"Working Girl:" A Journal of Blood, Sweat, and Heels

Entry #1

I gave up my summer for this. I have to keep telling myself that sacrifices will pay off. I haven’t seen the returns yet, but investments like this are like mutual funds. You’re not supposed to look at the day-to-day fluctuations; the long term results count, not the tiny ups and downs.

Listen to me; I’m supposed to be an English major. I’ve only been at the magazine a week, and the environment has already had its effects on me. The building itself is a bit of a homogenized oddity; I should be a floor below with the rest of the editing staff, but the interns were moved to an empty office upstairs in the financial department. The numbers are getting to me, and I can’t even see them; they make the air on this floor taste like stress. The young financial-experts-in-training stop by with their coffee, energy drinks, and other legal uppers, ready to escape. I wish I were in their boat.

When the job description said filing, I hoped I wouldn’t be filing my nails for five hours. Honestly, I’d rather be doing menial jobs than stuck at a computer screen wondering why I’m not back home with a good book on the beach. You’d think a job at Your Company Here Magazines would be riveting, stressful, and all together a life-changing experience. Instead, I can’t wait for the next new person to lean against the doorjamb and eerily whisper, “So this is Cleveland Basak’s old office…”

As rumor has it, Cleveland Basak used to occupy this office. About a week before we were moved, a huge game of Musical Office commenced. Cleveland Basak cleared out of this double-sized office looking out on 85th street and took Joan Garrett’s triple-sized 6th Ave view. Joan took the corner that used to belong to Ted Ringer. Funny thing is that Ted left, and no one seems to know why. Amy thinks even our four, stoic, colorless walls are powerless against the aura Cleveland Basak left behind; it’s so powerful that none of us can call him anything besides “Cleveland Basak.” Emily’s theory on the aura is that Ted was off-ed for his office space. Maybe that’s why no one speaks about Cleveland Basak above a whisper.

If the aura of Cleveland Basak is floating around the office, I wonder if he can still tune into it. I wonder if he can read this…

I wonder if I’m as bad as the rest of them…