Tri-City College Preparatory High School Newspaper

Created To Create

By Marissa Branson
       Work. Some call it a four letter word. Some would say it’s just a necessary part of life. Others say it’s the only way to survive.
       When I think of work, what comes to mind is the glass-surrounded café in the round-about, next to Barnes and Noble, and across from Wildflower Bread Company at the Prescott Gateway Mall. Honey Baked Ham Café. I walk briskly toward the building, a few minutes late for my shift, pull open the transparent door and walk through the rather void lobby to the back where I clock in. Maybe there’s some ham to cut and portion for sandwiches. Maybe I need to make back-up sauces or cut tomatoes or onions. Maybe help a customer.
        I’m not exactly thrilled to see my co-workers. We share some small talk but not much more than that. Usually I come in with a bored swagger, tired after a long day at school. The other workers are drained too, and complaining, either about how busy or how slow the store was that day.
Diet coke wakes me up, food fills me up.
        It’s a dull job. I come in for four hours just to make a few sandwiches, help a few customers and then clean the place up for the night. Just a bunch of pointless, repetitive duties.
      Up until the last few days, that was all work was to me. A set of routines and a way to pay for my car and cell phone. I realized that I had been slowly and steadily brainwashed into thinking that work is a cursed and dreadful obligation.
      Then I heard someone say, “Humans were created to be alive. You can’t live and be a couch potato.” Dr. Del Tackett from a Focus on the Family DVD series called the Truth Project, said that we were “created to create”.
      I realize Honey Baked Ham isn’t the most exciting place of work. In fact, there seems to be hardly any room for creativity in a store like that, unless of course I make extra perfect-looking sandwiches. The point is my attitude. The idea that work is a bland and bothersome necessity.
      Yet I never stopped to consider, first of all, that having a job is a blessing in itself. I’d be living in a box if it weren’t for my car to take me places, my phone to communicate, and some extra cash for going out. As for my co-workers, they were always just people to me. I was really apathetic and couldn’t care less about them, but after a few real conversations and some reconsideration, I realized that the majority are really decent people. We have our disagreements, we have our weaknesses, but overall they’re good people. Casey, who rants lovingly about her little girl. Lorrie, who’s life revolves around her bird watching classes and her teenage kids. Ezequia,l who is so passionate about kung fu. Adriana, who is extremely ecstatic about beginning college. Don, the boss, is a really nice guy.
       I get to interact with all kinds of people too. There’s the widowed old man who always buys his sandwiches, one with tomatoes, one without, with extra pickles on the side. There’s the weird people who try to flirt with us when we ask for a phone number or name for their order.  The other night I had a mentally disabled lady tell me her whole life story. I am amazed by the kind of people I get to talk to. Some make me laugh, some make me sad and some make me irate, but it’s all a learning experience.
        Work isn’t always going to be jolly and fantastic obviously, but we have to make of it what we can. Now I’m not just talking about work you get paid for, just work, in general. An old friend once told me, “For every bad thing in life, you can always find two good things.” We have to stop being such pessimistic drama queens and count our blessings and keep our attitudes in check. I don’t want to be the one at my job who is always complaining no matter what the day was like. I don’t want to be the one who treats others like inferior idiots. I don’t want to be the lazy one who does the least I can to get away with. I’d like to be the one who cares. I’d like to be the one who makes the most of what I’ve been given.
-Marissa Branson

Times

April 7- Math AIMS Testing
Required for Sophomores
Jrs/Srs who wish to retest

-Stanford 10 for all freshman

- All students who have exceeded on Math AIMS may take the day off

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John Dery's Cartoon

"The views expressed in articles published in Denobis are those of the authors alone. They do not represent the views, policies, or opinions of DeNobis, Tri-City College Preparatory High School, or its instructors or staff."