For the Love of Food

It was a snowy morning as I drove at 3am down the empty road freshly dusted with new soft white snowfall. At 3am no one is really out driving, or challenging you to suddenly stop so I drove relaxed and calm. There was a time almost 10 years ago actually when driving in snow locked me up inside and I couldn't breath. Now as I had the open snowy road to myself I drank my freshly brewed coffee in one hand listening to NPR on the radio. At home my husband still stayed sleeping soundly, cozily deep in our bedding, our condo smelled only of coffee as my machine had a self timer set for a quarter to three so I really did wake up to a fresh cup. I would dress in the dark with my cloths already laid out for I found this to be helpful when my eyes were still half shut. Once I showed up to work with my shirt on backwards, everyone laughed and share what they notice about their own cloths too. No one thought being at work by 3:30 in the AM was normal. "It's so wrong to get up for the day in the moon light...So wrong!" said my supervisor. My job in the call center for Direct TV was one of the craziest hours I had ever worked before. When making it through the snow or the rain or the pure cold I knew it was going to be a BAD day if by the time my headset dinged in my ears and coffee still remained in my tumbler. Now if every drop was gone I felt more awake as the caffeine warmed my cold pouting protesting body then I knew by chance or pure luck the calls I got were going to be good. Funny, how we noticed things like that in our own little worlds. When I was in training the classroom was full of fun people. I soon had friends I would high five when walking by or catch up on their crazy weekend stories. My nickname was "Hippie"  though at the time I had protested saying loudly 
"I am not a true hippie, for I shave everyday!" then the whole classroom burst out laughing, so naturally my nickname stuck. Then our classroom graduated and moved on, as so did my new friends along with such crazy schedules, so I lost that connection in my new job as I was working the phones at 4am till Noon for the first 6 months. This call center job ended up being the loneliest job of my 26 years, so naturally I found my new passion for food. My new skill was adding to the list of things I needed to eat, to cook and to try. If I needed a happy thought after a bad call or rude customer then I would describe the very layers of the dessert called "Melissa" sold downtown Boise at the Le Cafe de Parie. Or I would think of all the ways to create a breakfast burrito. When my 10 minuet brake happened my team that joined me on the phones at the same time every morning, would still be on a call or have a different time for their brake, This was the sad part of my job not having a co-worker to chat with over lunch or walk laps outside around the building. Food became that comforting replacement for the lack of socializing I missed. In my previous coffee shop jobs I always had stories and laughter filling up my work load making the time not feel so much like a dreaded job. I found that visiting with people through my headset was the only way to feel connected, I was giving away all the free stuff I could find to keep the person happy on the other line. My supervisor was a newly divorced mother who warned me that I was now the number one person in the whole company that gave away the most credit. I smiled back at her "Wow! out of the hundreds of people who work here?" I was amazed, but she shook her head while chuckling at me like she always did. "It's a BAD thing to give away so much free programing and credit! Debby Girl, you have been Red flagged and now you need to change how you deal with conflict." I realized at that very moment I hated my job. For I was just one in a ant hill climbing the stairs of the TV world while I kept trying to tell my customers to go outside and enjoy their life away from the TV. Who needs to scream into a phone over TV problems? As I often sat facing the morning sunrise with my window blinds pulled way up the glare of the sun light would make me feel like there was something more to life then pushing HBO on to callers for an extra $10 a month, ($15 by the time I just walked away from that job)

"Ma'am?" a caller from the New York area said to me as I typed into her account all we had done that day for her TV. "Yes?" I replied back waiting she said again "Ma'am?" again I replied "Yes?" Now when 2 people are asking of each other to continue speaking at the same time there is this awkward pause. I suddenly realized she was asking me what was next to be said. I was thinking she wanted to speak by saying "Ma'am" in that way on the phone. How funny just the little ways in how we talk mean different or the same things. Instead of a remote control, I would hear older people call it the Clicker, the Wand and the Device. One morning I almost lost it at one very bitchy woman who was so late on her payments had her system shut off. She spat through my headset so loud I had to pull it back from my ears. "Turn my TV back on! Ya have no right cutting me off! I pay and pay for this programing !" I reply turning down my volume on my phone "Your last payment was 3 months ago." She shouts back  "You are ruining my life! I have missed my reruns of 90210! and to top it all off my kids are miserable without their own shows! How can you treat children like this?" I sighed thinking for the 5th time that day how I really hated my job. "If you want to make a payment right now I can turn it back on." I suggested then She sighed explaining "You don't know how hard yesterday was for me with my crazy kids and NO god damn TV! I had to stay at the park ALL day for those kids to calm down enough to go home!" I flipped my chair forwards choking back my response in shock. My mind raced on as to why am I working in a place that thinks playing all day at a park with no TV working at home is a hardship?! For all those people I talked to day in and day out I realized I had less and less in common with their complaints. Perhaps my escape was reading food magazines and such articles. I couldn't get enough radio time of  "The splendid Table" for I knew it would never be said of me that I wasted my time at the park, or that walking across a huge lobby was way to far! With the choice in the quality of food and the joy it brings in sharing it with others, my life was not going to be able to keep this crazy call center job after all.

"The snow sure is beautiful this morning!" I exclaimed as I sat down at my usual desk, having to adjust the chair once again for my short legs. My co-worker Eric was a new father and the best Bullshitter I had ever met, he and I were always on time every morning to chat a few minuets before the calls came in. "Morning Shively." Eric only ever called me by my last name, "Snow sucks ass." He replied with a grin ready to hear me go off on the magic of snow, the new beautiful world it creates."Snow just screams comfort foods!" I laughed back at him and began to list what kinds foods you should eat in the snowy weather. "....So with that steaming warm tomato sauce that has a smokey flavor laying over soft creamy noodles with a hint of fresh basil, you can dip the olive oil baguette in to eat up the last few smudges of the plate. OR you can marinate chicken breast with lemon juice and paprika...I once accidentally put way to much garlic in it but just saute up fresh spinach and cabbage over buttery rice, and yummmy." When I talked food most everyone would say I was making them hungry. Eric loved all my food topics,  My supervisor challenged me "I dare you not to talk about food for the whole day!" Eric was shaking his head at me, "There is no way Shively, you couldn't do it! By 9am when that bacon smell rolls on up here you will have listed at least five ways to eat bacon!" I stopped for moment thinking about what he just said "Oh that reminds me I have just tried bacon rolled dates and they were amazing!" Then my work team all burst out laughing. My reputation of sharing food ideas was inspired by the breakfast menu...The pictures in my mind were endless,  morning really was the most exciting part of the day to eat! As those days of headsets and adjustable chairs brought with it all the TV issues and drama, I found my love for food keeping me happy, keeping me healthy and keeping me balanced while I discovered a better world out there full of so many things to eat!