Building Relationships
October 04, 2004 4:30 a.m.

As I was laying in bed trying to got to sleep, with all the negative implications of my job bobbing to the surface,....something else came up as well.

I am really good at my job. ...I AM building relationships. ...I think I might be in a postion to make people feel better about their lives.

What I'm specifically referencing are my night time regular costumers. granted the afternoons have their regulars...but I'm not really there, and/or alert enough to really connect with them...but the people I do connect with are the ones who come in every night on their way to work...or pop in on a break, or get some coffee before the drive home.

I think I am starting to "Build Relationships" with them.

Mr. Greg comes in and we talk all the time...sometimes it's about his work drama...

and I think the truth is that everyone just wants someone to listen to them. I mean...why do we all flock to diaryland? Yes...diaryland unlike most other "blog" (can I state that I hate that word. Who came up with it?) sites consists primarily of voyeurs. ...People who like to "watch" to read. ...that ease dropping on other peoples lives. ...I'm lucky if someone leaves me a note every month or two. ...people I know who use other sites get countless a day from other people telling them their opinions are wrong...and why they should change. ...People that like to hear themselves talk.

I think diaryland is a world of people who want to be heard.....but who also want to listen. ....We only speak when confronted with something that moves us to...not simply because we can. ....If I see something that reminds me of someone. I will tell them about it. ...If they inquire about information, that I know about, I will tell them. ...If I identify deeply with an entry, I will tell them. Or offer them a place to stay when they need one...my bed because they need one, ...my food because they are hungry.

Heh,...I personally enjoyed all the Jeff bashing, as well as motivating words that are contained in my guestbook. (which yes I know I haven't put on this layout yet, bad me).

but I'm getting beyond the point. My regulars that come in....I really think they just want someone to listen to them. ..some of them....Some of them are guarded by steel cages, I'm speaking primarily of the women. ...The men seem to take well to me because I'm a young, sweet, innocent female, and of course some of them want to get in my pants, but I think others look at me rather paterinally.

but as a whole most of my night regulars seem like they have had a very hard life, they've had to struggle and work for everything they have, and still might be barely getting by. There are some regular woman who if I saw them in a bar I would avoid eyecontact with them for fear they would beat my ass for even looking at them. 2 of them scared the shit out of me one of my first days,...and I sort of made it my little mission to not let them get me....to treat them like everyone elses....and I think I might be getting through,...

There's one little girl, who her father and mother aren't exactly great,...and I'm just so empathietic for the whole family. they break my heart. .....the mother suffers from migraines and I feel so bad for her....every day looks like she just had the worst day of ther life.

Her daughter has really taken to me. ...Just by being nice to her, smiling...learning her name and prefixing it with "miss", as I do most people (Miss, or Mr.). I've even heard her tell people I'm her friend, and that flatters me. If seeing my smile and hearing my words, and my treating her as if she's my equal....she might feel better about herself...I mean,...I get the feeling she wonders if anyone really cares about her...and if I can make a difference....then I'm serving a purpose.

theres one guy that comes in every night on his way to work...he seems very shy, ..he's very quiet, very soft spoken. I think he's about my age. He comes in and buys 2 packs of Marbro reds, and sometimes gas. For a good while he was coming in with a big evening rush, but lately he's been by himself, and I've have being trying to hard to make conversation with him, joking, asking him about himself,...teasing about how he doesn't have to tell me what cigarettes he wants. ....Tonight I actually got him to speak! ..well, maybe more then a, "yes" or a "Two". I asked him if he was on his way to work. He said, "yes". I asked him, "where". he told me but,...he said it kinda quiet I couldn't tell. ...I asked him if the drive was far. He then told me the locations and the distance...and that it really wasnt that bad. ...I mean....he actually started to converse with me. ...and it's not that I force people to talk to me if they don't want to....I've just being trying to coax him out of his shy shell....I mean...my night goes better when I enjoy the people who are coming in. Plus...if he's so shy...maybe he's not used to people taking an interesting in him. And I did from the first night I saw him come in.

Mr. Greg has told me some of his misadventures, as well as some work drama. He told me the other night (when he was wearing a green fleece instead of his normal work atire and looking darn cute might I add) that he wasn't excited to go to work that night because he had stayed at work till 11am (bear in mind his shift starts at 10pm) and then he went home and made work phone calls until 4pm. before getting some sleep and going back to work.

What did I do where I worked before? I did alot of under appreciated grunt work. ..and that might be the case here regarding corprate, but if my regulars love me,....then that means that I have done something that matters. ...Before I just entered data so someone could have insurance. ..granted this was something they needed, but they didn't treat us very well...and really I didn't meet the clients anyway, I was merely a pawn for the suits.