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October 10, 2002

senior staple remover

Autumn is the rainiest time in the DC area. I remember when I arrived in DC six years ago, fleeing from high international gay Peace Corps drama to a very wet Arlington, Virginia in October. I wasn't initially enchanted with the metro area itself, but I did like the guys I was meeting. Unlike many of the towns I had lived in before, I was meeting educated, well-traveled, somewhat well adjusted gay men like myself. Many of them liked backpacking, and I quickly began meeting other gay sci-fi geeks.

Sure, a lot of them were just as messed up as the ones in the small towns, but in DC I had a better chance of meeting someone like me. Oh yeah, they work out more here too.

Walking to my temp job in the same REI rainjacket I've had for six years, I was reminded where I was back then. I've pretty much come full circle, and am back to the drawing board. That means plenty of potential and new beginnings, but also a lot of work to get back on my feet.

Today I was supposed to fill in an assistant database management position, as they had planned the position a few weeks ago. However, the guy who was to be my senior in the task left after only a day on the job, and they forgot about me completely since that time. So I show up, suprising them, and they didn't know what to do with me for most of the morning. Eventually, the put me in the staple-removing department. I removed staples from grant proposals and documents the rest of the day. I had the best in staple-removing technologies at my disposal, and they paid me at the level of a database manager, so I can't really complain. However, after about six hours of it, the task becomes quite mind-numbing.

    Here's a list of my top three most mind-numbing temp jobs I've held:
  1. After graduating college, being promoted straight to the university dining center, washing industrial-sized pots and pans. My supervisor was certifiably mentally retarded.
  2. You know those vinyl signs outside Kwik Trip and 7-11 that say "Pepsi 12-pack: $4.99"? I made dozens of those (again, after graduating college).
  3. Staple remover/database manager (with a BS in Biology and 6 years of government/tech experience).

Guilty Pleasure: I bought the October edition of "Martha Stewart Living" today. I couldn't help it. She does such wondrous things with pumpkins and gourds! Look out Fitz, I'm coming with plenty of homemaking tips for fabulous pumpkin and gourd arrangements.

Posted by jimbo at October 10, 2002 11:14 PM

Comments

Looking forward to it! Good luck on the Job interview.

Posted by: Fitz at October 10, 2002 11:58 PM

Gee wiz, I wish I could be a senior staple remover, I'm just a lousy intern!

Hey at least your keep'n it real :-)

Posted by: Scott at October 11, 2002 10:51 AM