Their are to many stoopid people in this world

and I work for them for minimum wage. A stapled packet was forced into my face this afternoon. I packet I was supposed to read and sign. Two directions: 1. Read and 2. Sign. I read it, I mocked it, I circled all the grammatical errors (wrong "their", comma splices, using "than" when she meant "then") and then I begrudgingly signed their (not THEY'RE) list of server conduct. I am to greet the table within one minute of being seated (fine, unless I am in the middle of taking an order for my table of 10). I am to suggest appetizers, by name, as well as drinks, particularly expensive brands (fine, except at 11:30am few people are drinking). I am to suggest cheese and bacon on potato wedges and extra sides of ranch and bleu cheese and celery. I am to suggest two desserts, by name.

Somewhere in that packet I believe I signed away my soul to corporate America and in return I get all the free pop I can handle. Except when I'm working, because we can't have drinks while we're working.

There's a whiteboard in the backroom. Every day a new rule is written, then erased, then typed and tacked into the corkboard. Signs that tell us days we cannot request off. Days like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. I didn't think about requesting these off early. I didn't think I'd still be there by the time there was snow on the ground. I really believed this.

I also believed I might somehow luck out if I showed up at MSU in a suit coat with a resume and a cover letter that honestly describes the happiness I derive from teaching composition. Maybe there was need for one more adjunct. Someone to teach a less desirable course in New Ulm, or worse.

I hoped this customized training for SCC would lead to full time possibilities. So far I have researched and designed and met with Mr. Coordinator and graded grammar exams, but I can only wait and hope people will sign up for my three hour course.

What good is knowing the difference between "there" and "their" and "they're" if you can't use that knowledge? So what if I am two years older than my manager who spends his mornings over electronic word games? Games where I see the words faster than him when I look up from wiping down tables? What good is knowing there are better things out there if I can't ever have them?

I'm tired. Of being dumb and disposable. Of signing grammatically incorrect memos telling me to upsell shitty food. Of explaining to other servers that "yes, Rosa Parks did die" and to others, when they question her importance, who Rosa Parks was. I'm ready to be smart again; I think my brain has missed me.