Internshipping

I'm currently traveling in the dizzyingly monotonous world of a white collar professional. I wear blazers, heels, long skirts and spend hours in a cubicle. I’m in New York, so I wear a shit-ton of black. Manhattan white collar professionals, ironically, love black. Black collar workers would fit better for this area of business (Also it sounds more intense and mysterious, and who doesn’t love a little mystery?) I’m working in the cubicle of a woman who is currently on maternity leave. She left about five pairs of size 8 ½ shoes in her bottom desk drawer, in addition to family photos. In the right corner of her desk are pictures of her husband and her on their wedding day, their beautiful Arian baby boy, and their adorable sandy colored dog. Sometimes while staring off into the depths of my computer monitor I wonder if people walk by and think “why does that young dark complexioned lady have photos of a blond couple in wedding attire and baby on her desk?” I think it would be funny if they did. People here need a little bit of funny.

I work on the 7th floor of a 28 story office building. I got this internship because my good ol’ pops works here. He works on the same floor; on the other side. We’re part of the private banking division. His side of the floor is a little more upbeat. There are bond traders over there so it sounds kind of like a backyard party compared to my area of the floor which sounds like a doctor’s office waiting room. From my desk I can see into three offices. Offices are quite luxurious; they typically have windows so they can see outside! I can see outside by peering into one of the office’s windows. Some offices have televisions, and artwork. Most importantly an office means no one can see what you’re doing on your computer, and your phone conversations are not overheard by about 30 people, like in the cubicle region. Those guys could be playing Tetris for hours and I would have no idea; that’s pretty stellar. From my desk, I can see what 5 people are doing at all times…not that I care, but I’m just saying, someone’s always watching.

As I neglect my critical intern duties I drift into a land of profound thoughts. First about the overwhelming amount of time spent in this cubicle for people who do this full time, and just how short weekends are. Then I think about people with young kids that live in the ‘burbs.

They get up; clean their kids, make breakfast, pack lunch, and get them off to camp or school, then they get ready. Following that is their commute to work where they remain for upwards of 8 hours. After which they commute home, feed and clean their kids, help them with homework and, lecture them about not being bad. Sometime in all of this they manage to attend games, parent teacher conferences, bring their kids on vacations, pay bills, upkeep their home and for those overachievers- exercise. Even if they have a fantastic housekeeper and nanny, there’s still more going in their day to day than on an episode of a trashy teen drama show. It blows my mind when I think of all my parents have done and I question if I could ever do all that.
…In other more random thoughts, I realized how pointless and funny ties are. They are the silliest accessory ever, and it means that mostly all macho business men accessorize, I would like someone to break the news to them. Back to work.