Mother Hen

I started work at The Switch on Monday and although I felt like a complete dumbass on my first day, I survived my first week without any major screw-ups and I’m happy for that.

I got a little bonus on my first day when I walked in to find that the guy who was training me was somebody I had met before at an Xmas party a couple of years ago - it’s always nice to be able to skip the formal introductions and get straight to the “How the hell did you get home? Man, I was all fucked up that night” conversation. The TV technical world is a remarkably small one.

So anyway, first day nerves aside it was an educational week - my only worry for the new job is my new manager who is this sweet but intensely annoying Mother Hen character. His trip is going to get old real fast, here’s some examples:

“We always try to write our rolodex cards in pencil so we can re-use them”

“If you use too much white-out the paper will get wet”

“This is called the internet. You have heard of it?”

Yes, I have heard of it. In fact, I use it for everything from ordering cat food to buying plane tickets and downloading pornography.

The basic problem is that he is pretty old (I’d guess around 70, he told me August will mark his 50th year in the business) and he spent most of his life in Panama working on ticker-tape machines and shortwave radio transmitters. This is all very well (and believe me, He has some interesting stories) but it doesn’t cover up the fact that he is vastly out of touch. Oh, and he also has the worst halitosis I’ve ever encountered. He talks quietly so sometimes you have to lean towards him to hear, DO NOT MAKE THAT MISTAKE! It’s like being punched by Mike Tyson!

“Did you have jobbies for lunch again?”


Today, Alma and I are off to look at apartments to buy. This is a heart-breaking experience in NYC as everything is so damn expensive that you are really left wondering if there is any point. We are looking in the $250K - $350K and all we have seen so far are one-bedroom apartments. 2-bedrooms are in the $500K range and houses now head towards a million! It’s a fucking nightmare.

We have already given up on the idea of ever living in Manhattan since you’ll pay a million for a 500 sq ft Studio. Brooklyn is going the same way unfortunately so today we are heading Uptown towards The Cloisters and Columbia University. It’s a part of town I am completely unfamiliar with but it does seem to hold a few apartments in our price range. We’ll see………………