I'm about to be a college graduate!

Oh, College. What an experience it has been.
 I was talking to my brother yesterday about college and how there are certain types of college students. Some kids go to college with no goal. Waste a bunch of money, stay hung over the majority of the time and drop out. Some take their education seriously, never have any fun and graduate in less than 4 years. Others are average and try to do their best, have fun and meet people, figure out what they can contribute to the world and graduate in a reasonable amount of time. I believe I fit the last category. There is also the category that Justin added in which some college students get into the liberal politics scene. They think they know what they're talking about when it comes to politics despite their real-life experience. They drink too many latte's and wear birkenstocks and think they are smarter than everyone else. Haha! Justin is right, and didn't even have to go to college. Oh, how I know people in this category too...I got me thinking about the past 6 years that I have been attending 3 schools...

So, at this time...I'd like to reminisce....lets start with my freshman year at UNC Charlotte (if you are completely bored that is and have nothing else to do right now...)

I started out my college career with every intention to make great grades, go to all of my classes, graduate with a psychology degree from UNC Charlotte and become a psychologist. Play with rats. Compare them to people. There is a quote I love about psychology, it says, "Magicians pull rabbits out of hats. Psychologists pull habits out of rats." But, it didn't work out. I found that I didn't LOVE psychology. I just LIKED it. My first psychology professor at UNC Charlotte was crazy. Literally. She looked like something straight out of a Tim Burton film. And she had this hoarse "i've smoked since I was 6 years old" laugh. It scared me. She scared me. And now that I think about it, maybe she had some ill effect on my decision to stray from psychology, out of fear that I might also end up as a character from the Nightmare before Christmas or something...just kidding.

My first year, I lived with one of my best friends, Elyse, in a tiny little 11th floor dorm room. We lived in a co-ed dorm that alternated floors of girls and boys. We somehow shoved all of our belongings into that tiny room that held two twin beds, two desks and two built-in closets. We had a pretty sweet set-up with our mini-fridge and microwave and pretty much lived off of easy mac and poptarts. No lie.We would eat supper together at the dining hall with our other dorm friends. We tried to eat at the dining hall as little as possible although we had meal plans that allowed us to eat there 3 times a day,every day. But, after a few meals, we found it was pretty gross. If we did eat there, it was either grilled cheese, pizza or cereal. I ate A LOT of cereal my freshman year. I also ate A LOT of bad for me food my freshman year, if you can't tell. I'm sure if my mother knew this, she'd be upset...We did love making ice cream cones there though. They had one of those machines, where you pulled down the lever and had to craftily swirl the cone to make the ice cream look decent and pile up right. Most of the time our ice cream cones looked like Helen Keller made them for us... But Elyse and I were good roommates. Probably one of the best roommates i've ever had. We laughed a lot, stayed up too late, skipped too many classses and almost failed our anthropology class that we had together. We would alternate days sometimes and just sign eachother in on the role (no i am not proud of this). I hated that class.


I also hated taking showers in the dorm. Elyse and I had our little bathroom station in the corner of our room beside the door. We had our towels hanging on a hook on the door and our little basket with holes in it holding our shampoos, soaps, loofas and razors on the ground. There was a constant puddle by the door. We also had special rubber flip flops for the shower only and we would squeak down the hallway and into the shower so that we would not catch any nasty dorm diseases...this made the whole showering thing quite slippery. I hated carting my little basket down the hallway trying not to slip in my flip flops at 8 am and hopefully getting one of the two showers on our hall. We shared a bathroom with 3 stalls, 3 sinks and 2 showers with about 8 other girls. I also hated walking into the bathroom in my towel ready to face the nasty shower and find a boy in his boxers walk out of one the stalls. Lovely.


We did meet lots of fun people living in the dorms though. The floor above ours was a boys floor and they seemed to just wander around our floor with their guitars and clever boy antics trying to woo us into their skinny freshman boy arms. It never worked on us. But, we did meet some fun guys that ended up joining in our nightly ice cream cone making at the dining hall. I didn't hang out with them much though because I was "the girl with the boyfriend."

When I graduated from highschool, I was still dating my boyfriend of then 2 years, Bryan. We hand't planned to go to college together, but it worked out that way. I thought being at the same college would be fantastic! But, I found that when I got to college, Bryan and I wanted separate things. I wanted this newfound freedom & social life. He wasn't as interested in meeting lots of people and had always done what he wanted to. This first year of school tore us apart. I dated a few other guys, this was mostly not worth it, but I did meet some interesting people and learned a lot. Bryan and I started dating again shortly after our breakup and continued to date through my sophmore year.

