Raw Oatmeal
I was waiting tables at an Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills, trying to figure out what I was gonna do with the rest of my life. I’d been miserable at this job for months, but I stayed because it was easy and I made a lot of money. One morning, one of my guests told me that she wanted the oatmeal and was in a big hurry. We made our oatmeal from scratch, so I told her it would take at least 20 minutes and suggested she order something else, since she was in a rush. She insisted on the oatmeal.
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About 10 minutes after she ordered, she started snapping her fingers and shouting across the restaurant, “Excuse me…waitress..where’s my oatmeal?”
I walked over to her and repeated what I’d said earlier, “Our oatmeal is made from scratch and takes 20 minutes to cook.” She screamed, “Just bring me my oatmeal NOW!” So I walked over to the chef and asked him for her oatmeal. He told me it was still raw. I said, “That’s how she wants it.” I got fired that day.
I was in shock. I mean I wasn’t sad to leave a place that was sucking the life out of me, but I was completely humiliated and embarassed and job-less.
I remember driving over Coldwater Canyon, screaming and crying in the car. I was SO angry. All I could think about was how much of a loser I was…how I had nothing: no money, no plans, no future.
Once I got home, panic set in. The more I thought about the sitatuion, the worse it got. I became so depressed that I didn’t get out of bed to do anything but drink water and use the bathroom. I just couldn’t figure out how I had gotten here. I had a college degree, I was smart. What happened? I cried and cried and then cried some more. I threw things around. I moped. I freaked out. I just didn’t know what to do and was too embarassed to ask for help because then I’d have to reveal that I’d been fired and was a failure.
Freedom
After about a week of this…it hit me – hard!
I was listening to a song on the radio – Freedom by George Michael. I couldn’t get the chorus out of my head…”Freedom, Freedom…” and at some point during the day, the word freedom clicked. Freedom! I started to think about it and suddenly, as if lightning struck me, I realized…I was FREE. I hated that restaurant. I had been unhappy for months. I was settling everyday that I walked into that place. And now, I was just wasting time, obsessing about being fired, feeling sorry for myself, blaming others, and getting nowhere.
Getting fired meant freedom. It was an opportunity for me to create the incredible life I had been putting off. I mean, let’s be honest, I got myself fired. I knew that when I brought crazy-lady her raw oatmeal – it wasn’t going to go down well for me. But now…I was FREE! And that failure opened up a world of possibilities and opportunity for me.
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