Hello again, internet, it’s been a few days! Mainly because I still don’t have internet in my apartment and the internet I have been using has become even less reliable – if that were even possible; perhaps the neighbors are onto me…
This is being written straight from my new, temporary job, but more on that in a moment.
Last time I wrote, I was preparing to make guacamole! Almost immediately after hitting send, I grabbed my keys and walked to the supermarket. I had just planned on getting the ingredients but then I saw something that blew my mind. They had strawberries on sale… for 99 cents a box! I love strawberries. It took all of my willpower to not just dump the entire display into my cart, but I did buy a few boxes.
I walked back over to the apartment and began my guacamole experiment. I’ve never made guacamole before so this was, quite literally, an experiment. I found a fairly simple recipe on Pinterest and got to work. This was also an experiment in kitchen supplies because I was not only doing this without a mashing tool but I didn’t have a mixing bowl; I used a fork and a pot. I expected it to be easier to use a fork to mash up these very ripe avocadoes but no, it was a full blown arms workout. The guac ended up looking very nice but tasting pretty bland. I haven’t eaten enough guacamole sans burrito – where you just get a whole lot of flavors jammed together in the equivalent of a taste rainbow, making it hard to distinguish exactly what you’re eating – to know how to make it less bland but I’m sure there will be future experiments.
With guacamole completed, I relaxed for a bit before getting ready to see MY DAD! I was very excited and got “dressed up.” This meant skinny jeans, a tank top, and a cool little jacket he bought me. I also did my hair and threw on some red lipstick for good measure (I’m a city girl now, I wear lipstick on a Wednesday).
The problem was that I didn’t realize how hot it was outside. I was leaving my apartment at 6pm and it was 80something and humid. I was a human sweat monster by the time I got to him. A very cute human sweat monster, but still completely drenched.
We weren’t really sure what we were hungry for so we walked around a bit (despite the heat, humidity and the fact that it was now RAINING! Yeah, the trifecta). We ended up going somewhere my dad had never been but was right by his hotel (I’d never been there either but my dad has spent more time in Chicago than I have). It was called Miss Ricky’s. My dad was inspired by my makeup choice since their logo is a big pair of red lips. It was an interesting place with “food just like your mom made if your mom was a drag queen with a full sleeve tattoo.” That tagline alone had me sold. We started with some spinach jalapeno dip and then I got French toast. It wasn’t the most conventional combination but since when have I cared about convention. The highlight of the meal, however, was the Death by Chocolate Cake. My dad and I split it and there were still leftovers for me to bring home.
We went back to my dad’s hotel so I could pick up my suitcase. My dad brought me a suitcase from home filled with more stuff that I wasn’t able to bring when I first came out. At that moment, the most important thing in that suitcase was bedding! I’ve been sleeping on the air mattress without any real bedding and the only thing that is worse than sleeping on an air mattress is sleeping on an air mattress without any sheets on a hot night where any inch of exposed skin will immediately fuse with the plastic-y surface and moving even a single muscle will cause more discomfort than one can imagine. Having real sheets on that stupid thing has been a life saver these past two nights. He also brought lots of my picture frames and other things to make it feel homier, which is a big bonus when added to the pillowcases and quilt.
I went to bed pretty early (and got a better night’s sleep than I have in a while) because I had to be up at the butt crack of dawn yesterday. I have managed to connect with not one, but two temp agencies, and my first assignment began yesterday!
Now when I woke up, it was raining. This was not ok with me because I’d planned my outfit the night before and white blouses and rain don’t mix (at least not when you’re trying to look professional and I was!). I ditched the top and went with something that didn’t have any chance of becoming sheer and a pencil skirt. Now, I have a very cute pair of black ballet flats that match any business outfit you can imagine but I also have a twenty minute walk to the train station and I was not going to risk getting my feet and stockings soaked and then having to sit in them all day, so I threw the shoes in my bag and put on my bright blue sneakers. These sneakers obviously didn’t match, but I’ve seen a lot of women do the same thing, their sneakers just haven’t been as neon as mine are.
