Life at Scholastic

Well, this is the beginning of Week 5 of my 10-month contract, so I thought I'd post about my workplace, for a change. :)

My supervisor seems a bit scatter-brained from time to time, but it's justifiable, as she appears to be co-ordinating activities between Studio, Production and Editors. The other freelancers are all easy-going, and the ones who've worked here previously are very helpful. The guy who sits beside me has a tendency to be a little too helpful: telling me things that I learned in Graphic Design 101, like how to lay out a page for readability, but I know he's just trying to ease my transition here, so I can't complain too much. He's also eased up on constantly making sure I have something to do. I still don't get where he was coming from with that, but I don't really care enough to ask him directly. The point is that I can now kill time as I please.

As strange as it is for me to be posting this picture, the quality of a washroom facility can really make or break a placement. Out here, there's a secluded hallway with several, compartmentalized washrooms. Each has a toilet, a toilet paper holder (with two giant rolls of TP, no less), a really cool sink, soap and a paper towel dispenser. The two washrooms that are on exterior walls have frosted glass, while each successive washroom has a frosted plexiglass window between it and the next washroom. I gotta say, I'm impressed. Another place I've been to in the studio district had a single washroom for a floor with as many people, and it was a scary-looking place, with a toilet that looked like it didn't work half the time, plumbing that had obviously seen some troubles and a door that didn't close properly.

Here's a picture of the two flights of stairs I climb twice daily (lunchtime being the other time, of course). Some of the full-timers here will not climb the stairs, for whatever reason, electing to use the elevator(!) instead. While I could see the fact that it's a straightaway being a concern if I'm in wet shoes, I can't imagine not bothering to climb two flights...but then, I don't know if there are medical conditions involved, or something.