The most exciting thing that I did during Winter Break was successfully operate the Xerox Document Center at The Roanoke Times newspaper in Roanoke.
I say this with no hint of irony. I am sincere in my claim. Amidst New Year's celebrations, visiting friends and relaxing at home, the most rewarding experience of the past month was the creation of a double-sided phone list for my employer.
As an editorial assistant for the paper, I tended to many important tasks in the newsroom, like delivering faxes to the reporters and answering phones. As I typed real estate transfers and livestock reports, I became acutely aware of just how crucial my involvement was to the success of the newspaper in general. Each conversation with an irate reader, unsatisfied with the day's crossword puzzle or adamant about the inaccuracy of the weather report, reminded me of my place and purpose.
The other E.A.s (as we were called) liked having me around to do what they considered grunt work. Having worked at the paper far longer than I had and having thus acquired additional (read "real") responsibilities, they had precious little time to be concerned with belligerent callers and distributing mail. I, on the other hand, had all the time in the world for such pursuits. During the four weeks I worked at the newspaper, my co-workers reaped the benefits of my gopher-like eagerness. Confusing my willingness to perform with veiled bitterness, my colleagues often apologized for asking me to do the jobs that they so loathed. Time and time again I assured them I truly enjoyed completing their menial assignments.
What the other E.A.s failed to realized was that the very tasks that they found most insignificant and therefore irksome were the ones that I most looked forward to doing. At the end of the day, they were judged by the number of people they interviewed and the length of their stories. Consequently, they dreaded the time lost to sorting mail and fielding calls. I, on the other hand, had few interviews to conduct and even fewer stories to write. Thus, I spent my days updating lists, cleaning file cabinets and shuttling messages.
The jobs that I performed guaranteed me instant gratification, and therefore, great pleasure. I arrived at work every morning at 8 a.m. When I left eight hours later I could count on the tremendous feeling of happy relief that comes from a hard day's work. Never mind that the work often consisted of shuffling papers and such. No matter. By gleefully doing the things that no one else wanted to do, and doing them well, I could count on gratitude, praise and the general self-satisfaction that comes from a job well done.
Despite my work over break, I'm a little worried about starting class again today. I'm sure that my professors will require more than data entry and being polite to customers. Quite frankly, I'm not uite sure I'm interested in the challenge. During break, I grew adept at meeting my supervisors' expectations and felt my confidence soar. I had no papers, no tests, no study groups and I was praised mightily for mastering the Xerox machine. The way I see it, I was successful in many regards.
I can't promise anyone great grades this semester. I don't know if I'll be able to read enough, think hard enough, or go to class enough. But I can tell you this: If you need a phone list updated or a file cabinet professionally cleaned, I'm the woman for the job. This much I already know.
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