the weekend/work ethic

I don't know why this is, but I can't sleep right now. You'd think I'd be exhausted after work/church/Sundays. But yeah, I can't seem to fall asleep.
I just remembered I'm supposed to have breakfast with Kristin in the morning...

So this weekend was pretty good. On Friday night Matt bought me an espresso machine (the one I've always wanted. I think that is really sweet because he hates coffee and will probably never use it).
On Saturday we worked on our ongoing construction project, a bookcase. We have finished cutting, sanding, drilling etc. Now all we have to do is assemble the frame and stain everything. It actually looks really nice. We built it out of plywood and iron-on veneer, but you could never tell by looking at it. With the veneer the whole thing looks like solid wood. It's pretty and way less expensive (but all that ironing was a pain).
That afternoon we went shopping and spent all of the gift cards Matt had in his wallet. He bought me a foot spa when we went to Macy's (hooray! You have no idea how great those feel after working on your feet all day. I just tried it out and it was pretty sweet). I don't even remember all the stuff that we got, but there was music, clothes, kitchen stuff, power tools, books and cleaning supplies before we were done.
I got this cool cookbook. It's from cooking light and it has a bunch of 20-minute meals. My mom gets the cooking light magazine and really likes it so I figured I'd try it out. Matt and I picked out some stuff we wanted to try and on Saturday night went grocery shopping for the whole week. We have literally done that twice in the entire 6+ months we've been dating (not grocery shopping, just planning ahead and shopping for more than one meal at a time). Anyway I figure we'll save money and eat better if we plan ahead.
I'm sure that stuff is really boring to read... but I don't really have anything else to blog about at the moment.

Oh, here is something. This occurrence happened at work today. Jeremy was there for it. I was on the floor with two other people and Jeremy was on a break, so he was in the back room. One of my coworkers was on the bar. They are still a little slow at times, so we try to give them practice when there's not a long line or anything. Early Sunday mornings are usually not bad, so they were hanging out over there and I was ringing people up. I started to notice the lines getting longer and longer, and my coworker seemed to be getting more and more overwhelmed. So finally, at a point when it made sense, I asked them to switch places with me, hoping we could through the line a little faster.
I got over on bar and started throwing out drinks, and right about then Jeremy came back from his break. One of our regulars was standing there next to the bar (he is usually a really nice guy). Anyway, he saw me there and made some comment to the effect of, "Oh, so you switched to get someone fast over here!" He was smiling, and so I think he thought it was a joke, but I thought it was a little rude, especially since it was said loud enough for my coworker to hear. Then he caught sight of Jeremy and said, "Oh, it's cause Jeremy's on the floor now. Hey Jeremy, they were all sleeping back there until you came out!"
Now, this guy is usually pretty friendly, so I think it might have been one of those foot-in-mouth comments, for which I have sympathy (I have those moments quite often myself). But for some reason it bothered me a little more than the usual difficult customer. I think it is because that comment kind of implies that my coworkers and I don't take pride in our jobs and want to perform to the best of our ability. Also, I hoped at the moment that it happened that my coworker didn't overhear this man's comments. If they did, they didn't show any sign of it, but I made a mental note to try and encourage them later... of course by the time I had a chance to, I forgot (until right now).
Anyway. It was just one of those little things that I found myself thinking about later. My personal opinion is that your work ethic is an issue of integrity. You are getting paid to do a job to the best of your ability. No one else but you is going to know whether or not you are doing your best. I personally like to think of Colossians 3:23 (Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men). My parents used to quote that verse to me a lot, and it is one of the few I have memorized.
This might sound lame and cheesy, but I like to think that whatever I do (from painting houses to cleaning toilets to making coffee), God is pleased when I do it with the right heart.
And in addition to that, your level of integrity makes an impact on the people around you: those you serve, your coworkers, your boss, etc. A person with high moral standards, a positive attitude, and a great work ethic is the kind of person anyone would want to work with. And it spurs everyone around you to higher quality work.
At least, that is my experience, and I am not just talking at Starbucks... although I have not had many other jobs. The mistake I made at the first one was to not hold myself to a high standard, and I after I learned that lesson I have tried not to repeat it...
Anyway. Those are just my thoughts for today. Hopefully it wasn't too boring.