My job has been crazy! I’m working over 80 hours this week and I have worked over 70 hours a week for the last four weeks. There has been a lot of stress and a lot of ups and downs, but through it all I know it will be fine in the end. I’ve reminded myself of the following story to get myself through:
When I was 15 I took a job as a pizza maker at Domino’s Pizza. I worked there for a few years before leaving for college. I have a lot of good memories from that job. I remember on one occasion, I was working the cut table (that station was responsible for pulling pizza’s from the oven, cutting them, boxing them, and grouping them for deliveries. When a driver got back from a run, he or she would have to take the oldest pizza and any pizzas going in the same direction. Sometimes a driver would skip the oldest order in favor of a better run or a better neighborhood – it was against the rules and if caught the driver would face reprimand, but it still happened.
Anyway, I was working the cut table and one of our ‘old-timers’ came in from a run and suddenly got very upset. Apparently, one of the younger drivers had come in before him but skipped the oldest order to take a grouping of three orders going to a nicer (better tipping) area. After about a 10 minute rant, the older driver took the skipped order and left. Here’s the part that stuck with me – we had an older lady (maybe in her late 50’s) that also delivered for us. She had come in during the old-timer’s rant. After he left in a tiff, she looked at me and said:
I took this job because of the low stress – It’s just pizza!
It’s just pizza! What a great way to look at the situation. I know that the issue for the old-timer wasn’t the pizza, and I know that life isn’t always simple – but when things start to get stressed, I remind myself – It’s just pizza.