Yesterday, my friend and I decided to go downtown to window shop and to experience The Grill for the first time. I was a little hesitant about the restaurant at first because money has been really tight for me lately. I always forget about the parking meters beforehand and never bring any coins with me, however, I started keeping a coin cup in my car just for situations like that. As I mentioned before though, money has been really tight for me and my coin cup has just about been emptied.
While walking towards the parking meter, I noticed a homeless standing right behind the meter with a sign around his neck. I paid him no mind and stood in front of the meter shoving in penny after penny while noticing that it made no difference and I was simply wasting my pennies. The man walks over and says "That machine don't take pennies, you know?" Internally, I wanted to be snippy to him because I thought he trying to be rude. His next comment bothered me even more. He said "How much money do you have in your cup?" I just wanted to tell him to leave me alone and that it was none of his business how much money I had.
In that same moment, the man reaches past me and begins putting quarter after quarter into the meter. I just look at him while being completely disgusted of myself for being so judgmental. He smiles and says "There. That should be enough for 2 hours. Will that be long enough?" I was so in awe of his selflessness that I just kept repeating "Thank you. Thank you so much! Thank you!" I had become a broken record. The homeless man who has nothing to his name but a cardboard sign, a scarf, the clothes on his back and a coffee can filled with some spare change people threw his way had helped me.
It isn't just that he helped me monetarily, but he helped restore my faith in humanity...and he did it expecting absolutely nothing in return. This man is an inspiration. I hope I see him again one day so I can tell him how he changed my outlook on life. I've decided to seek and fill the needs of others before my own....as I should have been doing all along.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Dough...Nuts?
As I mentioned before, I am not very good with my words. There have been a couple of times where I should have really thought about the way things sounded before I said them. Some people search for years to come up with great sexual innuendos, for me, they just pour out of my mouth, by complete accident.
The first utterly embarrassing moment happened in front of a guy who would constantly ask me out. This happened about a year ago, so it was very, very cold outside. During the colder months, my store gets in bags upon bags of chopped firewood. Obviously, there are no chairs outside because....well, no gas station has chairs outside. Throughout the night, I like to head outside for about 30 minutes and just enjoy the peace and quiet. Since I have really terrible luck, it is never worth it to put forth the effort to sit on the ground because when I do, it is guaranteed a customer will pull up, so my solution: sit on the firewood. Rather comfortable and high off the ground. One night, as I'm sitting there, the guy who persistently asked me out pulled up. As we got inside, I could tell he'd been practicing his wannabe suaveness at home. After failed attempts at wooing me, he went for his pickup line, "What were you doing before I got here and started giving you some good company?" I should have just gone with my gut instinct which was to be incredibly sarcastic, but instead, I decided to give him a break and give a generic, boring answer. Unfortunately, I didn't think about how completely non-generic my answer was. I blankly stared at him and said "I was sitting on some wood." The boy's face lit up and I knew I had absolutely ruined every attempt at being drole.
One would think I would have learned my lesson from that little situation, but no, of course not. I went through this phase for a little while where I thought it was so cute to switch the names of businesses around. For instance, when my friend would walk over on his break, I would say "How's the House of Waffles?" I mean, that's cute, right? I thought so. Every morning, there was this guy, we'll call him David, who came into the store. He was very nerdy, but also very witty and fun. We usually had some pretty interesting conversations in the morning. Generally speaking, he was pretty health conscious and just got a banana or something, but on that day, he was feeling adventurous. He brought donuts to the counter. After ringing him up right before sending him off for his day ahead, I yelled "Enjoy your nuts of dough!!" I immediately knew what it sounded like. He and my assistant manager just stared at me. My assistant manager stares at me for a long time until she just shakes her and head and says "No. Just no." That happened last year and David still brings it up whenever we need a good laugh.
The first utterly embarrassing moment happened in front of a guy who would constantly ask me out. This happened about a year ago, so it was very, very cold outside. During the colder months, my store gets in bags upon bags of chopped firewood. Obviously, there are no chairs outside because....well, no gas station has chairs outside. Throughout the night, I like to head outside for about 30 minutes and just enjoy the peace and quiet. Since I have really terrible luck, it is never worth it to put forth the effort to sit on the ground because when I do, it is guaranteed a customer will pull up, so my solution: sit on the firewood. Rather comfortable and high off the ground. One night, as I'm sitting there, the guy who persistently asked me out pulled up. As we got inside, I could tell he'd been practicing his wannabe suaveness at home. After failed attempts at wooing me, he went for his pickup line, "What were you doing before I got here and started giving you some good company?" I should have just gone with my gut instinct which was to be incredibly sarcastic, but instead, I decided to give him a break and give a generic, boring answer. Unfortunately, I didn't think about how completely non-generic my answer was. I blankly stared at him and said "I was sitting on some wood." The boy's face lit up and I knew I had absolutely ruined every attempt at being drole.
