Canary or Goldenrod?

Long time readers are familiar with some of my past "real world" jobs including my stint at the Pizza Factory. That's the job that helped me realize that hungry people can be real a-holes.

Others may be familiar with my life as a casting fairy. I still do that from time to time. God knows America could use another sketch show (I hope my sarcasm font is working today).

And others may remember I sold furniture in the East Lakeview neighborhood in Chicago.

Those of you who have been following me for a really long time know that the job I come back to the most is office bitch. I have done nearly every administrative type job possible. And I continue to do so in lean times like now.

My first job in office bitchdom happened in high school. A girlfriend (in high school all my friends were girls) told me that if you become an office page you could get out of study hall. Study hall - the biggest waste of time ever. First, I could never study in such a forced artificial environment. Also, what teenager is not going to be distracted when you are surrounded by other teenagers? Study hall was a joke but being an office page was a dream.

Office pages roamed the halls freely to deliver messages from the school office to teachers and school staff members. Office pages traversed the inner recesses of the school. Did you know the janitorial staff had it's own office? Or that the mean Special Ed teacher was actually the School Board Liaison advocating for our school and the entire student body? How about this. Did you know the Art Teacher liked to get high on his lunch break in the back of his studio? Office pages were also privileged to confidential information. That's the part I liked the best. I have never really been a gossip but I have always been nosy.

Of course my daily hour in the office wasn't always full of hall passes and confidential info. The secretaries made me do actual work. There was a lot of stuffing envelopes, typing, copying, mailing, filing, and sorting.

Once I graduated from high school I never thought I would use my administrative skills again. I was sooooooooo wrong. In the 20+ years since high school ended I have mostly been employed as an administrative professional. Sure, I slung pizza, corralled actors, and sold sofas but it all keeps coming back to the desk.

For the last three weeks I have been doing reception part time at a financial services company on the West Side of LA. Every day from 1 - 5:30 p.m. I answer phones, tidy the lobby, greet guests, and sort mail for people that make more in 1 month than I have since I moved to LA over 3 years ago. I can't really complain. It's easy work. The hours are light. And I get paid. I only wish there was a spot where I could go and get high with the art teacher.