Intern Chick

I won't complain about what I consider to be early hours, because I know it's just me that finds waking up at 8:30 AM to be unbearable.

My desk at work is in one huge cubicle where the dividers have been taken down in order to fit 4 people. I am part of the 4 people, along with 3 other females who I'm not sure what they do. One can't speak English very well. The other prints out tickets all day and the noise of the ticket machine would be enough to drive you crazy if it wasn't for the 3rd girl. I think she is my boss. No one told me what department they moved me to, and I've figured that out on my own, so no one told me who I report to. I think this girl is it. She listens to Techno and House music all day, and when its not that, its slow whiny alternative music that makes you want to cut open a vein. The first few days I was falling asleep at my desk from the music, and figured out by the looks I was receiving that these people don't think its okay to listen to your iPod all day while you work. They do at record labels, that's all I'm saying.

If her music isn't bad enough, she snorts all day. At first I thought it was because she was sick, and I was really hoping this was the reason. I don't think it is. I think she just enjoys it. She comes to work in her gym clothes, works out on her lunch break, and comes back, in the same gym clothes, for the rest of the day. Why am I the only one that doesn't think this is okay??

The best part about this whole thing is the work they have me doing. Customer. Service. Call me crazy, but I always thought the whole role of customer service representatives was foolish. I don't understand why people can't just figure things out for themselves. You type one word in google and a million things pop up, surely the answer to whatever ridiculous question you may have can be found there. Working in customer service is one of those things I've always seen as the type of job you get when you don't finish college and don't know the different between "then" and "than." And now I'm doing it. And they expect me to be nice when these people ask their outrageous questions that are clearly posted on the website. The day they put me on the phones, I am going to cry.

It's Labor Day yet around 10 PM this evening, I was laboring away, getting out my reports for some new projects when I got a message from my boss, Eva. She asked if there was any possibility if when I gave her the tape of the interview we did if I may have mixed it up with a blank one. I knew there was no way I had done that, because I distinctly remembered taking the tape out of the camera, putting it into its case, labeling it, and handing it to her. She said that when she sent the interview out to be cut and edited, the editor said the tape was blank.

That cannot be good.

I thought and thought, trying to put myself back in the studio that day. It wasn't making sense to me how the tape could be blank. I set up the lights, set up the camera, put the tape in, turned the camera on, tested the mic levels...and then I remembered the other intern that was helping out.. Eva had asked him to help us out so that while she was asking the questions and I was keeping order of which question was asked from the stockpile we had and in what order, the other intern could keep an eye on the camera, make sure it was on and recording and that the microphones were picking up the audio. I brought him up to the studio, showed him how to tell that the mics were working, showed him the zoom and unzoom buttons, and the record button. The artist arrived and while everyone got into their places, I set him up with his mic and took my seat on the sidelines to take notes.

The interview went fairly well and the questions Eva picked were really great, much different than what is usually asked of this artist. I was feeling pretty good about it, you know, as good as I could have after that awful week.

It occurred to me though, that the other intern was in charge of the camera and I had a sneaking suspicion there was no way he pressed RECORD on the camera. How do you miss that? It's a big red button, and its your only job. And now, with the release date just one week away, there is no way we can record another interview or pay for someone to do it. So if you are reading this and it is Tuesday afternoon, keep me in your thoughts, because tomorrow is going to be a special kind of nightmare.

My alarm goes off at 9:30 every morning, and then I proceed to snooze it for about a half an hour and roll out of bed around 10 and make a mad dash for the shower because, I'm late!  The night before yesterday morning (Tuesday night?) I was up most of the night.  I finally fell asleep but woke up around 7 and was up for another hour and a half.  From then until almost 11:00 is all a blur to me, for all I know, I could've been abducted by aliens.  I opened my eyes to the sound of a voice over the alarm system in the hallway outside my room, "Please disregard all prior alarms, they were only a test."  What?? I thought to myself,  "What alarms?  Man, what time is it..I feel like I've slept for way longer than an hour..last time I checked the clock it was 8:30, my alarm hasn't gone off yet, it can't be any later than 9:30 though."  Yea, right.  I looked at my phone and it was almost 11!!  I'm supposed to be AT work around 11 and here I am in bed.  And what's worse...they were testing fire alarms right outside my door and I didn't hear a thing?  WHAT THE HECK!!

I quickly e-mailed my boss, took the hottest shower ever because I didn't have time to mess around with the water, and figured out something to do with my hair.  Thankfully while I was laying awake the night before, I picked out an outfit in my head.  I rushed over to work, grabbed a salad for lunch instead of my usual bagel for breakfast since it was past 12 by then, and got to my desk.  I took my computer out of my bag and realized I left the charger for my laptop on my bed.  Not only was I late, but then I had to explain to my boss that my computer would die before the day was over.  We tried to find someone with a charger, but my computer is so old no one had one that was compatible.  By the time my battery had 30% charge left, my boss suggested I sit in my Big Boss' office and use her computer, ignoring all my offers to go back to my hotel to get my charger.  I must say, pretty weird, sitting there alone at this big desk with this nice comfy chair where there was actually room to put my notebook on the desk. Even more weird when people would come by, look in, and say, nice office, half joking, half not. 

And because I only ate about half my salad before I realized that all the leaves were brown, there was nothing in my stomach to absorb all the water I was drinking and ended up running to the bathroom to pee every 30 minutes, literally.  I spent most of the day leaned over Billboard magazine trying to read the fine print and had a splitting headache.  Around 3:00 my boss told me he'd be gone for about an hour (read: two hours) and to cover his phone line.  The only problem with that is his line doesn't ring in the Big Boss' offices so every time a phone rang, I'd come running out and over to his desk, only to find it a) wasn't his line, or b) the person had hung up already.  While I was doing all that running back and forth, I noticed the heel on my favorite shoes (just about the only heels I've ever owned that are almost comfortable) is one more drunken night away from breaking; so much so that I can HEAR it creaking and breaking off.  So for two hours I ran back and forth answering phones, or trying to answer phones that weren't mine.  And for two hours I thought my bladder would explode, because I couldn't leave the phones unattended to go to the bathroom.  

By 5:00 I was already counting down the minutes until I could leave.  Half an hour later, Vin came in my office and told me he was going to have to leave at 6:30 for an hour (read: two hours) and could I stay until 7:30?  Yea sure fine, I said, because after all, I was about an hour late that day.  I should've known that was all lies, because he left and by 8:10 I was still sitting there waiting for him to come back.  Finally I just called and told him I was going to leave, because by this point, I was STARVING.  So I made it home and ordered food from the diner downstairs.  

Waiting for my food felt like it took hours and I seriously considered snagging a french fry off a waiter's tray more than once, but finally it was ready.  I paid, and I went upstairs to my room, my mouth was watering by this point.  But once again, the magnetic strip on my room keycard had been deactivated (this happens about two or three times a week, oh how I love EHS) and I was locked out.  So I had to go upstairs to get my key fixed while holding my piping hot food, I'm surprised I made it without any burns!  I get in my room, throw my shoes off, put on the most comfortable t-shirt I own, sit down in silence and open my food.  Surprise, surprise..it's the wrong order.  So I go BACK downstairs, in my turtle shirt and really not giving a damn asked them fix my order.  At this point, I really wanted to cry.  It was past 9 by the time I sat down to eat, and by 10:00 I set out to start working on job #2.  And I worked, and worked and worked until 1 AM.

All I could say yesterday, over and over was, I HATE today! 

It was a horrible, no good, very bad day and I am glad that it is over.