One would think I would have learned my lesson from that little situation, but no, of course not. I went through this phase for a little while where I thought it was so cute to switch the names of businesses around. For instance, when my friend would walk over on his break, I would say "How's the House of Waffles?" I mean, that's cute, right? I thought so. Every morning, there was this guy, we'll call him David, who came into the store. He was very nerdy, but also very witty and fun. We usually had some pretty interesting conversations in the morning. Generally speaking, he was pretty health conscious and just got a banana or something, but on that day, he was feeling adventurous. He brought donuts to the counter. After ringing him up right before sending him off for his day ahead, I yelled "Enjoy your nuts of dough!!" I immediately knew what it sounded like. He and my assistant manager just stared at me. My assistant manager stares at me for a long time until she just shakes her and head and says "No. Just no." That happened last year and David still brings it up whenever we need a good laugh.
No Shoes, No Shirt, Yes Service
Seeing as this is my first post of this sort, I feel as though I should fill you in on my life a little bit. Well, a small portion of it. I'm a college student majoring in English Education and Journalism. I really enjoy writing and I'm not the worst at it. For the past two years of my life, starting in high school, I have been a clerk at a convenience store....I work the graveyard shift. Yes, you read that right. A 20 year old girl works from midnight until 8 am. Thus far, I haven't had any major life threatening experiences like many may think, but I have had plenty of experiences worth writing about. People ask me all the time what the craziest thing is that's happened to me while being there and to be honest, it's hard to pick just one. So, without further ado, I present to you the first of many and I'm sure not the last, experiences from my job.
I have never been a very eloquent speaker. I'm the type of person to say things completely off the wall and then continue to ramble about them until they make sense. This technique has not once worked in my favor, but yet I still do it. It's a curse. Anyway, there is this guy who comes in about every other night that I work. I would guess he's probably about 26 or so and I like to call him Raymond. I'm not quite sure what his real name, nor do I really care, so to me, he is Raymond. He's the silent type and we never exchange a lot of words, just the generic "Camel Menthol Silvers for you, tonight?" Sometimes I actually get a verbal answer consisting of a lackadaisical "yes," however, it's usually just a head nod.
The back story on this guy, I've come to learn, is that he works at a restaurant downtown and walks from there to my work, which is no walk in the park. By the time he makes it to the store, he is always very sweaty, hot....and shirtless. He stands outside for awhile and goes through this long process of taking off his bag, digging in it searching for his shirt, putting his shirt on, closing his bag that the zipper gets stuck on, and then placing his bag back across his body. All of this to come in and put up with me for 30 seconds while he purchases cigarettes.
After about a month of this constant occurrence and a quasi bond with this guy, I decided to make his life a little easier....which was dumb. I know people tell you to help others, but it just makes you look foolish.
Our conversation went a little something like this: "You know, you don't have to put on your shirt to come inside if you don't want to....uhhh, I mean...I see that it takes you a long time to put it on only to take it off again 20 seconds later...you know...yeah. That whole "no shoes, no shirt, no service" isn't a thing here. We serve shirtless people."
"Basically, you just want to see me shirtless, is what you're saying. I'll be sure not to wear one next time, just for you."
Essentially, I try to be nice and the man thinks I'm majorly hitting on him. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm really not that great at flirting, but I'm a whole lot better than that. I literally just face palmed myself when he winked at me while he walked out the door.
I didn't see Raymond for a couple of weeks, so I thought I may have scared him and it probably would have been for the best. Out of nowhere, here he comes through the door. Shirtless. "I left my shirt off like you asked," he said. I finished his transaction and as he walked through the door, I got my second wink.
I haven't seen him since that last time, but I'm sure I'll see him again soon. Maybe since it's cold, he'll just keep his shirt on.
