I grew up on a farm in the Midwest. I've had cute little baby animals start out as my "pets" and grow up to be on the dinner table. It's a strange way of life for some. But I always tell people that to me it was strange to move away and buy meat from a grocery store wrapped in plastic and I never even knew its name. All this to say, I'm just not very squeamish.

Last night I'm the only female driver on shift with three male drivers. Our GM was the only insider O-C, so I'm catching oven until my delivery is ready. All three guys dispatch on deliveries in pretty quick succession just before me. I grab my stuff and walk out the front door to the parking lot....just to see a dead bird on the sidewalk directly in front of our door. Did it die in the last five minutes? Or did one or more of these guys step over it?

I figure a dead animal directly in front of the entrance to a food establishment is in poor taste, so I go back inside and set my hotbag down. I grab some paper towels and a plastic bag. Pick up the dead bird, toss it in the bag, tie it up, walk it around to the dumpster. I wash my hands and leave on my delivery. Of course I'm also wondering if any of the guys would have realized that if they had picked it up themselves it absolutely couldn't be dispossessed of in a trash can inside the store. Who knows.

It reminded me of my very first day at a Dominos. I was in the office doing the training videos when I see movement out of the corner of my eye. A mouse was climbing up the computer cords. I go tell the GM and she starts apologizing and begging me not to leave. In hindsight that reaction should have been a red flag about that particular franchise. But it wasn't my first time in a kitchen. Mice are attracted to food. I get it. I just wanted to ask for a container of some sort to try to catch it.

I get a pasta tin and a glue trap and go back to the videos. It takes a while, but the mouse pops back up. I'm able to shoo it onto the glue trap. So I go ask for some olive oil. Again, my first day and I don't yet know what's available in the store. I figure I could take it outside, release it from the glue with oil, and humanely set it free. A young male AM says that wouldn't work. Besides the obvious, there is no olive oil, the back of the store opens to a large park with wooded walking trails. A live mouse will surely return. The AM says he'll take care of it for me.

Well, the farm girl in me can't stand to be treated like some prissy girl. I confidently tell him that I understand and I know what to do. I wrap the glue trap in a rag and carry it back to the dumpster. I set it on the ground, take a deep breath, and stomp my boot as hard and as fast as I can. Then I shake the rag into the dumpster without looking.

I turn around and every employee who was on shift is gathered at the back door, watching. Our high school girl CSR looks horrified! For a second it was like the first day of prison and I had just proved myself.

The CSR and I ended up moving to a new franchise about a year later. She loved going up to our new coworkers and asking if they've heard the story yet about the time that I curb stomped a mouse on my very first day, lol!