after the road-trip record ends at chicago, there is a page with two phone numbers (one 800, one 718) and the mysterious range “8–12.” the very last page of the chococat notebook holds a temporary i.d. badge sticker:

from the earlier temp records, I can see this is from a reception job at a place called JP Strategies (November 20th, $12/hour). it was an investment company and everyone there seemed incredibly unhappy. I hung up and misdirected phone calls throughout the day. the contact name Lydia brings back memories of one of the crankiest ladies I’ve ever met. she was annoyed because the temp who was supposed to be there all week had gotten sick after the first day. there was some confusion about whether the original temp would be healthy enough to return the following day or if they would need me again. she gave me some attitude that the temp agency, and me by association, didn’t seem to have their stuff together. one of the agency reps called me later to apologize and assure me that they wouldn’t send me back there regardless of the health of the other temp.

at some point during the day I slipped out from behind the reception desk to take this photo, worried one of those miserable workers would suddenly appear to catch me in the act, and I’d get in trouble.

it’s strange that all of this represents things that happened five years ago, but then appropriate to find it now that I am headed back to nyc.