My Dad

My dad hates his job.  My dad is old. My dad is a good person.  I feel bad for my dad a lot because he doesn’t have a choice.  He does his job because he cares a lot about his family and is doing it to support us.  My dad didn’t used to hate owning the dry cleaners.  It’s just that he has been doing it for long and now the business is slow and he literally makes a profit of fifty dollars a year.  My dad is probably one of the most giving people I know.  He gives up his time to do good things for our family.  He is the hardest worker I know and doesn’t give up until the job is done.  My dad started working at the dry cleaners when he was 14.   He officially became the owner of the business when he was 25, a pretty good deal at the time since dry cleaning was a very profitable business.  But now things are different and my dad is tired of running the business.  He won’t take vacations because he is afraid something will go wrong if he leaves.  During the summers when we would go to the cabin my dad would drive back down to work every two days to check in and fix the problems.  This made vacationing a little strange.  I understand why my dad does things the way he does, though.  Mostly I feel bad though because I wish he was doing something he liked doing.  I’m hoping that when I get a little older I can make life more comfortable for my parents and do something to show how much I appreciate them.  Especially my dad since he has worked so hard for my family.  He does a lot of little things for all of us that mean a lot.  He always listens to what we have to say and remembers things that are important to us.  I don’t think we let him know enough how much we appreciate him.  Everything he does, he does for our family.  He always wants to see us happy.  I feel really lucky to have such a good dad in my life.  But since my family doesn’t really express a lot of their feelings to each other (except between my mom and I) it’s hard to tell him how much he means to me.  I try to show my dad that I appreciate him by doing things that will make him happy.  I’ve learned so much from my dad and he has shown me what it means to be a strong person.  I wish there was a way I could give back to him more.  I admire my dad’s strength, commitment, and work ethic and I love him very much.

The Dry Cleaners

My dad has owned dry cleaners for over 35 years.  Before him, my grandpa owned the dry cleaners.  Needless to say, I’ve been around it all my life.  Here are some interesting customers we’ve encountered over the years. 

Mr. Austin-  The founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation has been a customer at our cleaners for about twenty years.  Every week, one of their four personal assistants brings in an order of at least 300 dollars, keeping our business alive.  I’ve never seen Mr. Austin before.  But I have talked to him on the phone and seen him on TV and in People Magazine.  One time, we found four thousand dollars cash in Mr. Austin’s pocket and my dad called him to let him know we had found a large sum (well, a large sum to us) and he could pick it up.  My dad said Mr. Austin said “I’ll send someone for it” and hung up the phone. 

Mr. Powell-  Mr. Powell is a 70 year old man who spray tans.  He is also the nicest person I have ever met in my entire life.  He greets me my name and talks to me about his condominium in California.  Before I left for college, Mr. Powell gave me a hug goodbye.  It’s the simple gestures of kindness that make our world a better place. 

Ms. Brill- Ms. Brill makes a ton of money.  She used to ask me about my rugby team and even donated to our fundraiser once.   Her clothes are really hard to clean, my dad says.  Ms. Brill takes month long trips to China frequently for work and then brings in gigantic dry cleaning orders.  Every time I see her she tells me a story about where she has been and then she asks me about how my life is going.  I think it’s nice that she treats me like an equal even though she makes more money in a week than my family makes in a year. 

Darby Hendrickson-  Mr. Hendrickson used to play for the Minnesota Wild and was my hero when I was growing up.  He came into the cleaners while I was working on my birthday and gave me his autograph.  He laughed at me because I was hyper-ventilating.  Whenever he comes in, he asks me how it’s going and I hyper-ventilate a little more.

Hanstad/Reinke-  Handstad and Reinke are a middle aged couple that pay for their orders separately.  They
are always very impressed when I remember their last names and what kind of starch they like on their shirts. 

Ms. McGannon- Quite possibly the rudest person I have ever met.  She leaves her garbage on our lobby floor.  I throw it away, but man… Some days I just want to put it all in a bag and staple it to her perfectly pressed sweaters. 

