Saturday, August 28, 2010

My Last Day as a Cowgirl (I'll miss my boots)

It was my last Friday working at the Cowboy Express Steakhouse.  When I arrived to work, I started skipping in slow motion towards the front door.  Believe it or not, I was escorted by a flock of cartoon bluebirds, Bambi and a garden gnome.  As I approached the entryway, two of my fellow cowgirls opened the doors with huge smiles on their faces as they welcomed me to work.  All of my coworkers were laughing and singing along to "This One's for the Girls" by Martina McBride (even the kitchen staff, and some of those guys don't even speak English).  It was truly moving.  I walked up to my first table (still in slo-mo,  my hair blowing in the wind) and they were swaying in unison to the music.  They knew exactly what they wanted: no special instructions, no allergies, no substitutions, and no complaints. It was miraculous.  I delivered their food and they ate in silence, swaying joyously.  They tipped me 45% and even did a little chorus line kick in honor of me before they left.  Maybe it was their heavily poured cocktails, I don't know. Okay so it didn't happen exactly like that, but it was close...
That last night reminded me of something I read in the book I was reading at the time, Millionaire Real Estate Agent written by Gary Keller.  He posed the question:  What if you worked everyday like it was the day  before you are taking a vacation?  Obviously, I wasn't taking a vacay, but my mindset was that the end was in sight.  Every little irritation just rolled off my back, I didn't care about "the small stuff" because I knew I would never have to deal with it again (in the near future at least), so I chose not to let all those little buggers get in the way of enjoying my coworkers and my tables.  But what if something had come up after my last shift and I had to cover for one of the girls the next night?  Would that have changed my phenomenal "last night" - no.  Albeit it would've been extremely challenging to have the same attitude as I did if I knew I was coming back the next day...but not impossible.  Just like building a muscle, changing your way of thinking takes deliberate action and repetition.  Imagine how much more we would enjoy the moments of the "ordinary" and "mundane" of our daily lives if we were able to keep that level of energy and enthusiasm even 80% of the time!  I've decided I'm going to Tahiti tomorrow. Oooo and maybe I'll head off to Europe the next day.   Who else is coming?
Or perhaps Fiji?...
(my desk at work!)