Let's be totally real for a second - working in customer service is hard. The amount of stupid people I can come in contact with in one day is staggering. With my work schedule, it's 4 days a week at 10 hour days. Do you know how many crazy people you can come in contact with in 10+ hours? A lot. On top of the crazy stupid people, customer service is really repetitive. I can't even tell you how many times I sometimes repeat myself in one conversation. It's more than you think. And customer service can sometimes be really really really frustrating. No matter how many times I repeat myself or how super nice I am, there are always going to be those people who are going to give attitude or just don't want to hear what I have to say. It's irritating beyond all belief to have people brush you off or ask you a question you were literally about to tell them the answer to if they had waited .00004 seconds to let you finish. But I got the best reminder about my job the other day! It was a typical day. Average amount of stupid, and I was wearing my regular "so done with this day" 3:30 attitude. My coworker came to tell me a party was late, and I'm not gonna lie, my first reaction was "surprise surprise". Well the party showed up early enough that it didn't cause too many problems. But as I was ringing up the customer and she said something that caught me off guard. She looked me in the eye and simply said: "Your job is hard." I thought she was just sort of joking so I just gave a little chuckle and a sarcastic "Yeah it is." But she kept pressing and telling me that my job was hard and she understood. She went on saying that she "get's it". People not listening, not following directions, not giving you a chance to actually do your job, and how frustrated I must get sometimes. I found myself nodding as she continued to list things that I think about my job on (almost) a daily basis. And then she stopped, looked at me seriously, and then said this: "You are so lucky. You're lucky because you work in one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. I mean...LOOK AT IT. If ever you're having a hard day, I want you to go down those steps right out there and just look. Look at those mountains, look at that sky, and know that you are so lucky." And she was right. In the hustle and bustle of my job and every day life I forget that...I LIVE IN HAWAII. Few people get to say that. And better yet, I work in one of the most beautiful places on the island. True, outside of my little office I don't get to see as much of it as I like, but the parts I do get to see are breathtaking. I stumbled upon a video that Youtube's devinsupertramp filmed at the ranch a few years back and it captures the essence perfectly. So enjoy the video, come see it in person one day. ;)
At the beginning of the New Year, I got a new job and it's been great! Except for this one minor thing: Every now and again I have to work on Sundays. But lately it's been more now than again. Today was the first Sunday I've had off in about 3 weeks and I was sitting here thinking about the simple things about a Sunday that I miss. So, why not write about it eh?
- Sleeping in if you have church in the afternoon. - Sunday naps if you have church in the morning. - A super great Sunday breakfast. - Sometimes that breakfast is eaten in bed. - Getting to church early and sitting in "your seats" - Church in general - Great speakers on a Sunday - Studying New Testament in Sunday school (yay for this year!) - Bonding with your Sisters in Relief Society - Sunday afternoon snacks - Great Sunday dinners with family/friends - Sunday game nights/movie nights - Having Sunday actually feel like a Sunday instead of every other day of the week
There is something beautiful about how simple Sunday's are. So for now, I'll cherish my simple days off, especially when it's a Sunday.
But the original version of Annie. If you've been to any movies lately, you'll have heard of the new remake version of the classic Annie. Starring adorable Quvenzhane Wallis as Annie, Jamie Foxx as "Daddy Warbucks" (renamed William Stacks), and Cameron Diaz as Ms. Hannigan. If anything, watch the trailer and you'll know what I'm talking about.
I had my doubts, but I wanted to see the movie none the less. So my hubby and I decided to risk it and go see it! Well, here's my movie review of it. Warning: some spoilers and very strong opinions ahead. Let's start with the things I liked (because unfortunately they are few and far between). Annie (who I'm just gonna call Annie because I don't want to spell out her name) is charming and sassy and definitely the high point of this movie. She's cute as a button and definitely a triple threat as well. However, Rose Byrne is almost as charming and is incredibly relatable as Grace. All of Annie's adorable side kicks are there as well, including her friends and the most adorable dog as Sandy yet! The beginning of the movie had me hooked. It had potential to be like the movie version of Annie that I loved but revamped and modernized. The feel of modern day New York using the sounds of the street to propel Annie to her brand new sunny tomorrow had me toe tapping and wanting to sing along! I was even ok with SPOILER: them changing Annie from being an orphan to a girl in foster care. Everything seemed modern and promising. But after the first 3 songs that were just like the musical, it came to a screeching halt. The first problem I had was Cameron Diaz as Ms Hannigan. In my opinion, you can't beat Carol Burnett as Ms. Hannigan and Kathy Bates in the 1995 TV movie is a close second. There's something about Ms Hannigan's character. She's evil and hilarious at the same time. You can't help but sing her villain song because it's so darn catchy! But with this movie they turn her into a SPOILER: drunk, gold digging, wanna be rock star. She's pushy and loud and inappropriate and annoying. It makes for a miserable performance. (In reference to the drinking: what the PG kid friendly rating? Listening to the father behind me having to diffuse all the alcoholic references from his young little girl who kept asking questions made me SO uncomfortable.) I lost all the fun love I had for Ms Hannigan as it was replaced with dread every time a scene with her showed up. The next problem was the music. Now, don't get me wrong. I loved the first 3 songs in the movie. They were the songs I knew and loved with a refreshing twist. But after that, they completely lost me. Every song I recognized started out to be the song I knew and loved. I mouthed the words and was smiling, when within bars it turned into a completely different song that left me with my mouth wide open and completely speechless. It was almost like a false pretense! They sucked me in with the original hook and punched me in the gut and whacked me over the head with a new top 40 bass line and completely new lyrics. I will give some credit and say that the original songs they created I actually throughly enjoyed! Mostly because they were new! But other than that I missed my Little Girls, NYC, and Easy Street tunes. The revamps weren't catchy enough to make me want to sing them over and over again. But not only was it the music, but it was the singing also! You could just tell there was an incredible over use of auto tune for everyone to make everyone seem like a good singer. And while that makes my well trained ears happy, there also was such a disconnect to the songs. The auto tuning sucked out any real and raw emotion that would have been involved in the songs. (Minus the song Wallis sings at the benefit about opportunities. That one is exempt.) The movie as a whole just seemed so disjunct. It went from musical moments to High School Musical moments to music video moments. Nothing was connected. It was filled with bad choreography to go along with the bad auto tuning and bad songs. I think I didn't like it because I went into the movie thinking it was going to be a modernized version of the movie/musical I love. Instead I got a completely different movie/musical that maybe would have been good if it hadn't lured me in under the false pretense of being the movie Annie. While the movie has it's funny moments (beyond what you see in the trailer), and its fantastic references to the original movie, it failed to make it's way into my heart as a great version of Annie that my little girls will be watching.
