Cubical Musings

So, following in the footsteps of the lovely Annie Parsons, I am currently working in an office as a Temptress. These are some of the idle thoughts that momentarily take me away from my daily to-do list...

• When I wear heels at work, I use the long open aisle in the warehouse to practice my runway walk/posture. It helps that there's also a huge metal fan at the end of the "runway" waiting to give you model hair just before you walk back into the office.
  
• one of our sales guys is named Joe Fabian. He lives in Reno. I think his name makes him sound like a New York City landlord and when he calls the office, it makes me want New York Style pizza.
• The names of two of our major clients, no lie: French-Gerleman (which I always say in my head with a degrading, fake, male Austrian accent) and Carlton-Bates (which just makes me want to dance).
• My boss's boss's last name is Ripper. Oddly enough I dont' think it's very scary because it reminds me of Jesse & The Rippers.
• Ex-Pirate Band Kids- One of my co-workers totally has the Mr. Davis smile. Hilarious.
• How do people end up with last names like Trout and Fish?
• Speaking of last names... another guy I work with has the last name "DuBuque". Which is supposed to be pronounced "Doob-yook" But every single time I look at it (or him) I say "Doo-boo-qway-qway" (in my head). This is why.
• I spend a lot of time electronically recording our receipt of metal parts. These parts have huge long alphanumeric item numbers. Sometimes the item numbers look like horrible, scary Polish or Welsh words (i.e. KQG2H07N02S). I find myself still trying to pronounce these things as words.
• Checking in orders is more exciting if I pretend I'm checking in droids and engine parts for starpilots and smugglers.
• I like my green pen the best.
• I feel like working at the Arch made me become a mild germophobe out of boredom. I used to clean things with bleach wipes daily just to pass the time (and also because there were upwards of 6000 people walking through there daily in the summertime). Now it's just me at my desk and I'm still using hand sanitizer and wiping things down with Clorox wipes.
• My boss looks like a slightly older Donna from "That 70's Show".
• Good penmanship is invaluable.
• Penmanship is such a great word too. I think it connotates someone with fabulous, ornate handwriting, scrawing their name with a giant, feathery pen. Possibly wearing a powdered wig or large pirate-type hat.
• I hate when I go to use the office IM system and I've left CAPS lock on and IT SOUNDS LIKE I'M SHOUTING OR BEING HATEFUL even if I'm just asking WHERE ARE THE PAPERCLIPS?
• Another last name: Pottorf. I can't ever spell it right. And I think it sounds like a name for a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger villain.
• I don't know what in the world would come out of my mouth when I answered the phone if the company name wasn't plastered in front of me. It's like I forget every time the phone rings. That'll change with time, I hope.
• Todd and I have been re/watching Season 2 of Chuck. The other day, Sarah, the girl who trained me, made a phone call that started like this: "Hi Chuck, this is Sarah over at ControlTech..." I couldn't stop grinning.
• I'm really glad office computer screens don't have talking screens like at the self-checkout at the grocery store. Could you imagine if your computer spoke every button you clicked?
• I seriously adore post-it notes.
• Every time I get one of those crazy invoice numbers with "QB" somewhere in it, I think about Matt Sarazen. And every time I get one with "PYC" or "PY3" somewhere in it, I sing "PYT".

More to come, I'm sure...

That whole job thing...

The past two weeks, have been filled with madness. Todd and Gotham and I have all been sick and had our schedules rearranged and turned upside down. There are so many new, wonderful things happening, it's been impossible to chronicle. But I'll try and give you a brief synopsis.

About the job:

Three weeks ago, I signed with a staffing agency (read: temp service). On the very same day that I signed up to start looking for work with them, I got a call to interview for a job I'd applied for independently. The position was a part-time gig with a local non-profit children's theater company. Two days after the phone interview, I went on a live one and love it. The company is wonderful and I adore everything they're doing in the community.

A week after my interview at Metro Theatre Company (MTC), they asked me to go on an assignment: go to a performance/residency and do interviews and write a story. Brilliant. I was pumped. But, because the program was a new program at a new school, everything got a little flaky and they had to push back my assignment date from last Thursday to this past Tuesday. I was fine with it, because 2 days before the assignment, Todd and I got a horrible stomach virus that sidelined us from life for 2 days. I was happy to have more recoup time because I wanted to be awesome for my assignment.

So, on the very same day that MTC calls and postpones my assignment, the temp service calls and asks me to go on an interview for an admin job with a manufacturing company that makes big electronic panels for large mechanical equipment. Mmmhmm.

I had no interest. But I didn't want to seem ungrateful, and it's always good to have interview experience. So I said I'd go.

So, with a bad/utterly apathetic attitude, I dressed up and went. When I got there, they had me take a spelling and grammar test for 30 minutes. I did really well on it, which they were super jazzed about, since apparently everyone else they interviewed can't spell? The interview was fine, and the women who interviewed me were nice. The admin position is 8-4:30, Monday-Friday, with hourly pay 4 bucks more than I was making. They told me it was a temp gig-- but that honestly, they desperately wanted someone to come on full time. They said it would be hourly as long as the temp agency demanded, but that assuming I liked the place, they wanted to hire me on full time and put me on salary ASAP.

At that point, I started to feel torn. Everyone knows I'd been utterly willing to take the financial hit for the fun, artsy job versus selling out for the money and the consistency. I asked for the weekend to consider the offer. I wanted to run it by some friends and family to see if anyone would tell me I shouldn't take the job.

But the more I deliberated, the more I realized that the interview and the job itself was a gift from God. Just one day before my interview, my student loan payments went up by $200/month. With the rush season ending @ the Arch and hours getting cut, I was looking at having to take on another side hustle to stay up on payments. By taking this job, the financial issue is solved-- and if I were to go on salary at the beginning of the year? It would really help us out in our goal to be debt free (apart from school loans) in one year.

So... I took the job. :) I put in my 2 weeks at the Arch and started the new gig last Monday. I have a desk and a window (yay!!!) I do payroll and emails about engineering equipment. I answer the phone and make copies. I find myself more tempted than usual to consume copious amount of candy. And I have a 25ish minute commute, which is interesting since we only have one car at the moment. But it's working so far.

I'm actually really enjoying it and love working in an office with grown ups and relatively no drama.

So that's the deal with the new job... speaking of, I'd better get to bed so I'm not late tomorrow!