I have never been a very eloquent speaker. I'm the type of person to say things completely off the wall and then continue to ramble about them until they make sense. This technique has not once worked in my favor, but yet I still do it. It's a curse. Anyway, there is this guy who comes in about every other night that I work. I would guess he's probably about 26 or so and I like to call him Raymond. I'm not quite sure what his real name, nor do I really care, so to me, he is Raymond. He's the silent type and we never exchange a lot of words, just the generic "Camel Menthol Silvers for you, tonight?" Sometimes I actually get a verbal answer consisting of a lackadaisical "yes," however, it's usually just a head nod.
The back story on this guy, I've come to learn, is that he works at a restaurant downtown and walks from there to my work, which is no walk in the park. By the time he makes it to the store, he is always very sweaty, hot....and shirtless. He stands outside for awhile and goes through this long process of taking off his bag, digging in it searching for his shirt, putting his shirt on, closing his bag that the zipper gets stuck on, and then placing his bag back across his body. All of this to come in and put up with me for 30 seconds while he purchases cigarettes.
After about a month of this constant occurrence and a quasi bond with this guy, I decided to make his life a little easier....which was dumb. I know people tell you to help others, but it just makes you look foolish.
Our conversation went a little something like this: "You know, you don't have to put on your shirt to come inside if you don't want to....uhhh, I mean...I see that it takes you a long time to put it on only to take it off again 20 seconds later...you know...yeah. That whole "no shoes, no shirt, no service" isn't a thing here. We serve shirtless people."
"Basically, you just want to see me shirtless, is what you're saying. I'll be sure not to wear one next time, just for you."
Essentially, I try to be nice and the man thinks I'm majorly hitting on him. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm really not that great at flirting, but I'm a whole lot better than that. I literally just face palmed myself when he winked at me while he walked out the door.
I didn't see Raymond for a couple of weeks, so I thought I may have scared him and it probably would have been for the best. Out of nowhere, here he comes through the door. Shirtless. "I left my shirt off like you asked," he said. I finished his transaction and as he walked through the door, I got my second wink.
I haven't seen him since that last time, but I'm sure I'll see him again soon. Maybe since it's cold, he'll just keep his shirt on.
7 Vegan Friendly Places in Athens
Being a vegan can be very difficult, especially when it comes to eating out. For those new to the Athens area, you probably have not had a lot of time to really scope out vegan friendly places. There is good news! Athens has plenty of places that cater to the needs of a vegan without sacrificing great taste. Rather than always being stuck with a salad while at dinner with your friends, here are a few places that offer great vegan choices:
The Grit is an Athens classic and one of the only completely vegetarian restaurants around. Although all of the dishes are not vegan, there are many choices to choose from and meat is never an issue here. It is located at 199 Prince Avenue.
Earth Fare is a grocery store located on South Lumpkin Street in Five Points. Of course, being a grocery store, they have plenty of ingredients to make a vegan dish, but they also sell pre-made items in their deli. A few good ones are the mock curry chicken salad, mock chicken salad, roasted sweet potato salad and an assortment of cous cous.
Barberitos has many locations scattered throughout Athens, so it is a good option because there is almost always one nearby. Not only does this restaurant have a menu item listed as a “vegan burrito,” it also has many variations of classic dishes that will cater to a vegan’s dietary restrictions.
Your Pie is the place to go if you are in the mood for a good pizza. There is an option of a gluten free vegan crust and daiya (dairy free) cheese which are both filled with flavor. Just like any other pizza place, there are many vegetable toppings and an option of tofu. Your Pie can be found on the Eastside at the corner of Cedar Shoals Drive and Gaines School Road and also on Alps Road in Beechwood.
Clocked is a great restaurant located on West Washington Street next to the 40 Watt. It is a perfect choice for a vegan because they offer cold hummus sandwiches, hot falafel sandwiches, veggie burgers and salads. Not to mention the location is absolutely wonderful.
Harry’s Pig Shop offers some of the best vegan barbeque around. They have lots of meat there, as they serve traditional barbeque, but they also provide tofu for those wishing not to consume animals. As for sides, they offer many vegetable sides such as pickled beets, salads and of course, french fries. The restaurant is located a little on the outskirts of town in the Homewood Shopping Center but it is well worth the drive.
Grindhouse Killer Burgers offers a few vegan options that are not just fries or salad. Do not let the name fool you, they also serve veggie burgers made with beans and vegetables offering the same toppings for it as they do all of the other burgers. It is a fairly new restaurant, but they are already making a name for themselves in Athens. They can be found on South Lumpkin Street in Five Points.
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