Electra's Web: Work

work

Let me know what you think when you get a chance.

May 16, 1997
My god, this page is out of date. What the hell have I been doing? Well, I apologize. I'm working full time here now. I live in Irvine, CA, and work in Santa Monica. The commute is about 1.5 hours average. If I get up at 5am and leave the house by 6, I can cut that commute down 15-30 minutes. I spend three hours a day just driving. I'm up by at least 6 at the latest, and don't get home til 8 or 9 if I'm lucky. But I'm working out for an hour and a half of that time so that's a good thing. I like it here. We've grown incredibly. We just keep, still, getting more and more new employees. It's cool. Though one of the new schmucks recently did something to thoroughly piss me off. But it's fine now. Unless he does it again, in which case I'd have to kill him.

December 27, 1996
Christmas is over - woohoo! We only got one day off for work, but I've got a lot to do so I don't care. A couple weeks ago, I went to lunch with my supervisor. We'd never gone to lunch before with just the two of us, but it went really well. We totally talked about stuff, and it was really, really nice. I'd been working here before she got hired under two other guys, and they were cool because they were always giving me tons of different stuff to do, so I never got bored, and they were cool guys anyway so I liked them a lot (I still do, I just don't work for them anymore). And I had a lot of freedom - if I thought something could be better, then I could work on that along with my other stuff, or whatever I wanted. But when my new supervisor came on, she just immediately rubbed me the wrong way. The guy that sat closest to me had this soft, pink chair - I was still sitting in that damn hard chair, and I was really looking forward to getting his chair - he was leaving and had "willed" me the chair. Well, the day that my supervisor started work, I came in, and lo and behold she had my chair - and I'd only had it for a few days! So immediately it was a territorial thing. And I totally understood that she was above me and I wasn't about to steal away her chair, etc., etc., but I couldn't help being a little ticked. Then I got stuck with a bunch of bullcrap, thoughtless work forever. She took over the one creative thing that I really enjoyed doing, so I was doing what amounted to menial labor. But, recently I've been given a lot of freedom again, and am in charge of producing events, and stuff, and it's certainly made me enjoy work again, and not only that, but I've come to really appreciate and even really like my supervisor. So it's been as busy as ever at work, but I really, really like it again. Hey - we can drink in the office after 5PM - what more can I ask for?

December 17, 1996
We had our first company Christmas party about a week and a half ago. It was ok. Unfortunately, there were problems at work, and some of us had to go back to work drunk and incoherent. A week later - this past Friday - I went to my boyfriend's Christmas party. That was great. It was their 14th annual Christmas party at the Hyatt Newporter. The most wonderful food, a casino (where we gambled with play money, of course). We spent the night there. I had a really good time partly because it was a nice party, but mostly because I was finished with my GRE and my finals that day - woohoo!

November 30, 1996
I went into work yesterday (yes, I was working on a holiday). There were only a few people there. I stayed for a few hours, and at about 6:30, the last person left so I was left alone. I had planned on staying until 7:30, then going to the gym afterwards or down to my boyfriend's - I hadn't decided on which. But by 7, I was feeling really creepy about being all alone - give me a break, I'm an itty-bitty 5 foot tall female, and it's dark outside, the building seems a hell of a lot bigger when you are alone, so I admit it, I was scared to be there alone. So I decided to take off. It took me over half an hour to set the damn alarm. You're supposed to stand it front of the little alarm panel and wait for it to say "system ready," then punch in your code and take off within the allotted 60 seconds. So I'm standing and standing, and the thing doesn't say what it's supposed to say. I walked around the building 3 times to make sure all the doors were locked and windows closed, and each time I walked around it was scarier and scarier. Most of the lights were off so it was pretty dark, and to make things worse, it was windy outside, too. And after walking around each time, I'd stand in front of the thing forever waiting for it to say "system ready." Finally I tried to call our office manager thinking I was doing something wrong - I'd set the alarm only one other time and I remembered it just didn't take this long. The office manager wasn't home so I called the alarm company. The guy was really nice, told me to hold down the number 9 to reset the system because someone had tripped the alarm in the morning, and I should hear 2 beeps. I did this 3 times. Only one beep. Each time, I'd hold the 9 down for longer and longer - no luck. Finally I see a "reset" button, which the guy told me to try to push, and everything was fine after that. I took off like a bat out of hell - the stairs were dark and creepier than I'd ever remembered them. Half an hour. I couldn't friggin believe it.

