How to break into the business... the old fashioned way

So, my passion in life is television.

Not only am I passionate about watching it (hey, who needs sleep?!) but I want to work in it. I want to get into the nitty gritty, production work, deal with the lame actors, read the scripts, and make the magic happen.

Even if it means working as a production assistant for a reality show (Nanny 911...)

Even if it means working as an intern for an outrageous talk show (The Maury Show?)

With the stars in my eyes from reading all the wonderful internship descriptions on network websites (example below*), it was a little hard for me to accept that yes, I will have to start out by working on shows that I snub on a regular basis. Hopefully that will impress my future employers.


* This is the description of one of NBC's corporate internships:
Program Standards & Compliance
Intern's function: Assist in reviewing and monitoring all East Coast based shows (aka watch lots and lots of TV)for content with an eye toward standards; making notes on content and compliance. Will gather audience feedback on all shows (talk to people about TV) and keep VP and Sr. Director (get to know management)apprised of ratings and press. Will also help in implementing and tracking TV parental guideline ratings and advisories for all shows.

Boring office girl

So, I very much slacked on blogging about my work experience. In addition, I forgot all of the ideas for posts. Except this one.

The office is in a two-story building which houses the company I work for and three others. It was a little awkward running into people I didn't recognize, because they never said anything to me. After working there for about a week, I noticed that there was a woman who was stealing all my routines.

During my lunch break, she was out in the lobby, sitting on a chair and reading a book. That's what I wanted to do! Whore. I brought my book over, smiled at her even though she wasn't looking, and started reading. I saw her look over at my book to try and read the title. Mine was about independent film. Hers was a trashy gossip novel.

She looked like the most boring person in the universe. She never got phone calls, she wore conventional and super-boring office clothes, and her hair was just as quiet as she was. But in spite of all these undeniable flaws, she glanced at me as though she was better than me. I assume this was a form of her jealousy (no one is better than me).

For the rest of my temp assignment, I would go out and sit on the chair, reading my book. She read her book much faster, I can assume this is because she has nothing to do after work. I let her look at me uncomfortably as I sat in very unprofessional positions (i.e. taking my shoes off and sitting with my feet on the chair).

It got pretty bad when one day I walked into the bathroom as she was leaving a stall. MY stall. Bitch! I used it anyway, but I made sure to put a toilet cover on it.

Worshipped by the office

The place I am temping for: everybody loves me. They want to marry me (well... in office terms. They want to hire me). But they can't, because the person I'm temping for is the boss' daughter. Oops! It's great to hear comments like these:

- "Christy never does that..."
- "Wow, none of the mail I got was misfiled!"
- "You already sent that mail?"
- "You answer every phone call?"
- "Wow, you keep the desk clean."
- "Don't get me wrong, I like her, but..."
- "That was fast!! It would have taken her weeks to do that... wait. She wouldn't have done it at all."
- "It's not a question of when she would do that. It's a question of if she could." (This is in reference to photocopying. Wow)

All of these comments have led me to one conclusion: in the work world, "over-achieving" simply means that you do the bare minimum.

When you do something extra, people get confused.