Since I started working at the dry cleaners I’ve learned a lot about customer service.  I try my hardest to be polite and friendly to all the customers.  Some customers love having someone to talk to and share things with.  Others are never nice back.  But I still keep doing it in hopes one day they’ll be nice back.  I think one reason our small family business is still alive is because we care a lot about how we treat our customers and we’ve created strong customer/owner relationships.  I like to think that sometimes when a customer comes in and is having a rough day at least I don’t make it worse.  I think that being kind to everyone makes the world run a little smoother.  Sometimes you’re lucky and you get a customer that is just as nice back and appreciates your effort.  Other times you get a Ms. McGannon who leaves her already-been-chewed gum on our counters and expects us to throw it away.  I’m hoping I run into more Mr. Powell’s than Ms. McGannon’s…

Camp With Amy

One thing in life I am really passionate about is helping people.  Over the summer, I volunteered at a camp for kids and adults with mental disabilities.  I worked one-on-one with a woman named Amy who was non-verbal.  At first, I was a little nervous to work with Amy because I didn’t know how I was going to communicate with her and I didn’t know how I could reach out to her.  However, after a couple hours I learned a lot about Amy.  Amy loved to play with one toy at a time.  She would often sit and jiggle or shake the toy.  I really wanted to make a connection with Amy and show her that I was there for her and I wanted to spend time with her.  For a while I sat and watched her because that was all I could do.  Then I went to get a puzzle so that I could keep myself busy while keeping an eye on her.  To my surprise, Amy liked watching me put the puzzle together.  She could really tell that I was creating the picture on the box and she was happy for me!  It was awesome to her to make the connections and smile when I put a new piece on the puzzle!  Amy began to recognize that I was there to help her over the next couple of days.  She would come up to me and grab my hand when we walked from the cabins to the kitchen.  Every morning she would greet me with a hug and a smile.  When it was time to go to bed Amy would look sad but I would tell her I’d see her in the morning.  I felt really proud that I made Amy feel so happy!  Helping her for that week at camp was really rewarding.  She made a big difference in my life and helped me understand how much of a difference I could make.  I was able to make a bond with Amy which was very special to her.  I feel proud knowing that I wasn’t judging her or thinking down on her, I was there to be her friend.  Even though Amy had a mental disability that made it hard for her to connect to people, I was still able to get her to smile!  I think in my future I would like to work with children and adults that have mental disabilities because it is so rewarding. 

Gay Marriage

When I was younger I used to think that gay marriage was wrong.  I thought that gay people shouldn’t be allowed to marry each other just because they weren’t like me and I didn’t understand them.  But When I got to high school, I started thinking about my values and what I stood for.  I think that people who are gay should definitely be allowed to marry each other.  I feel a little guilty knowing that I used to be so ignorant when I thought they shouldn’t be allowed.  To me, a marriage is about love and a commitment to one another.  I think that, gay or straight, any two people can fall in love and agree to commit to one another.  I realize now that people who are gay aren’t choosing to be gay, it’s just the way they are.  Why should we deny them such a basic freedom?  I think banning gay marriage is all based around fear.  It’s something new and different that were finally allowing.   I am happy to say that I do not hold anything against gay people.  One of my closest guy friends who I have known since we were five is gay.  When he told people he was gay, I didn’t think any differently of him.  I was happy for him and excited that he can be himself.  He is one of the most caring friends I have and I can’t imagine anyone taking away his right to love someone.  I understand that a lot of people don’t believe in gay marriage because of the religious values they have and the definition of a marriage.  However, I feel like our world has different values as a whole than we did during the times that those religious values were forged.  I can’t think of one reason why a gay marriage would offend anyone.  It’s not going to hurt anyone.  I really think that our country should stop wasting our time being ignorant and scared and let gay couples marry.  I get so mad hearing that some people are against gay marriage simply because they aren’t gay and they don’t understand.  I am straight, but I was born straight.   I don’t wake up every morning and say to myself “I’m going to be straight”.  Just like gay people don’t say “Yeah, I’d really like to be gay”.  It’s very frustrating to think that people actually think that gay people are choosing to be gay.  It’s just the way we are and we shouldn’t take away someone’s right to be themselves.

