What DO I do?

Well, as I replied in my comment section, I am working in Corporate America! I am a secretary for a couple of Trust and Estate agents. Today I basically did nothing. I answered the phone about 3 times, got the mail and read the my issue of TRACE as well as my newest Jhumpa Lahiri fix, the namesake.

This morning I had to go get fingerprinted and get a drug test. With random directions on papers, I navigated my way from Wall Street up to Park Avenue for my new month-long assignment. When I got to my offices, I was introduced to the 4 people I'd be helping out and then promptly left to stare at my cubicle. Thank goodness for my foresight to bring some reading material! But essentially this is what I do:

There are ppl in this workd who have a lot of $$. So much so, that they there are lots of other ppl employed to manage/invest/push around the rich folks' $$. In fact, I work for such ppl, and as I've signed over my life including detailed fingerprints - of every single finger (twice), as well as the necessary identifying numbers and photographs, I'm obliged to protect myself by not saying too much (THAT'S how they keep the masses subjugated. I always wondered why the menial workers of the corporate world didn't just up and overthrow-because we've signed over our souls, or at least signed some legal document that said that everything, most importantly our exploitation, is highly confidential). All this hoopla because I'll be sorting mail, transferring calls and making memos regarding Mr. John Doe*'s trusts and estates.

My top 5 moments of the day:

5) Meeting one of the VPs I'll be helping out:

"Hell-OO, I am soooo glad you are here. We just need a body, SOMEone to be here. I deal with a lot of...older people, who freak out if they call and get an answering machine. Sometimes I'm away at my desk and on the phone, so just tell them that I'm in the building and will return their call promply. They need human interaction, you know, because they just get really uptight if they don't speak with someone. Most likely, we'll all answer our own phone calls, so you don't really have to worry about that. But occassionally I might be on another line, or away from my desk, and if my clients, I deal with a lot of older people, if they don't hear a human voice, it's just like it's the end of the world, you know what I mean? So am I HAPPY to have you here. WELCOME."

4) Listening to one of the officers I work with call a client about a transaction:

"Hi, Ms. Doe, this is Jane over at Corporate America Business #1, yes, I just wanted to let you know that we've transferred the $16,000.00 into your account for Johnny's tuition payment. Yes, yes, that's correct. Yes, definitely, you should see the balance in your account immediately. Yes, of course, hope that helps. Take care."

3) Listening to said officer gossip with a different VP:

Officer (O): "Is Ms. Doe on drugs, I swear she sounded DRUGGED up when I called her earlier."
Vice-Prez (VP): "Yes, she's addicted to morphine. She can't survive without the stuff, did she sound weird?"
O: "Yeah, I couldn't understand a word she said and she sounded like she was on something."
VP: "Yeah, and they subscribed some pills for her, you know those pills that came out of the expense line from the ---"
O: "Yeah, yeah"
VP: "Well, those are suppossedly to wean her off the morphine."
O: "Wow, well she certainly sounded drugged up."
VP: "Yep, she's addicted to morphine."

2) Learning my new word of the day: fiduciary. Let's use it in a sentence: A trustee is a fiduciary.

Hmm, I decided to go to the basics. What is a trust? A creation of Anglo-American law establishing that a person may have a cognizable legal interest in property where title to the property is held by another.

1) Plugging into my iPod on the train ride home. (Sorry to disappoint, no really cool happenings here).


Welcome to my new world.

*All names have been changed for my legal protection.