The Thespian

Okay, so lent ended with a bang!! Let's just say that as much pride as Chris felt on Saturday morning, he felt the equal amount of shame and stomach pains on Sunday morning.

So, yet again I've quit my job, and I've decided that I need to go into business for myself, because it has been pointed out to me that most of my problems are related to working under people; well, that's not entirely true, some of my bosses I have absolutely adored; either way, I've officially started my own business, which should give me more time to blog too.

So, my last job was in a retail setting, it wasn't so much sales focused, but I worked with the public a lot. And I think I've mentioned before that I really don't like the general public. Now, I like to think I'm a nice person, and I generally try to see the good in people, but some people make that very hard. Throughout my experience working with the general public I've had numerous unfortunate encounters with people that were such oblivious a-holes, that i couldn't believe they existed outside of fiction.

One such person that comes to mind right away was an individual I had the pleasure of meeting in a past work setting. Let me ask you this: have you ever met someone who's grown up being told their gifted, and their now grown up, and really haven't amounted to much, but they still act like the world is their oyster, and they simply have yet to crack it? Pretty annoying right? Specifically, how about someone who's grown up being told they're a gifted performer? ...ooo, did you just get a shiver? So much worse, right?

This story takes place at a time when I was working in another retail environment. I was privy to the background of this woman, who I will refer to as The Thespian, before I ever met her face to face. My coworkers were discussing how she, a former employee, would be coming back to work, after spending the winter at theatre school. This particular theatre school, mind you, is located in a city that is often referred to as the "Armpit of Ontario" (not exactly the cultural hub of the Western hemisphere).

On the day she arrived, she pirouetted into the store and capped it off with a grand plie. All of my coworkers rushed over in a round applause; and I decided, right there, that I would not give her the satisfaction of acknowledging her theatrics, I would just quietly observe, and take my frustration out later in blog form.

As she flounced about the store, loudly humming, what I believe was, the score from Les Mis., everything she said had something to do with theatre, or her upcoming play: some of my favourite quotes were "sigh this skirt would be perfect for the role of Asreal...Oh my, you know you're in theatre when!", "This is the kind of shirt I would love to wear out one night, if I didn't have rehearsal the next morning"

Then listening in on the conversation between my coworkers and The Thespian I heard things like, "Well I would have gone to X Theatre School, but they only study acting, and, as you know, I am a triple threat- that means singer, dancer, and actor by the way; I just couldn't neglect my craft by limiting myself"

When one of my coworkers asked her how long her upcoming play would be running, she said "June 22-24"...Now, I remember being in my 7th grade school play ("Canadian Pop") that had a run of at least 4 days, including 2 matinee performances!!

My favourite part was when she demystified the theatre for us, by letting us in on a bit of insider information: "Now, I play Asreal's mother, so a little trick we use in the theatre is different levels, or "risers" as we call them, to make me appear taller; then the audience interprets this as me being older...occasionally, in the theatre, performers also use image altering cosmetics". I know what you're thinking: how dare she take the magic out of the theatre for us lay people, what gives her the right to disenchant us with such a raw backstage look?!

I lasted a couple more hours at that job, but in the end I couldn't fold t-shirts next to a fully grown woman doing jazz squares.


xoxox,
m