THE RECEPTIONIST: Another Day in the Life

If I'm being honest, today wasn't a bad day, as many of them have been. Today was quite normal actually which is why this guy stood out from all others, I suppose.  I call him "the speller" because he spelled everything to me.  As I sat there, I was trying to figure out if he thought I was dumb or if he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't.  Or, maybe he thought I was cute and wanted to impress me with his high IQ.  Who knows.  The conversation went like this:   Me: "Hi. Who are you here to see?"   Him: "Marvin David. D.A.V.I.D."  (I paused and smiled at him to see if he was seriously spelling David to me. He was. I acknowledged what he said and went on.    Me: "Okay. What is your last name?"   Him: "Robert Smith. R.O.B.E.R.T. S.M.I.T.H" (Okay first of all I said last name...  I thought to myself, why is he spelling these easy names to me? I looked around to see if there was a hidden camera somewhere and paused to...

I should begin this thing by first admitting to you and to myself, although guardedly, that I probably don’t have the best attitude about this Reception job anymore do to the abundant idiotic interactions forced upon me due to my subservient standing in this company. I was always under the (unfortunate) impression that most people, I’ll pick a number and say 80 percent, would naturally respect someone who is kind and intelligent, hard-working, and helpful. Just as disastrous was my belief that at least half of the remaining 20 percent would come over to the winning side—the side with me on it—once they got to know this charming person and saw her smile. (Still talking about me.) I should also confess early on that hardly anything anyone can say in response to whatever I write in this website of personal experiences will be a necessary conversion factor…if the intention is to remind me about peace, love, and humanity. On the contrary, the main purpose of this blog is simply...