:
I haven’t really had an odd job.
At least not like my friend Paul, who worked as a Canadian Gravedigger.1 Or my lovely wife, who worked on the closed ward of a mental hospital right after college.
I certainly was never a magician’s assistant or an employee at a mall kiosk. I also never sacrificed myself for the good of science.
I had a lot of normal jobs. I mowed lawns, served coffee at Starbucks, served coffee at Barnes & Noble, and was a youth pastor at a tiny Methodist church in Mexia, Texas. Since college, I’ve posed as a programmer, web developer, IT consultant and, most recently, an Enterprise Architect.
However, I forgot one. And right as we read the rules of this meme, Sarah said:
“You should write about dropping chicken at Bill Miller Bar-B-Q.”
Ah yes, Bill Miller.
- Cleaning the bathrooms
- Dropping chicken
The second is actually better than it sounds. I never actually dropped chicken on the floor or anything like that2, but what I did have to do was get a pan full of raw chicken from the kitchen fridge3, coat each piece of chicken with flour and drop it in the fryer.
The first is only odd when one considers the health implications of a person asked to scrub linoleum surfaces with industrial strength chemicals, and then handle raw chicken.
What made it even more odd, in my mind, was the fact that the busboy was one of about fifteen people working in this restaurant at any one time. No one else found it odd that the busboy, who spent his day handling chemicals and dirty dishes, was also the one preparing the fried chicken? Notice what menu item is permanently displayed on the sign above? This was the very thing most people were coming in for.
But I digress. I think I’m also supposed to talk about what I learned from this job. So here we go:
- There are good people everywhere. I suppose this goes without saying, but I’ve been blessed to meet and work with some pretty amazing people over the years, starting with folks at Bill Miller. I learned then that the people you work with are always more important that what you are doing, and good people make any job seem better. Not only has that encouraged me to look for good people to work with, as I do now, but also to try and be that good person.
- There is no job above or beneath us. This, I suppose, is my “value of hard” work point. I learned a lot about hard work from that job4, but the most important thing I learned is that any work we are called to do has value, even if we feel like doing something else. The job we’re in may not be tied directly to a calling, but everything God calls us to do either points to or moves us toward that calling.
- Restaurant management is hard. I don’t actually know this for a fact, but I figure it has to be. How else would one end up in a situation where the bathroom cleaner is handling raw food?
Okay, enough of that.
Now to pass the meme along to Brian Houghtaling, Russ Debenport, Jeff Caylor and Heather Goodman.
While these fine individuals are preparing to wow us with their odd jobs, check out more entries here. You can also tell me about your odd job(s) in the comments below.
Update: I’d also like to invite my friend and new blogger Jim Garland into the mix!
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- He is both Canadian and dug graves for other Canadians, or post-Canadians I suppose. Neither is really noteworthy, except that I think “Canadian Gravedigger” sounds more odd than “Gravedigger.” Plus, it would make a great band name… [↩]
- as far as you know [↩]
- It was right next to the giant vats of “Chopped Beef,” which was actually a congealed mess of spare parts and leftovers from other restaurant fare. Always reminded me of something Dan Aykroyd said in The Great Outdoors. Let’s just say that my dad doesn’t eat them anymore. [↩]
- and from mowing lawns with my dad [↩]
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March 26th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Stacey Derbinshire
March 26th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Brandon, thanks for participating! I love your comment that “the people you work with are always more important that what you are doing.”
Also, I think I’ve been to that Bill Miller restaurant. After reading your post, I feel the need to defend them. : ) This family has given so much to the city of San Antonio, including donating the land for UTSA downtown.
March 26th, 2008 at 7:35 am
I’m not sure I can eat fried chicken again.
I may have to pull a Barkat and fudge on the real rules. This meme fits well with some thoughts knocking about in my head.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Brandon, this was spectacular. I suppose that deep frying kills just about anything and is so bad for you anyway that it hardly matters.
I liked the same observation Mark liked. People importance.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Mark, Good point. No slight at all meant to the Miller family, their contribution to SA, or even the restaurants. I would still eat there today… in fact, now I must have a sausage plate for lunch. Yet I am stuck here in Colorado with nary a Bill Miller in sight. Drat! Want to fly one in?
Heather, see LL’s point. She might be right… in any case, my mother-in-law has a killer fried chicken recipe, that is also reasonably healthy and might make you change your mind.
LL, thanks! And right you are. It probably doesn’t matter.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:52 am
To follow Mark and LL, such true words, “the people you work with are always more important than what you are doing.” How often have most of us found ourselves frustrated with our job, but hang in there because of the good people surrounding us? Thank God for them! And isn’t it interesting when we reflect back on those early jobs that seemed so “odd” at the time and re-learn some important life lessons. Always a good idea to never forget the, often humbling, places from whence we began.
Mmm, and now I could really go for some of my mama’s fried chicken!
March 26th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Stacey, thanks for stopping by and for the comment!
Sarah, very true. As you know, writing this post today really gave me some needed perspective on my current job and how I really am where I belong. And I think, since we’re going to be there next month, we need to put in an order for the Liles Fried Chicken.
March 26th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Ah…such a great first job! I learned quite a bit at the very same place. Strangely, it gave me an enormous amount of confidence. When I started that job, I was so terrified that I would mess up or move too slow. After a month or so I realized that everyone makes mistakes, even me. It was very comforting and helped me let go of some of my insecurities.
And thanks a lot, now I want a sausage po-boy! Do you think Fu still works there? Maybe he can get us a discount!
March 28th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Sis, that’s really awesome! It’s cool to hear how much that job impacted you.
And I think we’ll have to go get our Bill Miller on next month, now that you’re coming into town when we’re there. We’ll say hey to Fu!
March 29th, 2008 at 6:18 am
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