I also spent this first year of freedom going inactive from the church. My new found freedom was too much for me to handle and be responsible. Little by little, I started doing things I knew weren't right, and little by little, I didn't care anymore.

My  heart hadn't been in church for the past few years, but I had gone for my family. Living in the Sistrunk house came with strict rules about church attendance. But, after I got out of my house and on my own, I found that I didn't care to get up on Sunday mornings and go to church. There are 4 people whom I owe for life for keeping me connected to church. The first, I won't mention his name, but I owe a certain somebody for coming to my dorm many Sunday mornings and persistently knocking until I got up, got ready, and went to church with him. Although I still didn't care these Sundays, I was still going. I will also be eternally indebted to Jimmy Webb, our singles branch president at the time, and his sweet wife, Beth, who would call me the days I didn't go to church just to tell me that they missed me. They never pried into my life or challenged why I wasn't there, they just called to tell me that they cared. This made a world of difference in my life. The last person is Emily Burton. Emily and I met at a psychology study and I had recognized her from the singles branch. We were friends instantly, and if you know Emily, you understand. She's an amazing person, who I felt never judged me. She lived on the third floor of the dorm I lived in and needed a ride to church. I felt motivated to at least take her some days and that got me there. I'm pretty sure she's like a secret guardian angel or something. Although I continued to be inactive for another year or so, these little contributions touched my stubborn soul.

These wonderful people who cared enough about me to get me to church also helped pave the way for an amazing future for me. Amelia Guffey had started attending the singles branch and her, Emily & I formed our famous threesome. We were also introduced to the Briggs brothers, Ryan & Stuart, and the five of us became super close, super fast.  We hung out all of the time and did silly things like build forts and name ourselves after a family-favorite movie, Swiss Family Robinson. They were different from my other friends and I liked the way I felt around them. Our group was tight and maybe the most help in keeping me connected to the church. I had amazing examples who led their lives in ways that made me hate the way I was leading mine. And of course I had like, the biggest crush on Stu. It wasn't long before they would be leaving for missions and we would find ourselves writing them as if we had known them for years.

I somehow made semi-decent grades that year and decided to stick it out for another year at UNC Charlotte...we will go there another day. For now, I am just happy to have seen my Freshman year come and go. I don't regret anything in my life, I am just thankful that I have learned A LOT. And can I just say, I've come a long way Baby!

What NOT to do when you go out to eat...

Okay so this is going to a rant from a disgruntled restaurant employee....

I have decided that when people go out to eat, they lose all sight of what is normal behavior. No, really. Its like they don't know what to do if they aren't cooking the food themselves or aren't pouring their own drink. I mean, HOW hard is it to go to a restaurant, sit down, have someone take care of all your eating-out-needs and behave normally? I feel that there would be some sad momma's in this world if they knew how their children have been behaving at RR. 

Annoyance #1: Don't you EVER snap your fingers/wave your arm wildly in the air at me. I see you, you imbecile and am coming as fast as my little size 7 feet can take me.
So first off, I am probably aware of what you need. I am a good server. I'm not trying to be conceited or anything, but I rarely have problems with customers. And if there is a problem its probably because you created it as an abnormal restaurant-goer. I know that if you have been sitting there waiting on your food that you have probably been sipping on your drink. Which means you'll probably need a new one before/when your food comes out. I will bring you a new one. Promise. It's my job to act like I want to wait on you. There is no need to raise your empty glass in the air as if you are imaginarily clinking glasses with other RR eaters. You look ridiculous and that won't make me come to you any faster. Nor will waving, snapping or standing up and looking for me. I  mean how impatient are people? If you finish your drink in 2.7 seconds after I drop it off to you, you have a problem. A social/eating-disorder kind of problem. Who does that? Seriously, every weekend I have some idiot get there drink on a BUSY friday night and then drink it before I turn around to leave and need another one ASAP. What are you 5? Yeah, I hate you. And i'm not going to run to the drink station just for you. You can wait or drink your beverage like a normal person. Oh and p.s. for those of you who drink strawberry/blueberry/every other kind of berry lemonades...go ahead and drink 8,000 of them, just know they are about 420 calories each and its going straight to your mid-section. Cheers!  

Annoyance #2: Please don't roll up to a restaurant with 4573885231 of your "closest" friends and expect to be waited on as if you were just a couple. This is a BYU-Idaho kid trademark. "I have an idea, let's all go to RR tonight with everyone we know on facebook! And then we can complain when we don't get to sit down for an hour on a busy friday night. AND THEN we can pretend its 7 of our birthdays and make our server sing a ridiculous song to us and bring us free icecream! Yeah, awesome idea!" And who goes out to eat with like 25 other people? Do you actually think you will get to talk to all of those people? Do you even really have that many friends? This is a stupid idea. And you will be obnoxious to not only your server but to everyone else around you. 

