Redemption

I haven’t had a cocky post in a while so indulge me…

A few months ago I informed all of you that I had been fired from Applebee’s. I can’t remember if I told you why but it was essentially because a jackass couple had written a page-long letter into corporate ripping every stage of their dining experience to shreds, including the host, bartender, server, and manager. Of course, the only name they mentioned was mine so corporate fired me. A couple weeks later I was hired at Don Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant. I was informed when I was hired that Don Pablo’s was a part of the “secret shopper” program whereby the restaurant contracts out an agency to monitor its services. A couple will come in and dine on any given day and grade every stage of the restaurant’s services. Some servers there have been there for years and haven’t been “shopped.” I, on the other hand, have been there six months and have already been shopped twice (I know, I attract this sort of thing). If you score a 92 or below, your employment is in significant jeopardy, if not automatically terminated. I was shopped 2.5 months into employment there and received a grade of 95. That was on a Friday night. There have been a number of servers who have been shopped since then and, to my knowledge, none have passed. Most received like an 80 or below. A couple weeks ago, I was shopped again as a cocktail in the bar area (an area in which the restaurant only allows certain servers according to their dependability). I received a score of 102, a score of which I didn’t even know was possible. I scored higher than a server who has been there 10 years (she scored a 100 when she got shopped). Count it as luck, circumstance, or whatever. But I scored a 102.

I tell you this because I feel somewhat redeemed. I was humiliated when I was fired and was a bit down on my luck. But your good ole bartender bit the bullet and got back up and, within a few months, climbed the ladder to the top. I succeeded. Applebee’s can go fuck themselves because they gave away one of their best servers for the cause of corporate regulations. They’ve learned to live and learn, I suppose. Actually, not even that. My accomplishments at Pablo’s mean nothing to them. But they mean something to me. I could have been an ass and pitched a fit and fought corporate on it. I’m not a sucker for bait though. I did something they have nothing to say against. Nothing anyone can say against for that matter. I rose to the occasion...and came out on top.

Recently, I was shunned and disregarded (for all practical purposes) by the school in which I dedicated two years of my life. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been betrayed in many ways by a number of people over the past few years. The decision lies in my hands how I respond. I can’t really fight the school because I will lose one of my most important job references if I do so. So I’ll take the other route. I’m going back to school. I’ll defy everyone’s expectations by going back and finishing some unfinished business. They have no idea what kind of teacher I am because they never paid attention. The only things they heard and saw were people who knew nothing of education or parenting for that matter. They handed their kids over to me for educational babysitting and I handed them back adults-in-the-making who think for themselves. They lived and learned as well I suppose. Thewalrus is unwilling to stoop to other standards. He sets his own according to his beliefs. If you hand me something, be prepared for it to come back different than you imagined. I’m a handful of surprises folks and I’m only partially proud of that. But when it comes to teaching, I’m all commitment. I’m going to give you something you haven’t had before. The content and the issues may be the same but I will give you thewalrus along with it. There’s surely something to be said for that. My trade is vulnerability’s interaction with courage and I’ll hand it to you with a willingness to engage the challenging exchange.

Here’s the clincher, folks. I’m going back to school to study theology and I’m not even sure I’m ready for it. But I’m not sure anyone else is either. This fall I’ll be attending one of the most prestigious theological schools in America, if not the world. It makes me feel good to know that I, as a southern boy from Alabama who’s been to hell and back and risen to the top of culinary corporate America in northwest Indiana (sarcasm intended), am coming back to finish some unfinished business. Ultimately, I may never have anything to say to the church in America. I might not even have anything left to say to you. What matters (right now at least) is whether I’m going to finish that unfinished personal business…because it’s unexpected…from me and everyone else. I need to open this chapter to see if it’s meant to be written and finished. If not, I’ll write another. But I won’t stop writing. And don’t challenge me too much to write something unexpected because I’ll go there too. This, of course, isn’t intended to be arrogant as much as it is a personal declaration. I believe in something right now, folks, and it might just be belief itself but I’ve got some weird-ass drive in me to believe in something so I have to go there.

I say all this just to let you know that the beginning has begun again…and I’m asking you to keep drinking at a bar whose character and personality continuously evolves. Thesecondchance has only just begun. What’s important to know is that those “regular days” of which I wrote will purposely continue in my personal “project” of sorts because I have a personal need to connect my world with the world which I am about to enter. If I fail in doing so, well, there’s always literature to teach in high school. Until then, drink with me and talk amongst yourselves…The toughest conversations just might lie ahead…