fired

I've only been fired from one job in my life. Which, in my opinion, is one too many. I've always considered being fired an embarassment, and belived (somewhat naively) that people only get fired if they're not doing their job. And I was doing my job. I was doing exactly what I was supposed to, but still got canned. On my second day . And was fired by my own mother. Because I was doing my job too well. Now, that just doesn't make any sense to me.

I had just graduated from college, and had a few months before I started grad school, so I moved home for the summer. (Because I had nowhere else to go, and my parents weren't going to charge me rent.) I was spending most of my days playing with Cooper, reading, being lazy, and recovering from my treacherous senior year. So my mom decided to put me to work. Which was fine with me, because I was broke and she was going to pay me. And all I had to do was keep her from eating junk food. See, my mom is a sucker for anything sweet, and after having six kids, she's no longer the size 2 she used to be. So she decided it was time to get back in shape, and since I had nothing else to occupy my time, I helped her out.

Things were working out pretty well for a while. I got to eat all of the junk food in the house (so it wouldn't be there to tempt her) and was getting paid for it. Honestly, what more could I ask for? Not much. On the second day, however, just as we were finishing dinner, I saw her heading straight for the last piece of cake. Now, my mother has very few weaknesses, but that cake is one of them. And I can't blame her. Who wouldn't love homemade vanilla cake with a layer of raspberry filling and sweet buttercream frosting? But I couldn't let her eat it. This was my chance to prove to her that I'm the best little worker bee she's ever hired. So I grabbed the plate at the same time she did, and pulled it away from her.

Give that back to me!

Sorry, Mom. I can't do that. I'm just doing my job.

Well, I don't want you to do your job anymore. You're fired!

Well, that's fine with me. But I'm still not letting you eat this cake.

So I grabbed the cake off of the plate, squished it in my hands, and dumped it down the sink. Did she really think I'd just back down? She's the one who taught me to never, ever give up. Honestly, this is the woman who refused to shorten her running route, even after she fell into a pile of wet cement. She should have known better than to think any child of hers would give up just because she was fired. Yeah, right. Sorry, Mom, but that's not how I was raised.