Really? ...or how did I end up here?

Tonight I went in for my first official night at a new retail job. I was pretty excited, granted, it's retail - but it was going to be fun - I was just sure. My "official dress code" requires me to wear all black. Which I did, except for the infernal shoes. I wore this terrific pair of little red ones that a dear friend costumer just found for me at the thrift store. Okay...yes, I was testing things. I always do that...in high school on the night before I date I would always do something like dye my hair purple. "So, you thought you liked me huh? What do you think of me now!?" I suppose is the theory... Yes, I was testing things. And they called me on it. Which, I suppose is alright.

HOWEVER...here's how things went down, and dear readers - I am furious with how things went down. So I leave job #1 after scarfing down a Lean Cuisine steam bowl. First of all...seriously? I'm trying to eat right, which is normally a delight - tonight's meal was not...but with new job (job #2) I'm only allowed one fifteen minute "off the floor" and I'm slated to be there until midnight, so I figure, "suck it up, you'll be glad you ate later." So, this morning, I pack my lunch, AND my dinner and I head off for a twelve hour day.

Back to the story at hand...so I leave job #1 and head towards job #2. First of all, finding the parking lot in the blinding light of Colorado sundown was a pain in my a**. I finally find something, put my $3 in the box and head in to work. So I get there, and it's just like the factory I knew it would be...I put my stuff in my locker - folks leaning up against them, dressed in their "all black" like the good little sheep that they are... and I proceed to check in.
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There they are - my bosses and they're looking me up and down. The woman says, "do you have black shoes?" To which I respond, "Oh, no, I'm sorry - is that a problem?" "Yes, you have to go home. What's your name?" I tell them, then the woman barks at me again, "We need a working phone number for you. Your phone doesn't work." "Really," I think to myself, "because your office called me 3 hours ago to REMIND me that I have to come to work?" As if I ever needed to be reminded that I'm supposed to be at work. Don't they know that I am a work horse? I KNOW I'm supposed to be at work. Then the man tells me that he won't hold it against me, they're overstaffed tonight anyway. And there we have it, gentle readers. I'm dismissed. The security guy looks at me and says, "uh-oh" as I leave.

And the thing is - I get it, I should have worn black shoes.

Nevermind that I stand behind a counter. Nevermind that I am really, stupidly good at retail. Nevermind that I needed this job to get me through the two months between teaching gigs (in another three weeks, i'm picking up two more jobs and I won't care...but today, I care). And I wanted to tell them to F off. That I don't need their stupid job. But I do. So now I'm just hoping that they'll put me on the schedule for next week, so I can go in and smile a lot and sell some of their stuff.

And what I'm wondering is, how did I get here? I had a promising future. BLAH.

I'm going to go have a glass of red wine and pretend like all this "job" nonsense is just that!