StreetMeat: Eat, Pray, Love, and Learn.

Flashback

It’s Christmas Eve and there’s a shopping frenzy at Club Monaco. It’s hard to stay in my “zone” which is the front section of the store, when there are so many customers to attend to. Nights spent meticulously making sure items were hung exactly 3 inches apart on the racks, have given way to piled up sweaters, mixed up sizes and…a blazer laying disheveled on the floor! *say it isn’t so* I snap out of it. This elegant lady is waiting for me to match the ruffled and extremely detailed skirt she’s chosen with the “perfect office party blouse.” I’m on it. I power walk to another zone, I know exactly which corner that God damn blouse is hiding in…I freeze at the invisible border I’m forbidden to cross. “Angela, cover me!” Angela covers my zone as I squeeze my way across the crowded store, grab that shirt, and get back in time to match that lady’s skirt with “the perfect office party blouse.” It's her turn to pay at the counter, everything seems to be moving in slow motion for me. From meters away I stand staring like a “friendly” stalker with that retail smile on my face, holding my breath nervously: “So maam who was helping you tonight?” *Please don’t say Henry, please don’t say Henry* “That young lady over there!” She points at me. *Score!* I exhale. Even though she didn’t remember my name, which was recently mistaken for Henry, I still got the sale!

It’s true that working in retail or in a restaurant during your university years, is the shittiest thing your fate can ever bring your way. However, I’d like to think of it as a stepping stone. First of all, I got to dress up in elegant Club Monaco clothes, in order to embody the brand’s image of course. Secondly, I got to put my styling skills to the test with some of the pickiest and snobbiest customers from whom compliments were never generously given. “If you think it’s so perfect, why don’t you buy it?” a man my father’s age tells me while I convince his wife to match her sweater with a gorgeous necklace I thought would look great on her. “Well, other than the fact that I have to stand around here for 10 hours helping ungrateful people like you shop in order to afford this necklace, it doesn’t suit me,” is what I would have liked to say to him. Instead I just smiled. 

 Back to Christmas Eve. The assistant manager is crying her eyes out, there seems to be a receipt crisis, you know one of those cases where a stubborn customer insists on their undeserving rights while being well aware that they are not allowed to exchange their items. It’s Christmas Eve for God’s sake, go have a gingerbreaded candy caned, frosty cinnamoned latte or something. “I don’t even want to be doing this, she complains to me between her tears, I just really need this job if I want to continue in fashion!” yeah, honey. We all have to do things we don’t want to do in order to get to where we want to be, just hang in there, one day your efforts will be rewarded. The night is finally over, I’m tired and anxious to go home to my brother, the only family I have here, and share a Christmas dinner. But wait, the out of breath team is gathered up for a pep talk. “Houry, since you had one of the highest sales tonight you get the Christmas bonus.” *Don’t cry. Please don’t cry. Save the tears of joy for your wedding day* I squeeze that piece of paper in my hand all the way home and it makes everything disappear. The eerie 11pm bus ride home, my heels digging into half a meter of snow, the 15 minute walk in the -15 degree weather and the KFC meal I watch over an episode of Jersey shore with my brother on the first ever Christmas Eve spent away from my family. I had a weird feeling of hope, and reassurance, and couldn't stop smiling like a lunatic having confirmed that the effort we wholeheartedly put into something which we may think is going in vain, is eventually rewarded when we least expect it. How can we ever appreciate good times if we haven’t experienced hard ones?

A day at work 3 years later...

Other than learning the ins and outs of styling, a special asset of mine was highlighted during my time at this part time job. My ability to use my language switching skills to my advantage. I remember my manager being shocked at me speaking Arabic with people from Sudan, then French with French customers and even Armenian with an Armenian shopper! At the end of the day, communicating with someone in their own language gives them a sense of comfort leading them to genuinely trust you.

