Mandolyna Theodoracopulos

March 01, 2012

Fortunately I am not one of the newly unemployed. But if I found myself jobless and needing to earn a few bucks, there are lots of ways to get back in the game. If one is really desperate, offering to volunteer in the sort of establishment one would like to work is a good way to let the boss know you are a solid worker and a decent soul. Solid workers and decent souls seem to be dying breeds.

One must remember that there is no job too small. I am not a maid, but I like to serve others and to clean. If I had to start over and move downstairs so to speak, I”€™d aim to one day become the head maid. I am serious. If I had to choose another profession I would be a maid or a personal assistant. I have the skills, and I like to think I have the humility. Surely some of you will think this is rubbish and that I have been spoiled all my life. In part, this is true. But every now and then I get down on my hands and knees to clean one toilet or another. Sometimes the bowl is my own. Other times it belongs to someone else. I do this because I prefer a clean loo to a filthy one. I also do it out of respect for the owner and the next visitor. Most importantly, I do it to remind myself that despite the fact that a nice Polish lady cleans my john once a week, I am not above the task.

Lately I find people prancing around as though they were above any sort of occupation that serves others. I find this odd given the state of the world economy, particularly in places such as Greece. Several sources tell me that Greeks are refusing to work in the service industry as waiters and suchlike. They leave it to Eastern Europeans. In America, Mexicans usually fill such jobs.

People with this kind of attitude are brats. How can you have your own business without starting at the bottom?

I have friends in completely different industries who are just as lazy. Sure, it’s tough to take an entry-level position over age 30, but if you haven”€™t paid your dues, sooner or later you must. And if you”€™re “€œoverqualified,”€ don”€™t forget everyone needs to eat a little doo-doo to get wherever they would prefer to be. 

A good sign of maturity is when someone is willing to submit to annoying rules imposed by those who have something we want. If that means answering phones, picking up dry cleaning, and scrubbing a bloody loo to prove you are there to stay, that’s what you do. If you”€™re too good for that or any kind of manual labor, grow up!

For the most part, I dislike Italians. But to their credit, they make very good waiters and servers when they embrace it as a lifelong career. The ones I know are gentlemen of the highest order”€”the only Italians worth their weight, in my view. All across the world in the best hotels one will find the head waiters, bartenders, and cooks are Italian. They are the only ones you remember if you are lucky enough to spend any time in one of these places. Their jobs are not beneath them, so why should such jobs be beneath you? Unless you have what it takes, you simply aren”€™t qualified.