The other day, I was taking "first round" drink orders for a couple of ladies who were obviously meeting for the first time in a while; the term for whom, in server language, is "campers." I understand completely the reasoning behind this phenomenon of sitting and nursing a bottle of wine for hours on end while enjoying each others' company. I, myself, have been known to chat it up with a friend with whom I haven't spoken for a while. Everyone needs to catch up now and then, so although I know the table is not going to turn very quickly, I try to tap into some sense of human compassion for the neglected friendship in front of me and just secretly hope they ask me to keep the drinks coming. In this particular instance, my empathy flowed a bit more freely as it wasn't my table to turn anyway. I was taking the drink order to help out a fellow server in distress, who was, at that moment, otherwise engaged by an elderly couple, obviously tourists from another country, yet terribly excited to try out their limited English on a sweet, young American waitress.
As I was jotting down the name of the wine the ladies in front of me had chosen, one of them mentioned that she always writes better on her thesis when she'd had a couple glasses. Trying to be polite, I asked what her thesis was about, and she went into a long, detailed explanation of her MBA thesis on the effect of Platonic relationships when dealing with employee retention in the workplace. Right before I began to tune out her words and just smile dumbly, nodding my head in pretended interest, I actually asked what she had found out thus far. I don't know what possessed me to encourage the conversation. Maybe I was just tired, causing my normal defenses to weaken. The thesis writer went on to explain that she was frustrated as her findings were proving to be inconclusive. Apparently, 50% of people participating in the survey said they would stay if offered more money at a different job because of the positive relationships they had at their current job. The other 50% said they would leave if offered more money in spite of having positive relationships at their current workplace. The same, she said, was true of companies offering professional development for their employees. As I processed what she had been rambling on about, I was actually pretty surprised. I would have thought that relationships, positive or negative, would have played a much bigger role in retention.
It got me thinking about why I would stay in a job. As an actor, I often have to just take a job in order to make financial ends meet while I pursue what I really want to do. At the same time, the schedule has to be flexible enough for me to be able to go on auditions, go to shoots, be at rehearsal, etc. In the profession, we call them "survival" jobs. The name itself is a bit depressing. Who wants to go through life merely surviving? Artists, especially, are known for saying they want to make a difference in the world through what they do. How do we end up, then, getting ourselves caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, forgetting or becoming disillusioned by the seeming impossibility of actually doing what it was we dreamed of doing in the first place? Well, we could just do it, but then we'd be homeless, hungry, and in the middle of a subway car with a purple drum and a monotone chant about a way to make ends meet until we get back on our feet (those who take the N or Q trains on a regular basis get my meaning here).
We get caught up in the corporate world because that seems to be the only way left for us to survive in this economy, in this culture, in this life. There seems to be a whole generation of folk, and I most definitely include myself, floundering around, trying to figure out what the heck they're doing here. Something innately tells us that a liberal arts education is valid and important, but somehow we have lost the practicality of it in the midst of our ideals. Concepts are hard to turn into pragmatism for many. Not for all, but it is rare for me personally to meet someone who is adept at marrying the two. We (by We I mean those around 25-35) are drifting around, fully cognizant that we have all this knowledge of art, history, literature, philosophy, and the like, but not really sure how to apply it to a world that is on the one hand shrinking faster and faster every year, and on the other, spreading further and further apart, particularly financially.
I have no answer for this dilemma, I wish I did. Or maybe I should just take the advice of every inspirational acting coach in the universe and decide, "Don't think, DO."
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