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lesson 14
                                            My First Job-The Maid
I was studying theater at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and feeling anxious and uncertain about my future. Will I be able to support myself? I wondered. That summer, I decided to if I could get out on my own.

Two girlfriends and I piled into a car and headed to Aspen, Colo., where I found a job as a maid at a resort hotel. I don’t remember what I earned, but it was so little that I lived on spaghetti, brown rice and Kool-Aid.

I was at the hotel by six o’clock every morning to help with continental breakfast. When breakfast was finished, I cleaned the room where it was served and then the conference rooms and lobby rest rooms. I had never been in a men’s room before, and I was always terrified of someone walking in while I was on my knees scrubbing the floors and toilets.

I came from an upper-middle-class background, and my parents’ friends always treated me well. But now that I was a servant, I found that many of the guests of the same background were not so nice. That was a shock.

People were supposed to serve themselves at the continental breakfast; it was my job to circulate through the room and replenish coffee and juice. But some people wanted me to do everything for them. I remember one man who kept ordering me to get his food and demanding things we did not serve. He was also very critical. Even though I wanted to say, “Go, get it yourself,” I knew it was my job to be quiet and do in a nice way whatever I was told. So I’d take a deep breath and somehow get what he wanted.

Still, I’ve never forgotten how it felt to be spoken to so rudely.Today,whenever I am in a cab or being waited on, I always try to be as considerate as possible. Service-industry jobs are not easy, and they’re even harder when people treat you like dirt.

My first job also helped me achieve more confidence. After that summer I realized that what I had been afraid of in acting was failure. I now knew what the worst thing would be if I failed at it without really trying. I decided to give it all my energy. If I failed, at least I would always know that I had done my best.