Mrs. Carrera walks to where Suki is standing on the cocktail bar, and reaches for a magazine. Her eyes follow the older woman's hands as they choose her magazine among others. She mumbles quickly to the waiter, who is dumbfounded by the one-way conversation, then returns to her seat next to her husband. The pr girls stand around quietly until one of them speaks up: “That’s the owner’s wife, she doesn’t speak a word of English.” By owner, she means, the owner of one of the world’s biggest jewelry brands “Carrera y Carrera”(which is pronounced Carrera “ee” Carrera in Spanish and not Carrera “why” Carrera). Soon after, as Suki waits for her colleague to finish interviewing the CEO of the brand, Mrs. Carrera makes her way across the room and sits beside her. Next thing you know, people are awed by the amusing conversation the two of them seem to be having. She was the only non-Spanish person Mrs. Carrera spoke to all day. It was her first time in “grandiosa” Dubai, she had flown in specifically for the store opening. She loved travelling and meeting ambitious women from different countries, she had a Lebanese friend who passed away and she loved her sons and grandkids dearly. 30 minutes and several hors d’oeuvres later, Mr. Carrera joins. With the little Spanish she had managed to learn, Suki was able to carry a conversation with the pleasant elderly couple long enough to have their team offer to show her around Barcelona if she were ever to visit. Her interest in languages led her to write a piece on young mothers and the number of languages their young children could acquire at a young age. The more languages a person speaks, the more perspectives they have in life. Which is why someone who is monolingual is scientifically proven to be a lot more narrow minded than a bilingual or multilingual individual. When you learn a language you also learn to familiarize with the different aspects of its culture. Whether it’s historical or modern. Whether it regards its colonial past or contemporary art scene. “What is Kuwait?” a gorgeous American model asks Suki during their latest photoshoot. “Dear God, do not ask this question to anybody else, for your sake.” You know Kuwait, being the core focus of the Gulf war which American troops were involved in…and also being one of the richest countries in the Gulf. Suki wished the girl had at least used the word “Where.” Speaking of Spanish, the day of President Chavez’ recent passing, Suki suffered from a common editor’s case of O.R.D. or Online Research Delirium, where she spent hours reading about his reign and the future of Venezuela. She wasn’t working on anything related to the topic of course, but she always wanted to know more about the powerful leader. Knowing more isn’t a bad thing when you’re working in this field; this is how you assert yourself in the industry, especially if you want to be taken seriously by the older more established journalists. Interesting small talk is the equivalent of a catchy headline, it’s using a few words or sentences to grab someone’s attention and make them want to return to you for a deeper conversation or exchange of thoughts. When I say someone, I mean, established people who otherwise wouldn’t give you the time of day. Especially if you’re a 24 year old fashion forward magazine editor who looks like a little girl. People judge, it’s natural.

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Suki hardly has time to admire the view from her hotel room; or the tv built into the wall above the bathtub. She quickly rushes down to meet the other journalists at chef Gordon Ramsay’s signature restaurant. She was in town for the opening of one of the region’s most high end dining venues: Culinary travel, her ultimate joie de vivre. “You know you’re the only luxury lifestyle magazine invited on this trip,” the pr girl expresses her fondness of the publication that's quickly gaining momentum. Suki sits on a table of 6 including journalists, and representatives of the luxury hotel itself. Not only am I the only lifestyle magazine, but I’m also the only girl and the youngest journalist to be more specific, she thinks to herself. Wait, did she just call herself a journalist? I like the sound of that.Quickly she notices that the table is divided into Arab and non Arab sides, herself being on the Arab side although she worked for an English publication. She then learns of the western journalists’ tendency to belittle Arab journalists. One of the Arab journalists had gotten sick right before the trip and was a no-show, and the other one was forbidden to enter the country due to the travel documents he had inherited upon birth. Suki was alone in this battle. Although she isn't of Arab origin herself, it would have been too complicated to explain how she had ended up on that side. Regardless, she always had a strong drive to fight for injustice and disprove unfair misconceptions no matter who the victim was, but her weapon of choice was knowledge. Sitting in front of her were 4 targets: An older British journalist from a culinary publication, another British journalist from a financial newspaper, a French reporter from a famous fashion tv channel and a British publicist. They move on to the restaurant to meet all the big people and conduct their interviews.She meets and converses individually with the general manager of the restaurant, the global CEO and the operations manager.
*2 hours later*
“This girl definitely works in fashion.” They all turn their heads to admire Suki’s daring outfit as they leave the venue and she enters.

Amongst the crowd of photographers she spots the general manager who pulls her towards him for a picture. Throughout the night he not only watches over the opening of his restaurant, but makes sure Suki’s having a good time. The operations manager comes by and gives her a tour,as she greets the CEO she met earlier in the day. She makes her rounds and notices all the eyes following her every step from head to toe. Her retro clown pants, color blocked tweed jacket, fur scarf, red lips and straight bangs had managed to make a statement much to her surprise. It was unexpectedly cold outside so she literally had to put on every item she had brought along. Like a mismatched collage....She then befriends the French reporter’s wife with whom she lingers around the kitchen trying the chef’s creations before they leave the kitchen.  

Turns out their daughter studies in Montreal. Score. She also studied in Canada. A point of reference=familiarity=more respect. She eventually lures the rest of the journalists into her circle thanks to her charm, interesting conversations and their intake of alcoholic beverages.By the end of the night she's won them all over except for one who refuses to budge and crack a friendly smile. At the heart of prejudice lie two concepts: ignorance and fear. Come to think of it, in any certain social environment we as human beings are like ducklings who follow one another with a mother duck leading the pack. No duckling wants to be left out and go off on its own. *Do not think of the live duck station* Eventually, having noticed the positive impression Suki had made on the whole group, that one stubborn individual caved in. 

I leave you with one of my favorite passages from Charlie Chaplin, in The Great Dictator: 

"Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost..."