Chapter 4. Chicken Nacho and Black Bean Burrito

 Chapter 4

As referred to in last blog, my co worker, Tiffany and I somehow came to be known as Chicken Nacho (Me) and Black Bean Burrito (her). It's not that we were called that all the time, but we laughed about this often, saying it would become a book about us. Well, here we are, not in a book, but on a blog.  
 so many stories have occurred between the 2 of us in our working days, that she deserved her own page.  We have laughed so hard we couldn't talk at times. 
  As I said, we work like clockwork together and don't have to say a whole lot to accomplish all our tasks. She is a strong, determined, funny, confident woman I admire. She is my friend. Here are some of our silly stories:
   
The Running Man: Tiffany will often break out in a dance move. I, on the other hand, will not be found doing that. However, when Tiffany and I have no one around, I will get silly and do a little jig at times. One day, Tiffany said "Let's do the running man". You know what I mean...the dance the running man. She did it smoothly and effortlessly. Then it came to be my turn. For the life of me, I could not accomplish it. Every time I tried, I began to look like a person jogging in an awkward state. I simply could not do it. No matter how many efforts I have given it, I fail. But it has become hysterical. Tiffany will say "For a runner, Rachael, you really should be able to do this dance move." She has tried on more than one occasion to teach me some dance moves, but we have decided it's just not going to happen. I will be the whitest white girl when it comes to dancing. She laughs any time this story surfaces

Black v. White: Tiffany is black, I am white. Literally. (While that could be a sensitive topic to broach, please know that the color of our skin difference has never once played apart in our friendship. So please understand it is actually a basis of our friendship and not a racist remark). She will laugh that I am the whitest white girl she has ever met (case in point-I cannot do the Running Man). We have often discussed the differences that we experience simply because of this different background. I recall specifically a conversation about hair. I could not comprehend why Tiffany would not run with me in the rain, or why she had to have an umbrella all the time in rain. She explained to me it's a difference between white people hair and black people hair- it just doesn't work in the rain. Period. She explained what a relaxer is and how they have to use that in their hair. She explained the difference in how it grows, or why some have extensions often, and all those things that were once foreign concepts to me. We've discussed the differences in our choices of music, our bodies and how we view them and a little of all that in between. Tiffany has taught me much about this. Skin color has never mattered to our friendship. 

The Bucket List: We began our own bucket list. At times, Tiffany would randomly pop over to the coffee shop and say "Write it down- this is going on the bucket list...." We pretend we will one day carry them out together and write a book about it all called "The Adventures of Chicken Nacho and Black Bean Burrito". We have an on going list, some silly some serious. 

Free Style Friday:  Tiffany likes to make up days. In other words, Fridays are often Free Style Fridays. We have to rhyme all day. Or I made up Sing Song Thursday (even though when I start to sing she will tell me to stop).  She will find whatever resembles a microphone and pull it out to sing into. We bring silly to the table to make moments pass through the day at times. We are both super busy in our jobs, but in between, we like to have fun and be silly and do these silly games. We attempt to play games during our cashier lunch hour, but we usually only get started and then never finish because we are too busy. Most of these made up moments in the day bring much laughter. Especially because I am frequently the serious one of the staff. Meaning, I often times don't understand half of what is being said, or if a person makes a comment, I take it to heart, so they like to do it to me just to make me pause and say "Do I really do that?" or "Am I really like that?" Then they all laugh because they do it just to get to me.  Free Style Friday is fun because I clearly am not the best at it and they can all watch me think hard to come up with something to "free style". 

Hester:  If you are around us often enough, you will inevitably hear me called "Hester". The name was tagged onto me by Tiffany. What happened was at one time, there was a customer who consistently called me Heather. I don't know why- I do wear a name tag with my own name. But I also never corrected the person. I simply answered to it. One day, Tiffany finally told the customer my name was not Heather because she couldn't stand it any more that I wouldn't correct it. Then it became a big joke, and somehow she turned Heather into Hester. She liked that even better. And the name stuck. So much that you may often hear my boss calling me that instead of my own name. It's strange, but somehow sentimental in some ways too. 

Pure Laughter: Tiffany and I laugh a lot. She will say something, then laugh because "I crack myself up" she will say, which can only make me laugh too. She has forced me to be able to laugh at myself. There was once a story I was telling her about my bad night, and the story ended because by the end of the night I was on the floor crying because my toilet was clogged and I could not get it to unplug. She interrupted my story by laughing so hard because all she could picture was me sitting on the floor holding a plunger crying and she found that hysterical. It actually forced me to be able to laugh at myself in that moment because she was laughing so hard. Not making fun of me, but helping me see it all in a different light. We will banter back and forth so much that we end laughing. She is quick with her comments, it takes me about 10 minutes with a comeback, which leaves her shaking her head and laughing. The girl just makes me laugh, no matter how tired we are, how busy we are, how sad one of us might be.... She brought daily laughter back to my life at a time after having lost my mom and thinking I'd never laugh like that again. 

Tiffany is that rare co worker that comes along with whom I bonded. I am confident that my moving on will not be the end of our friendship or our silly stories. She has made me laugh to tears, been there to hug me when I've been in tears, she has forced me to learn to laugh at myself, and she has helped me to learn to embrace confidence about who I am. She has helped me to see my faults and fix them and to point out my strong points and use them. Tiffany is a true friend. If it weren't for my being a Guckenheimer Girl barista, we'd never have met. I am thankful for that experience.