Annoyance #3: I have a ring on. Stop hitting on me. Especially when you have mayo on the side of your face. 

Annoyance #4:  When I ask you if you are ready to order, DO NOT lie to me. Being ready to order equals you know what you'd like to eat. It does not mean that you are still A) reading over the entire menu  B) deciding between 8 things or  C) changing your mind. I am standing at your table ready to jot down what you want to eat and then leave you alone, if you are not ready, I WILL COME BACK. It's not that you need to keep me hostage while you read every single word on the menu out of fear that I will leave your table and come back in half an hour. I HATE when people tell me they are ready and then proceed to spend the next 7 minutes deciding on what they want to eat. You're not ready! Why don't you understand that? And then there are people who take like 20 minutes to decide what they want to eat. "Oh we just need a few more minutes." I come back 5 minutes later. "Oh we just need like 2 more minutes." I come back another 5 minutes later. "I'm sorry, I still just need like one more second..." Are you kidding me? Are you waiting on an epiphany from God to decide what you'd like to eat? Why is it so hard to pick something to eat? Wow.

Annoyance #5: "Um, I know I ordered this, but I don't like it." And why are you telling me this? Well, jokes on you. YOU ordered it. I didn't force you to get that. I didn't force you to eat it. If you don't like it, then don't eat it next time. I DO NOT understand customers like this. "Oh, I know I ate half of it, but it was gross. So I either need a new burger or for it to be taken off of our bill. Thanks." Where do people get off thinking they can just do this? YOU ordered it. YOU picked it. It is not my job to decipher what will make YOUR tastebuds scream with delight. This never ceases to amaze me. People like this are either looking for free food or to try something else for free. Or maybe they don't actually like it, well then stop by the golden arches on your way home. Not my problem. 

Annoyance #6: $2 on $25 is not a good tip. Nor is $2 on a $40 tab. Etc. Why is it that the general population feels that $2 is what you leave a server. And by adding a little note on the receipt that says "Great service!" makes me feel better about you being a bad tipper? 15-20% is what you should tip. Did people in Idaho miss this memo? College kids are the worst. "Um, we're going to both have water, drink it like we're parched elephants, split a burger and stiff you on the tip because we're just poor, little struggling college kids." Oh, I don't feel bad for you. You are EATING OUT. If you don't have the money to tip, then don't go out to eat. If you don't have the money to go out to eat, then don't. I don't care if you drink water. I get water all of the time when I go out to eat. I don't care if you split an entree. Stu and I do it all of the time. But the difference in Stu and I and other BYUI students is that when we go out to eat, we always leave 20%. I don't care if your bill is only $10, if you leave me 20% I am happy. If everyone would leave 15-20% i'd make BANK. And some nights I do, but those nights seem to be rare lately because of the growing mass of idiots that attend BYUI. If you think my service was great, then leave me a good tip. Your stupid smiley-face note makes me want to kick you. 

Just a few more things:

If you are a mormon and decided to have 14 children, and you take them all out to eat, FEED THEM. Splitting 4 kids meals amongst 14 children is going to leave, ALL of them, hungry. If you want to give them a fun experience, don't take them out to eat because they will equate it with starvation. Go to those golden arches again and get them all their very own kids meal for half the price. It may not be as good, but they will be fed. You are their parents. They're guardians. They're caretakers. Which means you probably shouldn't make them starve, at least not in a public setting. Families like this make me SO sad. I always just bring like truckloads of fries and dump them in front of their kids. The mothers always have the nerve to give me these looks like, "why are you giving my kids fried food without my permission?" Oh, I'm sorry, they look HUNGRY.

If you're kids make a freaking mess. Clean it up or try to control it. Or tip me more because I will have to clean up after your offspring (i really do love those parents!). I love having to sweep like my life depends on it because some young parents thought it was cute to try and give their 6 month old a french fry to see what they will do with it. "Oh did you see that honey, he just mashed it right up and threw it on the ground! How cute! Let's do it 27 more times and turn the floor into a giant french fry that our server will later have to sweep up at midnight when she's trying to go home!" 

And I think I'm done. Thanks for reading my rant! I know I sound like an ungrateful B and I'm not trying to be. I am thankful for my job. And usually its not a night full of the above. But sometimes it is and it makes me hate the entire human race. I usually make really good money (love that cash flow) for  a part-time job, usually have great customers and a great shift. Just don't be one of those people when you go out to eat next time. For my sanity and all the other servers out there that can empathize.