Speaking of the bag I dropped my work shoes into, this would be a bag that I had packed the night before. It had things like deodorant, a binder/paper for taking notes, my lunch, a book to read on the train… all very sensible things. It also happens to be the same backpack I used in middle school. It is so old that it still has “Thommie” embroidered on the front pocket. I didn’t even have the benefit of it matching my sneakers because it is bright pink!
So, there I was, walking to my first ever office job, looking like a high schooler on a field trip.
I was, however, very thankful that my recent acquisitions from my parental unit included a new umbrella, because I got the umbrella that I brought with me to Chicago in the 5th grade and it is sized accordingly.
This was my first time dealing with morning rush on the train. I expected it to be crowded but what I did expect was the guy standing next to me. He wasn’t just standing next to me – he was actually asleep. It was weird, but I got to work without incident.
I actually got there very early. I got a visitor pass from the front desk and headed to the sixth floor. I am filling in as the receptionist at GATX (pronounce gee-ay-tee-ex, not gahtix) which a railcar leasing company. Yesterday, I was training with the actual receptionist and today I’m going solo. When I arrived, there was a picture of a railcar on my right and a wall on my left. Naturally, I went to the right and stood by the door, which meant that I was sort of hidden from view of anyone who was coming up the elevator. Since I was early, I had expected to wait, but what I didn’t know was that I was actually standing by the executive offices and that “wall” opened up into the reception area and normal people offices. The person who pointed me in the right direction was the CEO… Oops.
As I said, yesterday I was just training. The girl I’m filling in for is actually going to Boston for the weekend! I gave her tips on what to do and see and she told me about lots of bakeries in Chicago because she used to work at one. The job isn’t very challenging (totally just jinxed myself by writing that while I’m at work on my own…). My biggest problem was getting the company name right because when you’re nervous about answering your first few calls, GATX can end up sounding like JETX, GETX, TAGX, or gahtix, which I’ve already told you isn’t the name of the company.
The schedule is kind of nice because the day is broken up. Work starts at 8:15 and then I get a break from 10:30-11 (paid), lunch from 1-2 (not paid) and then the day ends at 4:45. It’s mainly phone calls and connecting people to whoever they want to talk to. I’d really like it if people spoke into the phone more clearly but I have to imagine that this is the bane of every receptionist’s existence.
After work, I went to Target because I was very close. I didn’t need a lot, but like I said, I was right there. Even though I was going home at what I would still consider to be rush hour, the train ride back to Logan Square was a lot more pleasant – far less crowded and no one was sleeping to my knowledge.
Despite just sitting at a desk for 7 hours, it had been a long day and I was exhausted, so I polished off the chocolate cake from Miss Ricky’s and went to bed (on my air mattress with sheets!).
And this morning it was back to the grind. No rain, but I still rocked my sneakers and backpack! I left a little earlier this morning to use the WiFi at Starbucks so the train wasn’t as crowded. One cool thing that happened was because I would be opening the office today, I didn’t have a visitor pass, but instead a temporary plastic card. It just says temporary card, but it clips onto my shirt, so it feels very official and fancy.
As I was turning on the lights, I ran into the mail lady, Cynthia, who might have had the best reaction to my name ever. She was having coffee with another woman and they asked for my name and when I said “Thomson,” they both responded with the usual “No, that can’t actually be your real name” deal. I assured them that it was and Cynthia burst out “Who your mama name you after?” Why yes, Cynthia, it is a family name, thanks for the laugh.
Even though I might have jinxed myself by saying the job was pretty easy, there haven’t been any disasters as I’m writing this (it’s 9:45am), just average phone calls and a leaking refrigerator on the 8th floor.
I’m able to write all of this today because they told me that I don’t need to just sit around twiddling my thumbs when there aren’t any phone calls to answer or things to be printed, so I opened up Microsoft Word and got to it. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post it since I’m not going to do that from the office, but writing it is a start.
P.S. I managed to post this pretty much exactly 24 hours after writing it from my dad's hotel room.
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