Nicole D'Onofrio: Work like you MEAN it!

Yesterday was probably my longest day of work, ever. At the start of the morning, I had hardly any sleep and did not know how I would get through the day. I guess for a moment I thought, Woe is me.

I woke up at 6am, got ready and got to my first job at 8:30am. I have always found though, that if you put happiness and energy into your work, it goes by faster and you get more out of it. I put my all into it and made many children laugh and smile, as I taught them music. I was exhausted though, so I went to Starbucks to get a coffee. While I was there, a barista saw my shirt and asked me what I do for work. I told him I taught music throughout NJ, but was teaching in this town, just for today. He soon introduced me to another barista, who got a degree in teaching music but was working at Starbucks. He talked to me for a little while and asked if my job was hiring. It was so interesting to me to see this young man putting so much happiness and energy into making coffee for people, but to know he had even more knowledge than me with music.

I then went to the grocery store to pick up some groceries. While I was there, impatiently waiting for it to be my turn to ring up my items, I noticed a woman in my line yelling at the cashier. His hands were trembling, as he counted the change. She made him feel so stupid and he had tears in his eyes. He was just my age and it killed me to see that. When I rung up my stuff, I smiled and made sure to ask how he was and be friendly. It tore my heart to see that he was just trying and this lady brought him down. Maybe being a cashier isn't his forte, but I am sure many other things are. As I was leaving, I noticed a lady who was putting food on the shelves was actually a lady who used to clean the bathrooms at my college. I used to say hi to her every morning. It amazed me that she also worked at shoprite.

When I got home, I spent the day writing out a three hour lesson for the older kids that I teach acting to. I then went and taught acting till 8pm. I had another job to go to but the parents of the children I taught were talking to me and asking about their kids. Even though I felt stressed and nervous about being late to the next job, I listened intently and gave them honest feedback about their children.

I then went to babysit from 8:30pm till 11:30pm for a family whom I had never babysat before. The kids were amazing and so fun to babysit. I taught them some fun acting stuff and we watched a movie and it was great.

People say to me, how can you work so much? I can because I love what I do. I can because I have a dream. I can because I feel so lucky that God has sent the right people in my life and given me amazing opportunities. I can because I want to make people smile and feel that my jobs allow me to do that. At the end of the day though, looking at the people I encountered, I don't feel that I have it bad at all or work any harder than others.

As I fall asleep in bed, I analyze my hopes and dreams and always think, how can I work harder, what can I do more of? I was blessed with amazing parents who would help me with anything, but I want to survive on my own and take responsibility for my life. I've learned money doesn't grow on trees, but I have also learned, you should never put yourself in a job where you aren't gaining any knowledge or happiness from it.

Life has made me look at jobs in a whole new way. I think growing up, I just thought people were like mannequins, just posted in a position at a job, like it was their home. Now I realize people have lives and work hard every day, even if it seems to be the smallest job. I think it is so important to acknowledge the people at jobs as people, because we are all just trying to survive in this big, big world.

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”