November 6, 1996
I've been really busy lately so I haven't even been to own web site for quite some time. On Monday, a bunch of us went to Chaya Venice in Santa Monica for sushi happy hour. It was really cool - I work in a really cool place so I dig on going out with my workmates. Course, all of us are so busy with our work we don't get to go out together very often - I swear this place just sucks you right in. I'm really looking forward to working here full time once I graduate next May, but I'm a little afraid I will lose all remnants of what little bit of a life I now have. But the people here make working the long hours we do not quite so bad. We just moved to Santa Monica about three weeks ago so it was really hectic for a while. I'm not good with change so it was kind of weird here the first couple of days, but it's beautiful here. We're two blocks from the beach, have a roof patio from where you can see the ocean and the ferris wheel on the pier, and are about 5-10 minutes walk from Third Street Promenade. The only thing I miss now are some of the good eating places we were really close to in Beverly Hills, but it's great here - and we have breathing room!! No more sitting on each other's laps to get our work done - woohoo! And we're still hiring lots of people. I guess growth means job security for me.

September 11, 1996
Wow, it's been a while since I've done anything to this page. We've got new people coming out of our asses at my work - 3 just started on Monday. Idiot A got fired within 24 hours of my last entry on this page - whew! And I have to admit I may have been a little bit harsh on Idiot B that day - he really isn't that much an idiot - if you're reading this I don't really mean it, if you're not, then I do. Anyway, since school's started I never see him anymore. And I only come into work 2 and a 1/2 days a week (oh, how I miss my work mates). Luckily, the three that have just started this week, and the other 2 that just recently started as well, don't seem to be anything like Idiot A (yet - I'm still praying hard).

August 27, 1996
That disgusting brown spot is back in the bathroom. It seems that the rug was covering it for a couple days. About 2 weeks ago we hired a new guy, and can I just say that he is a complete moron?! I would not normally do this since everyone in the company has internet access and people all know most of us have web pages, but I don't think he's smart enough to be able to navigate the web well enough to find this fucking page. He's been here for a little over 2 weeks, and still asking the same old dumb questions. The other guys in our support department won't really talk to him anymore - I think he knows how much we all dislike him (dislike is a mild term), so he always asks me questions since I've remained civil to him (we are at work after all). However, there is one guy in the department that he feels more comfortable asking questions to and this guy has been here the longest after me so now I'm fielding Idiot A's questions and trying to correct Idiot B on his answers to Idiot A and I have a shitload, let me say that again, a shitload of work to do. Not only does Idiot A ask dumb questions, questions with answers, by the way that he should have already known before starting work here, but he also has a nasty tendency to ask them several times. For example, last Monday he asked me a basic question, something he should have readily figured after one week with us, but I answered it nonetheless. Then Tuesday, he asked the same fucking question again. And he asked again on Wednesday. Can I shoot him and put us all out of our misery?

August 16, 1996
You'll be happy (though I'm probably happier about it than you) to note that the pretty brown spot in the bathroom has mysteriously disappeared. On a less serious note, last night I went out with a bunch of the guys from work (and I do mean guys because I was the only girl from work there - there was 1 girlfriend and 1 wife, but I was the lone girl from work). One of the guys at work (one of my bosses and the cool guy that hired me in the first place) had a couple friends that played in a band called Honk if You're Horny playing at the Coconut Teaser in Hollywood so we all met up there. It was so cool - I've never to that place before, but it was a lot bigger than it looked on the outside - it had several rooms and a couple bars and we played pool and watched the band when they went on. It was cool to hang out with the guys from my work outside of work - they're all so cool (I really do work with the greatest people). The band was great - Pleasant (the lead singer) was so funny, they were all geared up in hick gear - painted black eyes, bruises and missing teeth and all, they very much looked the part. My favorite was the 69 song sung to some children's tune. I forgot to eat dinner and had a few kamikazes and woke up this morning feeling a little off. As soon as I was about to go out the door for work this morning I had to run to the bathroom and vomit. I had peach yogurt for breakfast and it came out a slightly peachy/pinky watery substance - no chunks. I felt much better and was ready to go to work, and here I am enjoying the fuck out of myself (well, at least I get to leave in 3 hrs).

August 8, 1996
I've become obsessed with the little brown spot on the bathroom floor. Is it a piece of shit that didn't make it to the toilet or what? When I sit down to pee, that little brown spot is just to the right of my right foot, and I sit there and can't help but stare at it. I've entertained several hypotheses. It could be a raisin that got stepped on, it could be a piece of chocolate, something that was stuck on someone's shoe, maybe even a blackened piece of gum. Nah. I think it's a piece of shit that was in a hurry to get out. I wish someone would clean it up - it's very disturbing and it's been there forever.

August 7, 1996
A few days ago, our company hit a milestone in its young history - we've been growing a lot, and fast. We had a party with cake and champagne, and, to the pleasant surprise of everyone there, hundred dollar bills were passed out to every single employee by the CEO (what a guy - I told you he was great).

