Happy Friday all! Today is day three of the new temp job. I am working in the Office of Veterans Affairs for the Commonwealth located on-base at Fort Indiantown Gap, the home of the PA National Guard. It also serves as a training facility for the Army. I work under a two-star general who is still active and wears his uniform. My little division, however, is pretty laid back and my direct boss, Brian, is a veteran of the Marines.
It's interesting here. I go through two security checkpoints to get in to the building but the building itself is pretty unimpressive. Lots of photos of generals, lots of military artwork and flags so that's interesting to look at. The office I'm in is a gopher farm. For those of you who don't get that reference it's a bunch of cubicles and you see people's heads pop up over the cube so it looks like gophers.
I am surrounded by quite the cast of characters. One lady, Deb, looks like a brunette version of the costume lady from "The Incredibles" and sounds like Carol Channing's younger, chain-smoking sister. I've trained with her and her breath is a heinous mix of coffee and cigarettes. Then we have Malinda (yes, I spelled that correctly) who looks like if cartoon characters Cathy and Dilbert had a child. Young Kalli is a Pennsyltucky Avril Lavigne but a pretty cool kid. Michael is kind of a douchebag but he's quiet and keeps to himself mostly so it's not too bad. He can't be over 28 but he walks all stooped over in a leather jacket looking like an Al Pacino character, complete with slicked back black hair. Barb and Jen 1 are just nice. Jen 2 is sweet and fun but she has this weird habit if laughing after every single thing she says whether she's trying to be funny or not. It's unsettling sometimes. Phil...oh boy. Phil is an Army vet from Brooklyn. He's only 52 but has a very large family and grandkids as old as 16. He's a fun guy, always joking around. He's very boisterous and for some unknown reason he carries a large switchblade that he loves to show off. I'm stunned he can bring it in here! He wears a leather vest every day and has tons of items hanging around his neck like his badge and dog tags but also other badges and pins and such. Sophie. Where do I start?? My first day Sophie was telling me about when she worked downtown and about all the black people then somehow she started on the mexicans. Sophie is from a tiny mountain town in the coal region and seems to have lived a pretty sheltered life in terms of exposure to diversity. I thought she was in her early 60s but it turns out she's only 53. She is loud and chatty and outspoken and every other word is an f bomb. She is a real piece of work.
Wow, I started this post nearly two months ago! It's now March 12 and life here at the Gap is going along fine. The money is still crap but I enjoy the people I work with; they are very entertaining. I am now doing a lot of accounting work (ironic for someone who sucks at math) and working on a database for the PA Veterans Memorial. I inherited quite a mess. The woman I am sitting in for, as well as her predecessor, seem to have been just awful at this job. In going through all of her stuff I found bills from 2009 that were unpaid, memorial orders that were never filled or were completely lost and a plethora of other things that were never done or organized. I am happy to say that I believe I have found everything and fixed things. My supervisors are very pleased and grateful. No one wants this lady to come back. Every 30 days or so she updates her return date for later and later. I believe she has until late June before they no longer have to keep her job open for her so hopefully I can stay until then.
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| View of the Gap from the front of our building |
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