First off, happy Grammys! I adore good music. Absolutely makes the world go round. Anyhoo!
I try not to complain a ton. I’m a big Belieber believer in karma. I think the more you complain, the more bad things happen to you. If I have a legitimate complaint at a restaurant, I always try to immediately follow it with a compliment somewhere else. I had the worst experience ever at this filthy Dunkin Donuts on Western Boulevard with a latte, so the following week, I called McDonald’s corporate to compliment Sheila on how friendly she was when she handed me my Diet Dr. Pepper. Made me feel my karma was in check.
Anyhoo, I say this because I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to blog about this, but Deb and I were talking, and we totally needed to get this off my chest.
Storytime!
SO I work for Fleet Feet Raleigh, and I love my job. There is rarely a day when I go in when I dread going to work, and I laugh at least hourly there. I think I was doing something behind our cash wrap about a month ago, and I noticed there was a cute young girl wearing an Elon sweatshirt. I was like HOLLA! I love networking with Elon Alumni. My mistake. So her father saunters up, carrying a Starbucks in his hand.
Elon Girl’s Dad: YOU WENT TO ELON?!
Me: Yeah! I loved it! You guys are so lucky!
Elon Girl’s Dad: Wait a minute. You’re telling me…you paid $100,000 you went to Elon…and you work here? ::looks around disgustedly::
Me: Well….I…I…
For the first time in forever, I was speechless. Blown away that someone could walk into my place of employment, look me up and down, insult me, insult my co-workers, and be okay with it. It was rude, it was deplorable, and despite what this gentleman seems to think, there’s more than one path to success than going to Elon, immediately becoming CEO of some place, and being rich and fancy.
My sister, Deb, also says she’s had a similar experience at the stock brokerage where she works. Despite the fact she makes decent money, and has passed the tests necessary to move up in the company, folks have made similarly rude comments about her major, International Comparative Studies, and Korean. It seems that folks think that if you don’t do exactly what it is that your major entails in life, that you’re a failure.
First off. Not true. My dad majored in Physics, and ended up in banking. My mother studied Nursing and is a stay-at-home mom. Lilly Ghalichi (of Shahs) is a lawyer by trade, and designs Swimgerie. Mike Posner went to Duke, studied sociology, and now tunelessly sings, and gets paid millions for it.
Second off. Mind your dang bidness before you run around making rude, sweeping judgements. So what, I’m not a lawyer and rich? I’m rich in life (thank you Nene), and I’m very happy. I’m not a blight on society (in fact, I might even be the opposite). So in the words of a tearful emotional scholar, Tyra Banks kiss my fat ass! ::slaps butt::
Overactive Blogger 
Love this! Btw, my cousin was president of Elon college. I did not go there, due to that pesky $100k thing, but I always got the “you went to University and you’re doing THIS for a living?” Yep, I’m pretty sure that there are a few men still walking around with virtual daggers in their eyes, as well as virtual shoes up their butts.
What a cool connection!
Giiiiiirrrrlll, okay: the same thing happened to me (and still continues to happen, to some extent) multiple times shortly after graduation, when I started working for Anthro. You gotta do what you do, know that you are being challenged every day, and are growing in ways that your academic education couldn’t have necessarily provided for you. This man probably lives a mediocre, possibly sometimes unhappy, life because he’s probably living up to the stereotypes that his society has placed on him and his family. I love that you love what you do, and that’s more than most people can say. Plus Elon ruled. PEACE.
You right, you right. Meanwhile, I’m over here happy as a clam…he seemed to be the only one with the real problem with my employment. Rude rude. AND ELON ROCKS.
PREACH. Here’s the deal…he probably made judgement because he’s insecure about and unhappy in his own life. The moral of the story? Not only did you go to the BEST university EVHAIR and get a phenomenal education, you learned the most important life lesson that it’s not WHAT you do, but HOW you do it. you do you, Cheri… stay fun, stay happy!