This morning I woke up at 6:30 am -- I hadn't pulled my curtain all the way across my window and the sun was shining right in my eyes -- to the symphony of car horns that is constantly playing in New York City. (You know the canned sound of cars honking that they play in New York movies? Yeah, it's real.) Normally this would be an unfortunate occurrence, but I jumped on the opportunity to take a shower before one of my three roommates could grab it (usually I have to wait around at least 30 minutes to get in, making myself late in the process). Sadly, I felt accomplished. Then I got to sleep until 8:15 -- 8:15!
(Ah! My eyelids are drooping ... it's only 9:27 ... must stay awake ...)
Job Interview #2 was at 10 am. It was more of a screening, so it lasted about 10 minutes. Short and sweet. I got to my next interview 40 minutes early so I wandered around Borders and read "Wine for Dummies." (Did you know that white wines contain more sulfites than other wines?)
Job Interview #3 was at Starbucks by Penn Station. It took 15 minutes for the manager to be able to talk to me -- all NYC Starbucks are constantly busy. She offered me a drink, went over my application, and since she didn't have open positions anymore, sent me down the street to Macy's (yes, the seven-story Macy's).
I wandered to the Starbucks on the second floor of Macy's, getting offered at least ten fragrance samples along the way, and met with the general manager. He asked me a series of questions and then put me through the standard Starbucks exam, asking me to recall specific examples of work-related incidents so insignificant that my brain had chosen to forget them. At the end of it all, he said he wanted to hire me, and that I'd start training on Friday. $8.75/hour to start, $9.63 after 6 months, $8/week health insurance after 90 days, 10 blocks from my internship. Woohoo. Job search done.
[I find it amusing how everyone says I'm "taking a big leap" moving here, or that I need to be careful living in a big city, or that they're so amazed about how brave I am. To me, this whole thing seems perfectly natural. I feel like I've been living in this concrete land of hustle-and-bustle all my life.]
Ran off to my internship, where Barbara (who's in charge of tour marketing and with whom I have been working) had me make up a street team package (12 posters, a CD, 30 postcards and a set of labels). She had nothing else for me, so I asked Steve the intern coordinator for some work ... and was busy with it for the rest of the day. Initially I was looking up concert ticket sites for Guggenheim Grotto and Enter the Haggis, putting those sites in the database and making sure they were on the artists' myspace pages. Next I made up a promo package for Barbara to take to the Maiysha show tonight (while listening to Barbara console a sick Maiysha over the phone and offer to buy her all sorts of cold medicines). Then I started researching Celtic/Irish/Scottish societies to promote the Enter the Haggis shows to (while listening in to a conference call between Enter the Haggis and an internet marketing guru). In the middle of all this, Peter (the president) called me into his office thinking I was a graphic designer and asked me to make changes to the UFO and Invasion Group websites that were way beyond my skill level. (I'd go home and learn Flash if I had any energy left at the end of the day). I'd forgotten to bring lunch and didn't feel like leaving to buy some for $10, so I drank some hot chocolate.
I finally finished up emailing the Celtic societies and was the last intern to leave the office at 6:30. I guess my stomach must be shrinking -- I stopped at Chipotle for a burrito bowl and couldn't finish it (I'll bring it for lunch tomorrow), then bought myself a cone from an ice cream truck and couldn't finish it (how ridiculous!). I decided to get my shopping for my new Starbucks uniform done -- thankfully 7th Ave where I work (/live? Is there a difference?) is Fashion Ave (or so say the signs) and it was pretty simple. Except that sprinkle crumbs from my ice cream cone fell out of my wallet and got all over my shirt.
I took the 30 or 45 minute ride back to the place where I sleep. On the subway, the woman on my right was reading The Five Love Languages. The man on my left was dozed off, head nodding at all. At his stop, he abruptly woke up and rushed out the doors.
*Rapt attention*
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the city feeling natural. Cities are big, busy, maybe a bit more dangerous, but there's something familiar in it all too. There's actually something really cool about walking up to a big, marble-faced building, going through a revolving door and finding yourself in the same exact 7-11 you see everywhere.
Or maybe that's just me.