Dear Diary . . . day by day

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2001 - Foccacia Girl
My new PO Box is:
Heather Shaw
P.O. Box 13222
Berkeley, CA 94712-4222
Ms. X said something today that I explained a lot about her. She said,
"I'm from the East Coast, and you could eat off the floors there, the hospital floor was so clean."
Not only does that explain her excessively professional demeanor and dress for a hospital in downtown Oakland, but it also explains why she asked me, "What's Foccacia?" when I was ordering sandwiches today. I also had to define "peruse" for her when she accused me of making a type-o in a letter I wrote today, but that's another problem altogether, I think.
Not to insult my East Coast friends, but there is a more demanding pace set back there, which is why many of us live out here. She's moving too fast for her department. If she's not careful, she's going to crash and burn.
Not that I'll have to be around to see it. I called my temp agency and Denise, my contact there, was shocked to hear my voice, "Heather, I've never heard you sound like this before."
My voice was shaking, you see. I had just worked from 7:30 - 3:30 without so much as a 5 minute break. I had been given a huge pile of work to do then made to sit in meetings with Ms. X and take her notes for her all afternoon. Sorry, but I didn't have time to type them up - oh, would I do overtime early tomorrow morning?
I said yes, but at this point I wish I hadn't. I don't care how much per hour it is. I have to get out of there.
Luckily, my agent got a copy of the real job description and was totally, "This is ridiculous! This is a $60,000 a year job! This is not what they contracted for!" Denise is way cool; she's all, "Don't worry, I've got your back."
I love my temp agency. They treat their temps well.
Anyway, I'm going to tell you the story of Ms. X and her office, but it will have to wait. I have to shower and get to sleep soon so I can work overtime tomorrow morning.
Hopefully my temp agency will yank me sometime midday. I'm too much of a Foccacia Girl to handle that woman and her meetings any longer.
PS I finally checked my email after I wrote this, and I just wanted to thank those of you who wrote in with support and advice. You were almost all dead-on: go with your gut. But it's always nice to hear that you think I'm making the right decision :-)
Exercise log:
I'm feeling like shit because the only exercise I get is walking to and from work twice a day. And stretching, but not enough. I really, really need to workout, but I might have to get a backrub first to get the kinks out of my neck. Argh.
Writing log:
About half a new story with characters that I'm so far very into. Yay!
I'm currently reading:
Reading now:
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Watcher's Guide by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder
The Writer - Janurary 2001 (magazine)
Still reading, off and on:
Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier

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