I was working my normal Saturday night shift at the movie theatre and was in the box office selling tickets. From box office, you can see up to the bar that overlooks the mall area and the escalators that lead outside. I nudged my co-worker and nodded towards the bar at the man in the white suit and large, straw hat.

“I like his hat.” I smirked.

“He looks straight out of Gatsby.” He said.

We laughed and didn’t pay him any more attention.

About ten minutes later, the man comes up the guest services line and starts asking weird questions about a movie with letters in it. Since we aren’t showing anything even remotely close to “letters” in the name, I had no idea what he was talking about or asking.
I offer some suggestions of movies he might be talking about.

“Well it’s got a guy and a girl,” he bellows, plowing over me with his words. “They’re going steady, and then uh, the girl gets a letter and has to leave. She won’t explain, just leaves. And then after a while she comes back and they start over again. They start to make plans for marriage and then she gets another letter and has to leave again. But she won’t give a reply.” He goes on for a while. “Ya know, I’ve fallen asleep in those chairs in there. But this is the fourth time I’ve come back to see this movie.” He keeps leaning closer to me and his breath reeks of alcohol.

At this point, my (undeniably hot) manager squeezes past him to the computer, so he is awkwardly in between me and this man. Thank goodness. My manager shares a look with me.

But the man still continues, undeterred by my manager slightly between us. “Where was I at…?” He has lost his train of thought and I think I might be spared from him recounting the entire movie to me. “Letters,” he says, remembering. “So she leaves again without telling him anything, but she eventually comes back.”

“Now this happens sixteen times. Sixteen. You believe that? And in those times she goes steady with another guy but she eventually comes back to the original guy and they hit it off again. Anyhow, I don’t want to spoil the movie for you,” he says.

Could’ve fooled me.

“It’s just really rare for a movie to challenge you. This is the third time I’ve seen it and I’ll be back again tomorrow. It just really makes you think and you have to see it more than once. It’s one of those movies. It’s for smart people.”

“Good movies make you think.” I say.

“Well, you gotta see it.” He looks up at the bar and says, “You know I had to show my ID at the bar?” He is appalled.

“Yes, sir,” I reply. “We have to ID all guests regardless of their age.”

“I am thirty-five and had to show my ID.” He’s obviously not thirty-five; try fifty. “How old are you? Eighteen?”

My manager has finished whatever he was doing on the computer and walks away, but still close enough that he can see us. “Nineteen,” I reply warily.

“Nineteen, yeah that’s about right. You can’t drink, can you?”

I try not to laugh. “No, I can’t drink.”

“Well lemme give you some advice,” he is leaning closer again and the stench of his breath is too strong to ignore. “Don’t. Also, don’t drink and get behind the wheel.”

“No, I won’t do that.” I say.

“You go to school?” He asks.

“Yes, UMKC.” I say, though instantly realize I probably shouldn’t have told him that.

“So you’re a jayhawk?” He asks.

“No, that’s KU.”

“What are you then?”

“We’re the kangaroos.”

“What’s that?”

I don’t know what he means. “Just the kangaroos.”

“Is that football?”

“Well, it’s just everything… it’s our mascot.”

“Well what’s big there?”

“We don’t have football at our school. Soccer is our big sport.”

“I used to play golf,” he says proudly, his eyebrows raised.

“Really?” I say drily.

“Yeah, you don’t believe me?”

“I believe you, sir.”

“I have an honest face. Do I?”

That’s a bit of a weird statement and I’m slowly inching away, hoping he takes the hint to leave. Or if we would just get a line so I could excuse myself to actually do my job. “Yeah, you do.”

“I can’t tell a lie, honestly.”

“That’s probably a good thing.”

“Yeah, I suppose so. Honesty and all that.”

There’s a lull in the conversation and I think that he might say goodnight and leave me be. But he starts up again.

“What are you studying?”

I sigh, but answer the question. “Business finance.”

“Oh really? Like accounting?”

At that moment, my beautiful manager steps in front of me and loudly asks if I will go clean a theater. I could have kissed him (though I have a boyfriend and I guess that would be unprofessional for work). I go through the back door and up the steps but over the walkie he tells me to stay where I’m at.

“Rebecca, you can hide out there until he leaves. I just wanted you to get away from him.”

I can see him from behind box office and I nervously laugh. “Thanks so much!”

After a few minutes, he lets me know that the man has left. When I get back inside box he approaches me with a stupid grin and says, “Did you get his number?”

So…. I got the job at the movie theatre!!

The hiring manager called me the next day and set up a time for me to come in and do paperwork. Before orientation, I also had to take on online safer alcohol serving class and then exam and then an introduction class to the movie theatre’s values and ethics and whatnot. I was so excited that I got the job that I hunkered down and did all of my homeowork….Six hours and five episodes of Hell’s Kitchen later, I finally finished. It was long and boring, but I got paid for at least two hours for it.

Yesterday I had my orientation. They had hired three new employees (including myself) amongst a pool of 25, so I felt pretty awesome. (That or I’m really good at sucking up.) I was really impressed because the General Manager actually led the orientation. When I was at the hotel, I wasn’t even introduced to the general manager, so I thought it was really cool that he led everything to us laymen.

I have never felt so positive about a job after the first day. This is my fourth (gosh, that sounds awful) job and I’ve been so worried and overwhelmed after the first day. I’m still a bit worried about training and making mistakes (I’m a Certified Worrier) but everyone seems really friendly and that really is what makes the difference is the people. I start my on the job training tomorrow night and the night after, and then on Friday they’re releasing me to the world!

I introduced myself as “Rebecca” instead of “Becca” for the first time since I can even remember. I’ve almost always gone by my nickname and my real name just casually slipped out of my mouth. Everyone keeps calling me “Rebecca” and it is the weirdest thing. Not bad, just different. Does that mean I’m growing up now that I’m not using my nickname?

After I got off last night, my roommate and I had a Bollywood movie night with some of our girlfriends at our apartment. It was so much fun! We had s’mores and chocolate. We watched “Om Shanti Om” and then “Bride and Prejudice,” which was basically just the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice. There may have been points of the movie where we were all up and dancing and trying to sing along. No shame.

And of course I have to share our favorite song with you all.

I’m really missing home and I’m still waiting to get back into that routine. I’m a person that doesn’t like change, so once I’m settled have a system going, things will be better. I wouldn’t say I’m down right now, but I wouldn’t really say I’m great. I’m just in this weird in-between. I just feel like this next month or so needs to go and then I’ll be okay.

I’ve been looking over how many credits I have earned towards my degree and how many classes I still need to take to graduate, and if I figured it out correct, I might be able to graduate in three years instead of four. I need to go talk to an advisor to verify that, but that would be so nice if I could finish early! I haven’t decided yet what my emphasis will be with Business. If I do Finance, I might be able to graduate in three years (so next year would be my senior year!) but I’ve also been thinking about a Management degree with a minor in Psychology. Just some thinking to do about which path I want to go down.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Most of you guys know me pretty well – and obviously I’m bad at making big life choices so I could use the help.