You know what? I quit.

“You know what? I quit!”

Sixty minutes, huh? I have no idea what to write in sixty minutes so, I’m just going to type and see where I end up. I have quit a couple of jobs. One, where I was a waitress and the cooks didn’t like women. There are always some in the restaurant business that try to get a waitress to quit but these two were just unbelievably rude and the manager didn’t do anything about it. I think they were related.

There was another time, I was a lifeguard and the manager of the pool kept calling me, “Doll.” Yes, this was in the eighties not the fifties. On top of that, I was seventeen and he had to be in his thirties.

There was one time where I was a, hmmm, I’d say receptionist but… I did so much more than that. I ran to get parts, took customers home, did payroll, accounts receivable and inventory. The shop manager had a teenage daughter and I don’t think they were getting along at the time. He would harass and harass me. Yell at me for dumb stuff. So, after going home in tears a couple of times in the same week, I decided to quit. And when I told the boss that I was giving my two week notice? He said, “Okay.” That’s it. Nine years I had worked there. And his response, was OK???? Needless to say, I wasn’t … Well, I was going to say I wasn’t upset. But, I was upset that his response was just that little word.

So, when else have I quit? I was basically doing the job of a warehouse manager. But, because I was a woman I never got the title. Of course, I couldn’t prove it but as you get older you put up with more. More things, more stupidity. But, I just couldn’t do the job physically anymore. I was working more than twelve hours a day and I just cuoldn’t do. It. I quit that job three times. The first time, the boss basically told me no. I couldn’t quit. The second time, he made a deal that I wouldn’t work more than forty hours a week. Yeah, right. I knew when I made that deal he wasn’t going to stick by it. Something always came up. So…. When that month was over, I put in my two weeks to my boss, his boss and the head of human resources. Email can be a wonderful thing. At least, he knew what he was losing. I got a great big party out of that one.

So, yeah in my several years of working I have said, “You know what? I quit.” Several times.

I don’t think in this day and age it means what it did a few decades ago. Back then, when my parents were working, you just didn’t quit. Now a days it seems to me anyway, that you can quit and noone looks twice. Quit because it doesn’t seem fulfilling enough. Quit because you want to stay at home and take care of your family. Quit because you just don’t like the job.

Have we turned into a bunch of quitters? Doesn’t seem to have the same connotation that it used to. It used to be a bad thing. You were irresponsible if you quit something and didn’t have a back up.

Okay, it seems as if I’m ranting against the next generation. I don’t know why? My child and spouse are super responsible. They’re probably more responsible than I was at that age. But.. I have to admit some of their friends took a lot longer to grow up.

Grow up. What exactly does that mean? I don’t know. Maybe save money rather tha go out and party every night? Maybe get a good job rather than working at the fast food place down the street? I don’t know. Maybe get an apartment rather than live in your parents’ basement? Of course, there is a kid that works for me. Has been saving money for years and couldn’t afford a house even today.

I guess that’s not exactly true either. Couldn’t afford a house in a decent neighborhood where you could actually go for a walk after dinner without fearing of being jumped - robbed or injured. But, back to the subject, he hasn’t said, I quit. He still works every day and works hard.

Sometimes we say, I quit just because we are tired of dealing with the public. Sometimes we say, I quit because we are just tired at the end of the day.

I have no idea where I was going with this thought. I am rambling. Maybe that’s the point. See where the words take you. I love writing like this. This has always been my favorite way of putting down words to paper. Sometimes, it’s fun to see what comes up and where the mind wanders. So, how many minutes has it been. Half an hour. Ugh. Don’t know that I can do this for thirty more minutes.

But, I’m not going to say, “I quit!” I’m going to see what happens for the next thirty minutes.

Write a story about quitting? Maybe, unfortunately I really don’t like quitting. I like going to work and seeing people. Kind of. I like my co-workers. Sometimes. I’m sitting here laughing because I would really like to be a professional writer. Work from home, take the dog for a walk, travel the United States. Mmm. Maybe be a travel writer. That would be fun. There is so much of this fantastic country I would really like to see before the climate change changes it too much.

Of course, that is a topic for another day.

Oh to be a writer. To make money at putting words on the page. I guess I’ve had that dream since I was a little girl. But, life got in the way. So, just like story ideas I have pulled the dream out of the drawer, dusted it off and decided to try again. But, because I haven’t worked at it in forever, it’s taking a little time to get it all started again. I’ve been doing well this year in that I have written for at least an hour six days a week since February. Tomorrow is June so … I think I’m on my way. Of curse the story has changed… Sometimes so much that the manuscript I’m working on this week is absolutely not even related to the one I started in March.

Wow, that was a completely off topic tangent. Where was I going with that thread. I’m sitting here at my dining room table, looking out at the dreary weather wondering if I’m going to get my grocery shopping in before I make it to the graduation ceremony later. Snd, of course, that has nothing to do with saying, “You know what? I quit.”

So… job related … hmm… I’m running out of steam and still have fifteen minutes to go. Where shall we go from here? To the beach? To the park? I’m taking the grandson to the park tomorrow. He loves to go down the slides and climb the rock wall. I haven’t heard him say, “I quit.” Yes, I’m laughing at myself because I’m just making stuff up as I go along. Mmm. I remember maing stuff up as a kid. My mom would tell you that I used to make up words. Stuff to mean what I wanted it to mean. She used to call it gobble dee gook. I think she made that up.

So, where,... I just realized I want to go back and edit every “so” I put into this rambling piece of writing. ;’[pppppp \

]6

Sorry, the cat decided he wanted to type a couple of words today. He does that sometimes. But, since we’re not supposed to correct for edit, I’m leaving his opinion in this piece.

Not going to type “so” even though i want to. I’m just letting the fingers do the walking. Even though this isn’t the yellow pages. Do people even remember the yellow pages anymore? I was just thinking two days ago that I would really like a phone book. I remember when I was younger and writing stories fof the fun of it that the phone book was a good place to get a name for a character.

I’m almost at my time. Maybe I should get back on topic. Or..you know what? I quit.