Walking in to Publicis again today felt a bit odd. After the obligatory “Welcome back,” Juliette introduced herself. (This is the same Juliette whose office I occupied the last time I was on assignment at Publicis. It was nice to finally put a face to the gleanings gathered from reading her walls.)
In short order, Juliette directed me to a dark, well-used cubicle resembling a teenager’s bedroom more than a professional workspace. Left to make myself comfortable, I quickly settled in with a Mountain Dew and a bag of gummy bears. Hmm. No windows this time.
The standard issue overhead office lights in the production department remain turned off, accentuating a relaxed atmosphere. Well-selected MP3 playlists continue their advance, filling the air from one of the G4′s on the far wall. Someone was quietly taking a personal call on the other side of my cube’s wall, and there’s random conversation from the pedestrian traffic, but there’s very little activity beyond the music.
Twenty minutes into the assignment… and still no word on what I’m supposed to be working on. I sure am glad I had that initial welcome, ’cause at the moment there’s no evidence that anyone even knows I’m here.
At around 2:30, a half-an-hour after I walked in, Juliette rounded the corner of my borrowed cube and asked to talk. Meeting in her office, she briefly explained the circumstances of my employment. It turns out that the department has been burning the candles at both ends, and that the regular employees were sent home to sleep. The company is ready to pitch to Coinstar, so they’re making sure they have enough people available to accommodate the changing need. She also explained that they don’t really know how late and how early they’ll need me, and I assured her that I could accommodate any reasonable requests. She finished by inviting me to surf the web or make phone calls as needed during the downtime. Cool.
People continued to arrive as the end of the usual business day approached. I spent about an hour-and-a-half converting various images into RGB JPEGs for a Powerpoint Presentation, but spent the rest of the afternoon in a holding pattern. I’m really not bothered. They know that I’m waiting for the next thing, and I know that they don’t know when the next thing will come.
More importantly, I’d like to take this moment to tell you that I am extremely pleased to have this opportunity. Working an assignment right up to Thanksgiving provides a welcome and constructive distraction from my recent concerns. Having downtime on assignment provides me with a fresh space to sort out a few concerns. Anyway, after yesterday’s little mix-up I’m delighted to find myself with three days of work instead of just one.
Oh, yeah, I haven’t told you about yesterday yet,
