First Day on the job, a social outing, and creepy window washers.

I started work at Soup Etc! today. It was quite a lot of fun! I got to taste all nine of the soups we were serving today... it's actually sort of a job requirement. We have to check to make sure the soup's are hot enough before serving them... so this means either standing over each pot of soup with a thermometer and waiting, or just tasting them and saying "Yup, they're hot". I much prefer this extremely scientific method. I was quite impressed with all of the different soups. I love the free food... and good free food at that! Yeah!
Today I worked from 10-6, but once I am fully trained, I'll be working from 8am to 4pm Monday through Friday. Although I still don't know exactly what my hourly wage is (how bad is that? I just couldn't bring myself to ask), my boss told me today that once I am trained and get into the position full swing, my rate of pay would get bumped up since I would be considered the shift supervisor (because I'm the daytime staff person). Sweet!
Being at the mall is actually a fun place to work... especially if you're someone who loves to watch people (and I do). Today's highlight was the middle-aged lady who was running (the just beyond skipping kind of running) through the food court flapping her hands in the air. At first I thought she was trying to flag down a friend, but nope, she just kept running... she almost looked as though she was trying to fly. She looked happy all the while, it wasn't as if she was running away from something out of fear. Quite interesting. I expect that working at the mall will be quite entertaining.
Both my boss and the other staff member that I worked with today were really nice. They even invited me out with them after work along with 3 other girls who work at different Soup Etc! locations. It was fun to hang out with a group of girls my age and I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know each of them a little bit and I look forward to the ways that God will use these developing relationships with coworkers in cool and exciting ways.
When we left tonight, Lindsay gave me directions from where we were to where I needed to be to get in the direction heading home. She told me to lock my doors since I had to go up to Main St./Hastings (AKA - the shadiest part of the city). I'm kinda glad I did have my doors locked. A man who was trying to make money washing people's windows (formerly they would have been called "squeegee boys" but I don't feel the title exactly fits since A. - he was a grown man and B. - he didn't even actually have a squeegee, just a rag and a spray bottle) walked in front of my car and asked using gestures if he could wash my windows. I firmly shook my head "No", but he continued to insist, until finally he just started washing my window (this is all while at a red light... it felt like the longest red light ever, although I'm sure it wasn't really, it just seemed that way). I tried inching my car forward a bit, and indicating to him using gestures and head shakes (cause there was NO WAY ON EARTH I was about to open my window at that point) that I had no money (True... $0 cash in my wallet) and I did not require his services. He still didn't get the hint, but the light turned green so I was GONE! Ay ay ay... After that I took a nice drive around the city in the dark (took a wrong tun somewhere), but made it home safe in the end. The lesson I learned... I should avoid the downtown eastside after dark, especially if I'm alone (not that I was planning to hang out down there at night to begin with). It's pretty creepy at night in that area.