Eager and Anxious
The arduous and time consuming work of planning, building, and preparing is drawing to a close with Grand Opening Day becoming ever more real, and my heart is overwhelmed by paradoxical emotions. On one hand, I am proud of the great work we have accomplished and am eager to finally fling the doors open and begin serving customers. On the other hand, my anxiety and fears are growing as we enter a new phase of the business. I have short term memory problems, Auditory Processing Disorder, hypersensitive hearing to loud sounds, and I struggle with multi-tasking. The next phase of the business is the day to day work.
I fear that my disabilities are going to most impact me when I am working at Buckaroos. The noise, the multi-tasking, the speed at which I need to get things done churns my stomach.
Auditory Processing Disorder can be crippling in some settings.
My parents used to own a restaurant in an Airport in Montrose, JetWay Cafe, and I worked there on Saturdays, which were pretty busy days. I never understood how anyone could work in the kitchen. In the kitchen you had several different orders, each order had several food items you had to make, each item had several ingredients, and each ingredient had to be prepared in a certain way. You would have to keep track of which item went with which order. I believed and still believe that you must be a genius to be able to work in a restaurant kitchen.
I’m an extrovert and will most likely work at the register, but that’s a whole other beast that paralyzes me. At Jetway, I was so impressed by the employees who manned the cash registers. Noises came from alarms, hood fans, fridge and freezer motors, food being made, and people. In the midst of this the cash register person would need to get a customers order, use the register to record the purchase, take a customer’s money, make change, get the order to the kitchen, and take orders done by the kitchen and find the right customer.
The setting and way I am taught makes a huge difference in how I can succeed.
My Dad and Mom were, and still are, heroes to me. They had to do all that and hire, train, and manage employees. Learn and enforce food safety laws and codes. Create budgets, calculate food costs, and set up vendors to buy products from.
All of this terrifies me about Buckaroos. Yet at Buckaroos there is hope. At Buckaroos, my Mom has set it up in a way that maximizes my gifts and the gifts of those who struggle like I do. At Buckaroos my Mom has placed safeguards to minimize my burdens and the burdens others might carry. At Buckaroos I’m part of a team that looks out for me and for people who might struggle as I do.
At this time I’m equal parts eager to get Buckaroos opened and equally anxious about it. I love Bob Ross’s quote of “There are no mistakes, just happy little accidents”. At Buckaroos there are no mistakes, just happy little accidents. Though still anxious I’m eager to get Buckaroos opened and to start serving customers and fulfilling our mission of “Pizza with a Purpose, for People with Potential.”
Happy Accidents!