My Day

9:02: I arrive at the media company at which I am interning and sit at my desk.

9:04: I am greeted by my direct supervisor. She asks me to print and email her a copy of the guest list I’ve been compiling over the last three days.

9:05: I send and print the list, glance at the New York Times front page for a few minutes, then walk down the hall to get a bagel and coffee.

9:15: I return with a bagel and coffee. I have an email waiting for me from my direct supervisor’s supervisor with more names to add to the guest list.

9:16: I receive an iChat message from my direct supervisor telling me about the email from my direct supervisor's supervisor with more names to add to the list.

9:17: My direct supervisor’s supervisor comes over in person to inform me of a few corrections to the list he has just sent me.

9:18: I begin entering the new names with corrections.

9:19: My direct supervisor comes over to my desk to ask if I saw her iChat message informing me of my direct supervisor’s supervisor’s email.

9:22: I finish updating the guest list, reprint, and resend the email to my direct supervisor’s supervisor.

9:23: I eat my bagel and read the New York Times online.

10:05: My supervisor’s supervisor comes to my desk and gives me a copy of the script for the play that our production team will be filming. I ask him what he’d like me to do with it, and he said that he just thought I might like to read it while I had nothing to do.

10:06: I start reading the script.

10:20: I get a diet coke.

10:30: My direct supervisor comes over with a project. She tells me that she wants me to order Thai food for everyone at 11:00. She explains the list of items that I am to order, complete with quantities and cost. She says that she would like to have it arrive as close to 11:30 as possible.

10:31: I return to reading the script.

10:35: My direct supervisor returns to explain that the Thai place from which I am to order doesn’t actually open until 11:00. She would like me to start calling at 11:00 in case the kitchen should open earlier than anticipated. Again, I am instructed to do what I can to make the food arrive as close to 11:30 as possible.

10:36: I decide to start a blog.

10:37: "My First Office Job" is born.

11:00: I call Kobma Thai. The phone rings ten times and then is disconnected.

11:07: I call Kobma Thai. The phone rings ten times and then is disconnected.

11:12: I call Kobma Thai. The phone rings ten times and then is disconnected.

11:14: My direct supervisor iChats me to see how things are coming with the lunch order.

11:17: I call Kobma Thai. The phone rings ten times and then is disconnected.

11:24: I call Kobma Thai. The phone rings ten times and then is disconnected.

11:28: Success. An older-sounding gentleman with a heavy Asian accent answers the phone at Komba Thai. A typical Thai restaurant phone order conversation ensues, complete with repeating repetition, I'm sorry I can't understand yous, and a blatant lie about how quickly the food will be delivered.

11:34: Still on the telephone with Komba Thai. I ask the gentleman how much the total bill will be. He says 'one moment,' and I hear the loud clicking of an old-style calculator. After a minute he asks me if he can call me back with the amount. I say that I am happy to wait on the phone, andhe returns to the calculator.

11:38: Calculator clicking stops and the older Thai gentleman says, "I think $100 together, maybe.... maybe."

11:39: I return to reading the script.

11:45: My direct supervisor asks me to call the Komba Thai to see how long it will before our food arrives.

11:46: I have another fruitless conversation with the older Thai Gentleman.