1:55 am - Tues 9.16.2008
Training for Weight Watchers

There were two of us being "mentored" by two time WW prize winner - "Receptionist of the Year" and "Mentor of the Year" - Amy Fisher; myself, and a 20-something gay guy named Chad.

Guys are fairly rare at Weight Watchers - as clients, but even more so as workers - so there was much "oohing" and "aaaahing" when the two of us were introduced as new employees.

Amy kept apologizing for all three of us looking at people's weights and what-not as she showed us the weigh-in program, but really, nobody seemed too weirded-out by it.

(I did wonder if, in the future, when I'm manning a scale by myself, gender might figure into things for some people - Will some women prefer not having a man watch them get on a scale? - but on Friday, everyone was quite nice, and some of the women actually seemed kind of tickled by the whole thing.)

In terms of instruction, there was very little "hands-on" on Friday; we pretty much just watched Amy go through the "before", "during", and "after" steps of working a meeting.

(Briefly, when Amy had to step away for a moment, Chad and I did a weigh-in or two; between the two of us, we were able to muddle through.)

I've never been big on the initial, "This is how we do everything" part of learning a new job, where you get shown a million different processes that mean nothing to you at that point; as bright as I know I am, and as much as I know a job like this doesn't really involve anything beyond my capabilities, my gut response is to feel overwhelmed, and start getting bunched-up & anxious.

I also was wrestling with fatigue, as I knew I would be; I had an hour-and-a-half, maybe two hours, where "focusing" wasn't an issue, but after that, I really just wanted to be home in bed.

That made things a little tougher.

But all that said, I left with the feeling that once I did get more "hands-on" experience in front of the computer, I'd pick things up in a hurry.

So here they are:

1. I've said before that it wasn't going to solve my "money issues". But that said, however many hours I work, and however much money it brings in...well, that's money I didn't have before. And that's a good thing.

2. It will give me extra motivation to make my weight loss stick (That's one of the biggest reasons to do it, in my mind, beyond making money).

3. I'll get a discount on "products" (It's just too bad they don't sell much in the way of actual "groceries" during meetings. But discounts on the breakfast bars and chips and what-have-you is nothing to sneeze at - I spend a lot of money on that stuff each month).

4. It'll get me out of the house.

It's pretty easy, when auditions aren't happening and I'm not signed up for many workshops, for me to spend an inordinate amount of time holed up in my apartment. So it's good to have at least some time where I have to get out of the house no matter what.

5. Neither the meeting on Beverly (My regular meeting) or the meeting on Friday in Culver City are exactly hotbeds of babeliciousness - Weight Watchers seems to be either older, heavyset women I'm not attracted to, or younger, often less-heavyset women I am attracted to, but who are too young for me - but it seems my odds of meeting someone in this virtually all-female arena are better than my odds in just about any "arena" I've been in in the past 20 years or so.

6. Having the satisfaction of being involved in something that actually helps people, that changes their lives for the better.

7. If I like working there, stick with it, and end up being a "Leader", I'll have a brand new work experience, and I can't even tell you that last time that happened (The "Receptionist" thing is really pretty similar to working at Borders or at some of the positions at ArcLight, but being a "Leader" would be a whole different "thing" for me).

Well, I was going to try to get to 10, but I've grown tired.

Besides, you get the idea: It's a good thing.

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