Crazy Girl I Have To Live With

Ok, I just need to vent.  There is a girl on our floor who is absolutely nuts.  She might be one of the craziest people I have ever met.  I used to kind of be friends with her, before I realized she was CRAZY.  Anyways, in just a week, she has pretty much made the entire building mad at her.  She came home on a Wednesday night at 11 PM screaming and shouting and crying hysterically because one of her friends wouldn’t let her drive after she had been drinking.  I was really shocked at her behavior because she was acting like a child… or like someone that belongs on a psych ward.  She ended up leaving the dorm anyway, even though she could have really gotten into a mess while driving.  The next morning she told one of the girls on our floor that it wasn’t that big of a deal and everyone makes mistakes and that people shouldn’t be mad at her.  This only made people more upset because she didn’t take responsibility for her actions.  I really think she should have apologized to everyone that she woke up while she was screaming.  Some people got scared because they thought someone was being hurt or something like that.  This girl has caused a lot of drama on our floor and said some really nasty things to people.  I am pretty shocked that someone could act that way and not care what people thought.  I am really surprised that she hasn’t even tried to apologize to anyone about all the things that have gone on.  Just the other night, she sent a girl that lives on our floor a text message that said she was a (explicative deleted) and looked like a man and no guy would ever like her.  I thought that was a little bit over the top.  Especially since the girl she sent it to hadn’t even done anything except try her hardest to stay out of the drama.  My friends and I have been supportive to the girl who received the text message and none of us want to talk to the other girl after what she has done.  I am really hoping she decides to move rooms because she is causing a lot of unnecessary stress to everyone.  I thought that since we were all at college to learn we would drop the whole 8^th grade drama.  But, I guess not.  It’s sad to see the girl treat people the way she is treating people and it upsets me that she is getting away with it.  I am really disappointed in her choices.  It’s been hard to see all the people she has hurt, it’s just not fair.  I hope that she realizes that she has been responsible for a lot of stress and sadness on our floor.  I hope that after the break things will be different and we won’t have to deal with all the ridiculous things that have been going on because of her.  It stresses me out just thinking about it.  I just don’t understand how she can act like she didn’t do anything wrong and blame other people for it.  Some people are just bad people, I guess. 

Visitng Grandma Johnson

Over Thanksgiving break my dad told me that he wanted to drive down to Oklahoma to see my grandma (his mom).  I think I am going to end up going along with him for the short trip because I haven’t seen my grandma in four and a half years.  When I went to visit Oklahoma last time, my grandpa was still alive.  He didn’t remember any of us except for dad sometimes.  It was hard to see him because he didn’t know who we were or what we were doing there.  When I tried talking to him he would talk about my dad and I would have to tell my grandpa that I was Dan’s daughter, his granddaughter.  But he couldn’t comprehend it.  He was very old and wearing down.  It was hard for him to walk.  One morning while we were visiting he came out wearing four shirts because he had forgotten he already got dressed and he kept getting dressed over and over again.  My grandpa really liked showing off though.  At this time, my grandparents were living with my aunt in Oklahoma at her house with 3 dogs.  My grandpa LOVED the dogs.  He would always try to get the dogs to show us tricks.  Several times a day he would show us the tricks because he “had something new to show us!”  He was very excited about it every time.  I was happy seeing my grandpa smile.  But I also felt conflicted because every day was a struggle for him and I felt bad for him.  Over Christmas Break, when I go with my dad to visit my grandma in the nursing home, I think it will be very difficult.  My grandma is now 97 years old.  They say every Thursday she gets her hair done and that makes her perkier, which makes me smile.  But I’m concerned that I will have a hard time visiting her and seeing what she is like.  It will be even harder because my dad and I don’t really talk about our feelings together much, so I’m not sure how the two of us will react. I'm afraid to go but I think it is important that I do go see my grandma.