Canyoneering 6: What a BS Job

In our last episode, I was relating how I've shifted from the position of cafeteria worker to the position of Banquet Steward here at the Grand Canyon ...

So far it’s interesting (albeit physical) work and it’s giving me the chance to meet a lot of the higher management here at the GC.  Duties also include serving, bussing tables, and some bartending (not until I go through TIPS training, though).  FYI, the Banquet Steward is also recognized as one of the best paying (non-management) positions in the GC.  Consequently, it’s also one of the most highly sought after positions; due to the higher pay, the stewards tend to keep the gig for a long time.  One manager told me it was the first time a position had opened up in nearly 5 years. 

There were many applicants for the position.  As I recall, my interview lasted over an hour (longest job interview in my professional life).  I’m sure many of those applicants had far more relevant job experience than I did.  Indeed, there’s a lot of stuff I told them I had no experience with:  Bartending, cash handling, serving.  My only previous experience in the food service industry had been with SA and that was only six months, give or take.  I admit I was surprised to get the interview; I was shocked to get the job.

A Winter Wonderland or a Winter Wasteland?

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but I sometimes wonder ‘why me’?  I’d like to think it had something to do with my aforementioned focus on the job at hand – my work ethic, I suppose.  I’d like to think it had something to do with being recognized as a reliable, dependable worker who eschews the petty bullshit found at any job.  Hell, I’d like to think it has something to do with the universe rewarding me for surviving all the turmoil that engulfed me in Oct 2011.  I’d like to think this is all part of me working through a process.

The point is, I’ve tried to take a bad situation and turn it to my advantage.  I’d like to think this new job is proof of that.  I’m still pursuing my voiceover/acting/writing careers; I could never abandon that.  But it can’t hurt to gain experience in things unrelated to those fields.  It’s nice to know you can succeed in certain endeavors you might never have attempted, if not for something that seemed to be (at the time) an incredibly negative event.  Almost makes you believe there's a grand design behind my becoming a Banquet Steward. 

Maybe I was always destined for BS.