Voices
“You are ignoring me! Come over here and help me right now!” May, 2014. I had been awake since 4:30 in the morning and hadn’t had anything to eat for nearly seven hours. I had just been moved to a new workstation so that the supervisor, Bob, and another temp worker could have their lunch break. In the shuffle, I had lost my lunch break and no one had taught me how the software at the self-service stations worked, other than to say “It’s pretty self-explanatory.” I was told to stand by the printer and distribute the printouts, and not to leave that position. The irate doctor on the other side of the desk was, like everyone else, trying to obtain a certificate of attendance at this medical conference. He probably thought I was a pretty face with an empty head, unwilling or unable to do any real work. Maybe he was right. Less than two days ago, I had been fired from a near dream-job with a downtown marketing firm. I’d worked for months, waited for over a year for the o