Place of Mind

One picture, one person, and one color. In such little time this picture has come to have so much meaning to me, yet for others it might seem meaningless. I see these kinds of events everyday and I can put myself directly in the shoes of the person who is walking to help a customer. In fact, I am extremely close to the person in this picture and I know how much he works his butt off to pay for his tuition and help out his family. However, can I see how this photo shows his dedication and motivation to work or can I just see this because I know more than what meets the eye? I see this view from the portillos drive- thru multiple times a week. I can hear the rain bouncing off of cars onto the pavement, the noise of the rain hitting the rain jackets, and the noise of the cars driving down 95th. The person in the photo immediately caught my attention after looking deeper into the photo. To me, the photo expresses his tiredness from taking all those cars yet he's still pushing on to help some more customers out. To others it may mean/seem different and that’s the beauty in photos. My co-worker is working hard to push on throughout the rainy day at work day. I feel the pain his feet are going through and the ache of wanting to count down and go home. Despite this, we push on and get through the day as best as we can have the occasional customer or coworker come to brighten our day. When I am going through a work day like this I have learned to look for the best in the situation because others have it worse.

The next two pictures could seem to have no correlation and that could seem to be true, however, in my mind I can see a connection between them. The first photo depicts one of my coworkers taking an order and to some people this seems bizarre that he is outside taking the orders through the drive-thru, however, this is like second nature to me. This view is so common to me and I see it every time I go to work. However, what I sometimes fail to see that I was able to capture in this photo is the view of the sky. At work, it is so easy to get frustrated with rude customers and sometimes let it affect the rest of my day. Sometimes the sight of the sky allows for a moment of a readjustment and to recenter myself. The next picture on the right below, this picture holds so much frustration. This is a sign at the end of the drive- thru that indicates there are two lines customers can pull into for their order to be taken. However, almost everyone that comes through the drive-thru is oblivious to this sign. Something so obvious to me is irrelevant to others and they fail to see it. It proves the cliche saying of “monkey see, monkey do”. As I replace myself in both of these pictures I realize I have learned how to maintain a certain level of patience and understanding for others.

I consider this following picture to be extremely inquisitive. I see this little red box everyday I work, I have never stepped back to actually examine what it was. I never noticed the tiny streaks that run throughout the metal box. This photograph holds a strong studium element meanwhile the punctum is hard to discover. This photo made me realize I should stop over looking things around me because if you zoom really close onto the drive thru sign you are able to see the name “Anthony Rojas” carved into which is my brothers name. I would have never known that was there if it wasn’t for this photograph, this left me wondering: would I have ever seen it if it wasn’t for this? My brother was the one who introduced me to working at Portillos through blackmail because I owed him money for some concert tickets. I was extremely mad at him in the past for making me work there but I am forever grateful for it because I have managed to form a little portillos family of friends that I have found within my coworkers.

The final two photographs were taken of something that is completely strange to anyone that does not work at Portillos. This is a picture of what we call “the line”. This is the location where everyone comes together to get all the food out. Everyone here works as a team and if not no one would get all of their food. After, looking back at this photo I realized just how many things I fail to see. I fail to see how spotless the line looks just after a hard day of rocking (we saw we’re rocking when we have a long line) and how almost empty it looks without everyone there. During the day there is always more than one person in sight in this part of the restaurant, which is visible through the bottom picture. However, in the top picture you can see there is only one person who has to do everything. It just allowed me to see and reinforce the fact of everyone's motivation levels. I also learned that I actually have no idea what the name of the man in the picture is. Does this make me a bad co-worker? To outsiders that answer would be yes. However, it is a no from me. The fact that I do not know his name tells me that he is newly hired. After working at Portillos for two years I have grown connections with so many of the people there. There is not a day when I work that I walk in and no one says hi to me or asks how my day is. Everyday I walk into work I am greeted with “Hola guerra, como estas?” by the sweetest coworkers who treat you like a family member once they grow comfortable with you. Portillos has a mix of older workers in the morning and younger ones during the day, both of whom are predominantly mexican. The older workers make my heart melt when we have conversations because they treat me like I've been a part of their family our whole lives. There’s a certain vibe and level of relationship from everyone working there that makes it hard for me to leave. Throughout my two years there I have received opportunities for other jobs however until I get my lifelong job or an internship I simply cannot find myself leaving my work family. Just like my blood family has shaped me into who I am today, my work family helps in molding me into ways I would have never expected.