(Sequel to “quad-chotomized?”)
Wednesday had been an 8 hour work day, followed by a three-hour theology and doctrine class (which is great, but involves a lot of brain power). I needed a break. Luckily I didn’t need to be downtown at the office until 11:30 on Thursday. That doesn’t communicate the full story though, see, I had to wake up at 5:45 to work for four hours at the gym, and then go downtown. One last kicker, I hadn’t gotten to bed until about half past midnight.
By the time I arrived, the office was already buzzing with activity. Computers were computing, telephones were ringing, and everyone seemed rather occupied. I interrupted my way into one girl’s work to get my first assignment: phone calls. I was hired under the title “data entry position,” which can be translated: office assistant who accomplishes any and all of a list of random tasks. Alas, I had to make phone calls, despite my lack of skill in that department.
I’ll give a quick breakdown of the anatomy of a phone call. Step 1) Find the school on my list. 2) Find that schools number online. 3) Find the contact person for that school in our online database. 4) Spend a minute psyching myself up for the pain of a phone call. 5) Call the school. 6) Go through the rigmarole of the un-unified message menus (honestly, Chicago, couldn’t you have the same menu for all of your public schools?). 7) Get to the operator and stumble through my message. 8 ) Repeat. Needless to say, it’s not my favorite activity.
My next task was entirely different. Envelope stamping! I went through a box of hundreds of envelopes and rubber-stamped our return address on them. All of these jobs may sound meager and mundane, but they are not. Every one of them has a taste of novelty, which lasts almost until the task is complete. Almost.
As I sat there, stamping my heart out, a group of revelers (office co-workers) rounded the corner with balloons and a tray of cupcakes. It was the birthday of the guy who was working across from me. I set down the stamp and joined the gang, as they waited for him to get off the phone. They had picked a bit of a bad moment for this momentous occasion, because he was in a long phone call. So, we waited. When he finally hung up the phone, we burst into a rendition of ‘happy birthday’ and enjoyed the cupcakes. It was the stereotypical office birthday party: sneak balloons and cake into the office, have everybody stop their work to crowd around his cubic location, and surprise him when he gets off the phone.
And in the middle of all that was me, day two at the office, one of the gang.
A Life Tri-chotomized 