Not my best day...

~ Jenn~

Ok. So. Intern Yvonne (pronoucned Eh-vonne. Not Eee-vone. Not Ya-vonne. It's french. And don't you forget it) has been promoted to bigger and better things (and a slightly smaller space in which to make a giant mess). Therefore she took it upon herself today to have a "day off" to prepare for the upcoming onslaught of a (gasp!) real job. This means that I am all by myself today. As such, I have had some alone time to make a variety (ha!) of observations.

- It is literally disturbing to me how many people would rather walk all the way back to the intern desk to ask us to mail or fax something. It is of course within my job description to perform such a task, but what is bothersome to me is that in the time that it takes to write out the phone number, fax number, mailing address, etc... and walk all the way back here and explain to me what it is that they want done... They could have done it themselves. Twice. Is it that they just enjoy passing off tasks to someone with a lower job title? Is it a power thing? Are they really that terrified of the fax machine? Are they hemophiliacs who would die from a paper cut? Really. I am dying to know what motivates them.

- When people say "thank you" to me while I am passsing stuff out to them I do not say "You are welcome" . I say "Umm Hmm" Everytime I say it I wonder if it comes across as rude. But surely they must understand that "you're welcome" is alot of words for a girl who must literally pass out hundreds of items to dozens of people each day. Either that or they call me "the rude intern". I guess that is more distinguishing than "that intern over there" or "you know, one of those girls at the back".

- The sound of the fax machine has become lulling. It makes me want to nap. Then again at 3:30 in the afternoon the sound of a jackhammer would make me want to nap.

- I haven't gotten any worthwhile email since this morning. I feel like I am Jack Bauer experiencing heroine withdrawl. I need a hit man. I need something in my inbox that is specifically to me, not to a listserve and not an ad. I need something with juicy , personal, or at least vaguely interesting written inside of it. Even an email from my mom would be nice about now.

- I had the hiccups for a better part of an hour. You want to get peoples attention in an office? Be the only person with hiccups with your head mostly hidden by a cubicle wall. Everytime you hiccup you can see people's heads pop up like little mice looking for the source of the noise. Eventually someone called my extension and suggested water.

- I have had a lovely email exchange with one reporter who had the unhappy task of assigning me a boring press release to write up earlier today.
This is maybe my third exchange of this kind with a random person in the office who feels compelled to actually communicate with the intern who lightens their work load. As of yet, these exchanges have not led to lasting friendships. Although on occasion these few people will nod at me in the kitchen or even hold the elevator for me. So I suppose that is an improvement.

I actually look forward to coming into the office on Fridays. Hanging out with alice makes the job alot easier. Awww aren't I sweet. But it is true! And the best part about her? Her name isn't even close to being french.