July 26, 1996
I wore my nose ring to work today. I’ve been wanting to since I first started work, and even asked a couple guys at work about it shortly after I got hired because I wasn’t sure what our head boss would think. One was kind of negative about it, the other wasn’t real sure about how the CEO would react, but was positive about it. He said he’d talk to our boss, but I never heard anything more about it. A couple months later I started to really want to wear my nose ring again so after a few weeks I went and asked someone else at my work - the guy who’s like 2nd in command, and he was totally enthusiastic about it. He and the CEO had just gone on a trip to Boston and he said they’d even talked about my wearing a nose ring on the trip (which totally blew me away), and he said that our boss totally didn’t think it was a big deal and I should just wear it and not be afraid to wear whatever else I wanted to, too. I was so excited about it. Our boss is just the greatest. It’s funny because now I have to be so concerned with what people think and stuff. When I was in high school, I fucked around and did whatever the hell I wanted to and didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. I was 16 or 17 when I got my nose pierced (I’m 22 now) and back then it wasn’t as big a thing as it is now. My girlfriend and her boyfriend were with me when I did it and they were trying to convince me not to and said it’d be ugly and stuff, and I didn’t give a rat’s ass what they thought - I wanted to do it and that was it. And I did. And I spent part of my sophomore year and all my junior year (until I got kicked out) high as a kite, wore nothing but black and wrote weird poems to the guys that sat next to me and didn’t care that people thought all sorts of weird things about me. But now I’m 22, going to college and working and it’s completely different - I totally understand now about responsibility. If I don’t work - I don’t get groceries, gas, or the nice clothes that I like to buy. And even though it’s a pain in the ass sometimes, having to impress people and parents and family and stuff, I wouldn’t trade my life now for my life then for anything in the world.

July 22, 1996
I came in to work today after having taken Friday off, and lo and behold, there was a desk and a chair - a real chair and a real desk with drawers and everything. And it was all mine! I was so excited. It appears that they've rented furniture for us plebes, so it seems that my prayers have been answered - Hallelujah!

July 17, 1996
O.k., so I spend a lot of time talking about the bathroom - I can’t help it, I spend a lot of time in it - I have to pee about once an hour it seems like. The doctor’s tell me there’s nothing wrong with me - I just pee a lot. It’s really annoying. But, other than the fact that the towels in the bathroom can now walk out of there on their own, there’s no new news on the bathroom front. On another note, I’ve found myself really dissatisfied at work lately. The work seems really boring and repetitive, some of my favorite people at work are annoying me, and I’ve been thinking of leaving to pursue other interests. But I love my work. This is my first real, full time job, and I really lucked out and got a great job. I work for a young company that’s growing fast and headed nowhere but up. The people there are great - and it’s such a friendly, relaxed atmosphere that you can’t help but love it. When I called in for my interview Debbie told me to dress casual and not to come in a suit or anything like that - I was thrilled! And when I came in and interviewed, I felt really good about the whole thing - I mean they were playing KROQ (a radio station in LA) in the office for god’s sake - how could I not be happy? So when I left I pretty much knew I had the job, and a week later they called and confirmed it and I started right away. It was great. That was in the beginning/mid May. Now it’s mid July and I’m starting to feel a little disgruntled. Don’t get me wrong - it’s still a great job, if I had nuts, I’d give up my left one before I gave up this job, that’s how good it is. But, we are growing really fast and hiring a lot of people we just don’t have the room for. I started off with my own little desk and desk organizers and stuff and then had to share a desk with a co-worker - imagine two computers with 17 inch monitors on one table. It was tight. And I lost all my little organizers, and all my space. We were supposed to move into a bigger, better space in the beginning of July, but things got screwed up and we didn’t end up moving, but we finally got a hold of some extra space next door that wasn’t rented out. Today a bunch of us moved into that space. It’s brighter, and I have my own desk now, but I’m not happy about it. Who can help but feel a little resentment when she hasn’t had her own trash can or drawers or a decent chair that doesn’t hurt my back and make my butt itch for months now (the fabric of my skirt/pants and the cold plastic chair will sometimes make me itch)? We don’t have a radio in the new room, I’ll probably be doing a lot of trekking between the two offices to interact with my bosses, and the space is ugly as hell. But I’m trying to be patient about the whole thing because all of us are trying to do the best we can, and we’re really trying to find another place to rent, I’m not the only one suffering, etc… And I think I’ve only been unhappy because I’ve been under some stress what with getting only 5-6 hours of sleep a night for the last few weeks, and having midterms this week, not to mention that my period is quickly approaching (I'm sure that contributes a lot to my grumpiness) - I’m sure I’ll be fine by next week.

July 12, 1996
There was some really soft, thick toilet paper in the bathroom today. I wonder if we've switched brands for good, or just temporarily.

June 26, 1996
The guys at work managed to get a 8 1/2 by 11 picture of our boss. They made photocopies of it and put them all over the office with "David is watching you" printed underneath it. Our boss found them shortly afterwards and proceeded to take them all down. Hours later, when I'd forgotten all about the incident, and was just about to go home I went to the bathroom and there he was looking at me from over the toilet - it was weird how disturbing it was, I almost couldn't pee. But luckily most of the people at my work are men so the picture was taped on the wall behind the toilet, and once I turned around and sat down I was fine.