“Could you do this project for me?” she asked as she headed to the elevator.  It was something trivial, but something with which I had no familarity regardless.   I visited many a website, made tons of calls, all to no avail.  In Hawaii, there exists the phenomena known as “Hawaii Time,” which yes, means that EVERYTHING, ranging from having a call returned to laying a foundation for a house, it all takes at LEAST twice as long as it would anywhere else in the country. 

 Having run into a brick wall of unanswered voicemails, I asked her in passing a single question for further clarification.  I was told “Let me tell you about managers.  When they give someone a project to work on, they expect to not have to think about it until it is completed.  I don’t have any time (she was socializing when  I asked her) to give you further information.  You’re just going to figure it out yourself.  Or if you can’t, then you can’t.”  O…K… that was helpful.  I just made myself feel even MORE like a chump.  Fortunately, I was ultimately able to get a hold of someone who had the information I was seeking.

I give this information to the manager, and from it, I was given a new assignment.  It was similar in nature, and I lucked out to find the information I needed plus more on one of my first calls.  I complete this task and give it to her.  It was odd because there was this element of simple busywork to these ‘projects.’ 

Then the truth comes out.  “We’re giving you these projects to see what you can handle.”  She asked me of my other responsibilities in this job, which generally aren’t of much importance, but they do count as work.  “We are seeing whether it’s even necessary to have this position at all, or whether it could be replaced by the phone.  You need to show us that your position is justified in keeping.”

Eh?  I always thought that even if it got down to 10 people in the office, they’d ALWAYS need a receptionist.  Alas, how wrong I was.

I get stuck with all the work no one else wants to do.  I am REQUIRED  to possess a friendly demeanor-on the phone and to people coming in.  I have to get permission to go to the BATHROOM for God’s sake in case the phone rings, I do all the low work no one else will, and in these hard times of recession, I’m the one you want to eliminate?  What about all of your project workers who’ve been sitting at their cubicles doing nothing?  If you’re going to save some money, why axe the lowest paid person?  Doesn’t make sense to me. 

So who knows?  My days here may be limited.  That’s all right; collecting unemployment for a while sounds kind of fun too.