An 11 1/2 hour work day. Could life get any better?
I was driving to work today on 101 N. I was in the left lane when someone cut in front of the car in front of me and then slammed on the brakes (for whatever reason.) So the car in front of me slammed in their brakes, which caused me to slam on my brakes, which caused the car in back of me to slam on their brakes. A car which just so happened to be not a car, but a very large Ford Explorer, which was pee-in-your-pants close to me. So I watch the Explorer in my rear view mirror try to stop and skid around the lane and the surrounding lanes, while smoke billowed from its tires. All the while I was thinking, “Oh dear.” Oh dear, and tread separation. It was an Explorer, after all. But fortunately, I escaped without so much as a scratch. Except the huge scratch which is already on my car, that is. All in all, a very good way to wake up in the morning. Better than Starbucks.
When you’re in the same cubicle from 8:30am until 8:00pm, there are things you start to notice. I figured out how they get people to work such long hours. You see, the room my cube is in faces West. So as the sun gets closer to setting, it actually gets brighter in the room. And instinctively, the naive employee thinks, “Hey. Look how bright it is. Since I can’t see over the walls of my cubicle, I must assume that this is because it is still early in the day. Oh boy! Still 14 hours left to work!”
There was a virus running around work today. I received it 17 times. Anarachy.
As I was leaving, there was something very familiar about the feel of the building. Yes, something very familiar. Then it hit me: EFI is just one huge Sweet Hall. Consider this, if you will. There are way more cars there at 8pm than 8:30am. All cars that are there in the morning are either interns like me trying to make up hours they will miss tomorrow, or people who haven’t left yet from the night before. There’s even a camper in the parking lot. No joke. Also, the obvious parallel — huge rooms filled with tons of computers. There is the mandatory large window so that you can enjoy the sunrise while you work. Or sunset, in my case. And fluorescent lights. Gotta keep up the pasty complexion. Dirty keyboards. (Not too happy about that one… at least mine is clean.) And now the kicker: when I entered the elevator at 8pm to go home, what did I smell? Pizza. I rest my case. So, secure in my geekdom, I promptly bought a Dreamcast and ate Taco Bell. Yum yum.
