Work is Work

So recently I've come to notice something at work. And by recently, I mean starting around May or June, right when school was getting out. There is an outrageous amount of female customers at Starbucks. Now of course, everyone knows this. There are memes and stereotypes about the white girl and Starbucks. What really irks me is that these women are middle aged, or at least in their thirties, and are coming to Starbucks in the middle of the day. So my only conclusion can be that they are either not working, or they're doing shift work. I know, many of them are probably on maturity leave, or maybe they just happen to have a full time job that gives them a Wednesday off, but all for the rest, it's just sad.

The economy is not great. Hell, it's pretty much a bolder on the edge of a steep hill. It's not the worst, but there is definitely that chance that it will just all come tumbling down. And this is seen very clearly in the amount of part time, or even temporary jobs. The jobs that are normally reserved for high school or post secondary students. You know, the ones that do not yet have an education and are paying off tuition. But more and more these jobs are being filled by middle aged people, who just cannot get a job elsewhere, whether because they don't have an education, or simply because their chosen field is not hiring. And don't start going 'Well you're a creative writing student, what do you expect to be doing when you're middle aged?'
I know full well that I will not be able to support myself with just writing. I have other passions. I would love to open up a bookstore mixed with a cafe, and recently I've considered starting to make screen prints, either as posters or shirts. I just need to find the stuff for it. And I know that there is a very real possibility that I will be working at Starbucks the rest of my life.

However, I mentioned that I only started to notice this in May or June. So here is the message. Don't take a day off work just because your child has the day off! Seriously! When it's eleven o'clock in the after noon on a Wednesday, and you come in with your two kids, I think it's pretty obvious that you're either skipping out on work, or don't have work. I know it's nice to take a day off to hang out with family, but that's what weekends and vacations are for. Work is work, whether you like it or not. Work means being responsible.


Oh dear lord, I feel like an old lady now. I'm just going to go find my inner child again.