The Pit

Oh my goodness! What a day I had today! I had to cover for the superintendent’s secretary today because she couldn’t make it to work. Sounds easy, right? Just answer the phone, type a few memos. OH MY GOODNESS! It was far from easy! The superintendent is the worst procrastinator around! I had this list of tasks to do when I arrived at 8AM. There were two stacks of envelopes that had little sticky notes on them. They both said, “There will be a letter included…ask for them.” So I did. I asked the super for the letters to be included with both stacks. AT 8AM. An hour later, he comes out of his office with a letter for me to type. It had nothing to do with the envelopes…it was something completely different. No biggie, I just made new envelopes for the new letters. Then I once again reminded him I needed the other letters.

He said, “Okay, I’ll get right on that. Thanks for reminding me.”

So then the mail arrives. I not only sort the mail by building (Thank goodness we only have 3 buildings.) but I have to open all of the envelopes for the super because that’s what his secretary does. Then he comes out and tells me the desk is a mess.

I said, “I know, but I’m almost done sorting and it will be clean again. Do you have letters for me to type?”

“Oh yeah”, he says. “I’ll get right on that.”

I get a few phone calls…send a few faxes…learn to use the postage meter. Then it’s lunch time.

I return from lunch he says, “I’m going to take my lunch now. Do you have enough to do?”

I said, “That depends, have you written the letters?”

“Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder. I’ll do that as soon as I get back.”

Aaarrrggghhh! All he needed to do was thank a few people for applying and congratulate the others for getting hired. I reminded him again as soon as he returned from his lunch. I had to make about 30 packets that were about 40 pages each. It took me an hour just to do one because the machine kept jamming up. Finally, the elementary secretary came to pick up the mail for her building. The super asked her if she would please make the copies on their machine. She agreed and for that I’m eternally grateful. The thing is, it took forever even on her machine. He made a last addition so I had to wait until I got them back to add the last page. I was supposed to leave at 4PM but the packets didn’t come back until 4:40.

Meanwhile, I get the “I’m sorry we didn’t hire you” letter and get that typed up and ready to mail. Now it’s 4PM. The phone rings. It’s one of the applicants and she wants to know if she got hired.

I hear the super tell her “Yes, congratulations! You’ll be getting a letter in the mail that tells you about our breakfast Monday morning and more information about your position.”

He said more, but that’s the part that stuck out in my mind. I wait for him to hang up and then go into his office.

“You know what? Applicant A isn’t going to get anything in her mail box just yet because I’ve been asking your for the letter since 8AM so I could stuff her envelope and you haven’t given it to me yet.”

“Oh, I didn’t? Thanks for reminding me. I’ll do that right now.”

So I sat down…right there in his office and waited until he wrote it. It took me 2 minutes to type it up, if that. Another 2 to get it in the envelope and run through the postage meter. When the elementary secretary finally showed up, we put the packets together and left at 4:50.

On our way out the door, he says, “Thanks ladies, everyone gets a 10 minute bonus today. I’ll mark your cards for 5:00.” (Funny thing is, when we punch out past 45 minutes after the hour, we get the whole hour, anyway.)

Gee, thanks, Mr. Super. An extra 10 minutes on my paycheck. Hahaha I’m just glad the day is finally over. I have new respect for his secretary. If he’s like this every day, she’s a saint for putting up with him.

The elementary secretary gave me a ride home and on the way she said, “I’ve subbed in that office before. I call it The Pit.”

Thanks for the warning!