Day six in the office, day one of classes for undergraduates. Oh, cruel office with ample windows! I spent all day wishing I could go to class. Any class, any professor, I don't care! On top of that, the weather was absolute bliss, yet the air conditioning was blasting all day so I was a frozen mess of reluctant office drone. I can't wait to get on the road!
Today I occupied myself by looking up the location of Frank Lloyd Wright houses in New Jersey and planning my personal itinerary for in between school visits. Then someone gave me real work to do so I spent hours trying to get in touch with counselors who still have not responded to our visit requests. Half of them said I was already on their calendar for the time I requested... it would have been nice if they had checked the box on the form and put the BRE in the mail so I didn't have to track them down. My favorite call of the day was a small private school:
Me: Hi, could I please speak to someone in guidance?
What sounded like a student aide: Sorry, no one's there. You can talk to the receptionist?
Me: ...
I don't know what category of creature the receptionist was in to count as "no one," but she was a perfectly lovely android or ewok or inferius. I'm not sure if she was the same nice person who told me she wasn't sure if I could visit because their students "don't normally show the initiative to meet with college counselors." If so, they were immediately removed from my schedule and I will never get to meet the robot receptionist.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
In the Beginning...
So after months of saying, "I should totally write a book or something about the insane people I meet every day," I've decided to be narcissistic and start a blog. Besides, what else am I going to do with my life now that I've graduated?
I've been a tour guide for years because I love my school. (Loved my school?) I was so happy with my experiences that I really wanted to share them with others. And, as dorky as it sounds, I always thought the admissions process was fun and wanted to live vicariously through the people I was meeting. Then senior year rolled around and, as you can imagine, I was having trouble finding a job. My school hires one or two seniors each year to be a temporary recruiter in the fall. I applied, interviewed, and fortuitously for me the person they wanted for the job turned them down. So now I'm the official roadrunner. Until December, that is, when I return to unemployment and existential terror.
I officially started as roadrunner Monday, which was a surprise to everyone in the office including my immediate supervisor. Normally roadrunners start during the first week of classes, but apparently that's just been a coincidence the past few years because I was supposed to start at the beginning of the pay period. I found out it was my first day roughly fifteen minutes before lunch, so I had been tour guiding that morning. Naturally I had to give one of the most painful tours of my life when I really was no longer working in that capacity. (It's never a good sign when the very first question the mom asks you is, "If she has special dietary needs I can email the dining hall and they'll make special meals for her, right?" *facepalm*) So instead of two weeks in the office learning the ropes, I get three. It sounds wonderful, but there's only so much I have to do in the office. My schedule for school visits is made for me to prevent the universe from exploding with disorganization, so I've basically spent a week organizing my calendars (that's right, plural) and booking hotels for dates that are completely set in stone. Unfortunately we're still waiting on some schools who don't start until after labor day and don't have summer hours (must be nice!) to get back to us, so I've pretty much exhausted all possible options for real or pretend work within the first five days. On September 15th I have my first official college fair, and then I head out on the road for three months.
As with any job involving high volumes of interpersonal interaction, I've met some amazing families through admissions. I've been tempted several times to ask families to adopt me or, at the very least, invite me over for Thanksgiving dinner. Then there are the families who you wish you forget. And then, a much larger category than the other two, there are people who are perfectly pleasant but don't leave much of an impression. Obviously we won't be discussing that category very much. But get ready. I think this new job will be pretty fun.
I've been a tour guide for years because I love my school. (Loved my school?) I was so happy with my experiences that I really wanted to share them with others. And, as dorky as it sounds, I always thought the admissions process was fun and wanted to live vicariously through the people I was meeting. Then senior year rolled around and, as you can imagine, I was having trouble finding a job. My school hires one or two seniors each year to be a temporary recruiter in the fall. I applied, interviewed, and fortuitously for me the person they wanted for the job turned them down. So now I'm the official roadrunner. Until December, that is, when I return to unemployment and existential terror.
I officially started as roadrunner Monday, which was a surprise to everyone in the office including my immediate supervisor. Normally roadrunners start during the first week of classes, but apparently that's just been a coincidence the past few years because I was supposed to start at the beginning of the pay period. I found out it was my first day roughly fifteen minutes before lunch, so I had been tour guiding that morning. Naturally I had to give one of the most painful tours of my life when I really was no longer working in that capacity. (It's never a good sign when the very first question the mom asks you is, "If she has special dietary needs I can email the dining hall and they'll make special meals for her, right?" *facepalm*) So instead of two weeks in the office learning the ropes, I get three. It sounds wonderful, but there's only so much I have to do in the office. My schedule for school visits is made for me to prevent the universe from exploding with disorganization, so I've basically spent a week organizing my calendars (that's right, plural) and booking hotels for dates that are completely set in stone. Unfortunately we're still waiting on some schools who don't start until after labor day and don't have summer hours (must be nice!) to get back to us, so I've pretty much exhausted all possible options for real or pretend work within the first five days. On September 15th I have my first official college fair, and then I head out on the road for three months.
As with any job involving high volumes of interpersonal interaction, I've met some amazing families through admissions. I've been tempted several times to ask families to adopt me or, at the very least, invite me over for Thanksgiving dinner. Then there are the families who you wish you forget. And then, a much larger category than the other two, there are people who are perfectly pleasant but don't leave much of an impression. Obviously we won't be discussing that category very much. But get ready. I think this new job will be pretty fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)