Today we went grocery shopping and I ran into my favorite customer from my time at Family Video. I enjoyed running into Dave and catching up, but it inevitably made me think about my time there. It has been two months since I left my position there, after almost 6 years. [I don't know why but almost 6 years sounds better than 5 years and 9 months] I am very glad I left, especially after the last 9 months or so, I got my 8th manager and lets just say that while I didn't mind him as a person we failed to click occupationally.
The problem is that those last months tend to color my entire time with the company. While my work relationship with management wasn't that great my ability to deal with the many customers that were *&*^&)%& also suffered. Many days I didn't want to go to work, and when I did I was not happy to be there. My job time suffered, my home life suffered, my spiritual life suffered, all because the multitude of people who don't want to pay a 3 dollar late fee, because after all they have spent gobs of money there, so shouldn't they just get their way? Now that I have left I am free to say that I spent more money there than most of the customers and I didn't get my way.
OK, that might have been a little bit of a tangent, but it proves the point I was trying to make at the beginning of that last paragraph, those last months began to color how I reflected on my entire time. And I am only two years removed for a time I said to my ordination committee, "While I have a Masters degree in theology I feel that I got a Doctorate in human behavior at Family Video." Now that I am a few months removed from the place I am beginning to get to a place where I can look at the entire time in a better light. [Not that I want to go back...EVER]
While there were a lot of customers that I am more than happy to see the back of [not to mention any names, BUT YOU ARE NOT AS FUNNY AS YOU THINK YOU ARE] there are others that I miss [like Dave, my friend, and Julia, my adopted grandmother] and there are a lot of my coworkers that I consider friends to this day, even if most of our interaction is limited to liking posts on Facebook.
There were days when only the conversations with my coworkers kept me sane. Times when I got lost talking about movies that touched our hearts/minds/souls. Moments when I could be my real self, not the self I so often pretend to be, because in that place there was no judgment, just friendship. And realness seemed to matter, after all 3 of the 4 weddings that I have had the honor of officiating were for coworkers.
There were customers who always asked my opinion on movies because they valued that opinion. There were others who would talk to me for a loooong time who I just wanted to leave me alone, or at the very least people I wish I could have told my real views too. But there were also conversations I had with some about their lives, their real lives, and I was honored to be apart of that.
While music is said to be universal, movies must not be much less so, because my customers ran the gamut from the wealthy to the destitute, from the put together to those barely hanging on, from the powerful to those who couldn't take care of themselves and each person was looking for the same thing. A few hours where the world could stop and they could be lost/found/entertained. And for a few years I was a part of that, and while I didn't cure cancer, I am glad I could have been a part of it.
Well that's as good a place to end it as any I suppose, catch ya tomorrow.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
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