As I continue my part time job this summer, I seem to be the only person donning all possible roles at the office as a result of my manager’s attempt to keep me busy. The proceedings at the parking citations office is particularly intriguing as a lot of angry people who think they did nothing wrong, call and have to be pacified by the officials trying to maintain their cool. The person who guides me makes sure I am comfortable through all this, never forgetting to thank me and tell me how much of a savior I am, although I help him with trivial work.
What I did learn is that no matter what nationality or race that people belong to, everybody wants to feel special. Tell them you are making an exception for them and doing them a favor and they believe you. Tell them “NO” and they get agitated. It is amazing how nice people are when we say what they want to hear. One day at work includes everything from people writing profanity on cheques to their faces brightening up with huge smiles when they get a refund. It is quite the training for me, having a chance to observe how some of the workers and the other students respond to customers in person and over the phone. I remember watching an Indian standup comedian reflect on how we are scared just to be visible and to be occupying space, whereas the Americans never hesitate to demand what they think they deserve. I fumble when I have to say that I cannot be of much help to someone. Every time I am helping a customer, I am overwhelmed with the urge to do all they want as fast as possible, because anything short of that would mean I am inept at doing a good job. A few days taught me this was not the case and that they are grateful for what we do and would prefer a job correctly done than mistakes which they have to pay for later.
Time and again, I am tempted to use the phrase “Faith in humanity restored.” This time, it was thanks to a lady who helped me and a couple of friends get in touch with some other friends who had split while taking Uber rides to the starting point of a hike and ended up at a different place. We had no service on our cell phones and decided to muster the courage to ask her for help. She was in her kitchen, came right outside and had no qualms about giving me her phone. She enthusiastically engaged us in conversation and eased our worries, doling out suggestions regarding what we should do. Thus started our hike on the Mandeville canyon trail, our group of six divided into sets of three at different spots. We were told that we would be able to meet them somewhere on the way.
As luck would have it, we went down a path assuming they would come that way, only to know that it lead to a dead end. Talk about going off the beaten path! We made our way back and up the trail, keeping our hopes up. Somewhere along the way, we had network coverage and managed to call the others and in a while, ran into them. We were too happy to have united again and clicked our first group photo on the hike. Our tale of gallivanting did not end there. After walking around three miles from a missile defense site at the highest point to where we thought we could hire an Uber back to the metro station, we started doubting if we were on the right track. Asking a fellow hiker seemed futile. She suggested we walk back all the way and beyond to reach the road. Slightly upset and tired, we decided to take a break. We were soon prompted by another lady to follow her and her kids on a different trail to get to the road faster. I wonder if we would have made it back on the same day without the help of all the kind hearted souls that we met. What we will remember form that day is how we made it to the end, rather than how lost we were at times, so much like how life is.