Incoherent Scribblings

Fear of the Bavarian Grandma

Today I was over at the bakery across the street and I noticed that they had a “help wanted” sign in the window for someone to work behind the counter selling bread.

I have never worked in a bakery and really have no desire to do so, but after I came home I couldn’t help but think a little bit about whether or not I should apply. After all, it would be close to home and if I was desperate for money or something to do, it would definitely be an option.

True, I’m no baker, but I am pretty well-versed in customer service occupations. I used to be a waitress. I worked for a short while in a clothing shop at the mall. And, of course, I worked at the reference desk at the library. (Which, contrary to stereotypical beliefs, reference librarians are very customer service-oriented people.)

However, despite my customer service experience and the fact that I finally speak German well enough to usually understand and be understood, I am reluctant to work in a customer service-oriented job in Germany.

I am sure many of you think it should be no big thing. After all, customer service often seems like an oxymoron here in Germany. However, though theoretically I could work in a bakery, truthfully the thought of it makes me more than a little afraid. It isn’t working with Germans that worries me. What terrifies me, is working for little old ladies with Bavarian accents.

I have stood in line behind these women when I am at the bakery. I have stood there while they complained about the price of bread, the evilness of the Euro, and a host of other things that I didn’t really understand. When I try to picture myself on the other side of the counter nodding in the affirmative to something that I didn’t quite understand when I should have nodded in the negative and feeling the repercussions of it, my knees get weak.

I think of the sharp tongue that my mother-in-law isn’t afraid to let loose on someone who has somehow offended her and I remember the day that a little old lady had a fit at the butcher’s when the same cut of meat without bones was more expensive than that with bones.

That sort of punishment was difficult enough to deal with in my own language and culture. I just don’t think that my self-confidence or language skills could take it in a language that I still struggle with on a daily basis.

May Goals

After much contemplating, some calculations, and a small reorganization of my stash, (I think it is librarian-thing… I always reorganize things when I start thinking!) I have come up with my May goals.

First is to continue my “running goal” and stitch a minimum of 90 minutes each day. My calculations indicate that comes out to a minimum of 46.5 stitching hours in May.

Second is to work on one of my WIPs. Luckily, I don’t have too many WIPs (currently three), but they are large and two of them have been a bit neglected lately. As I mentioned yesterday, “Stiefmütterchen” will be put away for a while and “Stitcher’s Sampler” is not really screaming at me at the moment, so I doubt I will work on it in May.

However, “Passing Admirers” is screaming at me. In fact, I have already stitched on it for two hours today and hope that I can stitch another hour or so before bed tonight. Since I feel like I might finally get into a stitching groove with this piece, I have decided it will be the one that I build my goals around in May. I would like to stitch on it between 15 and 20 of my 46.5 stitching hours. Currently, I’m not sure if I will do all of the hours in one rotation or divide them up into two. We’ll see.

I also have a round robin piece (my EMS RR) that will need to be posted at the beginning of June. Therefore, my third goal for the month of May is to stitch my EMS RR square. The theme is “Stoney Creek Cats” and I think I have finally decided on which cats to include. Now I just have to make up my mind about which one I want to stitch. I like them all, but am currently torn between stitching a cat with pansies (I know… MORE pansies?!) and one with hummingbirds. The one with hummingbirds is a Siamese cat and I am quite fond of Siamese kitties, so I am leaning a little more toward it than the other at the moment… But I have been known to change my mind occasionally!
And finally, I will start a new (albeit small) project! And that will be Ellen Maurer-Stroh’s “Kitten Baby.” I have all the materials for it and might actually kit it up. I normally don’t kit things up, but I really want to do this pattern and I feel that if it is all ready to go when I get to that point in my rotation, it will give me an incentive to do it instead of being tempted to start something completely different!
Though I am working on “Passing Admirers” right now, I am not exactly sure in what order I will do all of the things on my goal list. After all, it is a “screaming rotation,” so I guess I will wait and see what calls to me!