Build-A-Bear to the nineteen year old college freshman is a social taboo. We do not frequent establishments overrun with snotty nose children and frustrated parents, and we seldom wish to work at places that have these headache inducing features. So when I was first told by Carly that we would be heading there for our excursion, a quick gulp followed by "no benihana's" almost escaped my lips. Please, don't take this the wrong way, I do love bears. My teddies are prized possessions that are run down with years of too much love, but I questioned how this could be fun for my "mature" persona. I never really thought of Build-A-Bear as a workplace, always just saw it as a store that catered to bratty children and nothing more. But once I stepped foot into the door, I realized how terribly wrong I was.
Pictured above is Camo, a new edition to my build-a-bear collection and an awesome memory of the metamorphic experience I had on our excursion. Upon first entering the store we were all directed to the standard bear, but once my eyes caught sight of that sexy hunk, I knew at that very moment I had to make him mine. I quickly turned to Carly and asked, if our attachment with another bear was stronger would we be able to upgrade from the Toyota to the Maybach of bears. Well I didn't really say it in those exact words, but the point was made clear there was no way I could settle. I was a little kid in a candy store reliving the memories of the endless build-a-bear birthday parties that came with the suburban standard of living. She quickly did the math in her heads I hoping the figure would allow for such grace, and said yes. At that moment I rushed to the bin containing the lifeless and corpse looking sack of a bear and with an enthusiasm I thought had faded with the years, I became a little kid again. Suddenly the store became a magical place and the workers were all angels of patience in my eyes.
At build-a-bear I learned from one of the employees that it's the kids and not the pay that keeps her coming to work everyday. The two people who worked with us were so kind and you could tell right off the bat that they were doing their job with passion. From the moment when they got a bunch of college kids to rub little fabric hearts on our tummies and jump to give them the pulsing needed to keep our bears going, I knew that this kind of joy came with every session. Not once did I see them look bothered or impatient, they welcomed our questions, smiled whole heartedly, and loved how bears made us transition into a child like in the video above. They didn't rush us through the steps of building the bear because we were older and they made sure that we took the time to complete each and every step from the fluffing and stuffing to the cleaning and picking of the Rutgers' threads for our naked teddies. It was in that very moment when I realized that the way they were acting was exactly how we would need to be in every upcoming new student orientation session. As an OL I would have to approach each student like a bear in need of fluffing, rubbing their heads with knowledge of what Rutgers has to offer, stuffing them with the courage to not be afraid to open up and welcome the diversity around them, and ultimately cuddling them and letting them know that at one point I was just like them.
Ultimately, when I look back on my experience at build-a-bear, I am so happy that is where we went. No only was it a great work place to examine but it was a beautiful team building moment for Silverware. I will always have a physical reminder of it through my lovely Camo!
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