Day Three: A Day in Your Life
Day Three: A Day in My Life…
The alarm from my smartphone chimes its melody as I open my eyes. I reach out and swipe the screen. After sitting up on the bedside, my eyes stare about the room then eye the bathroom.
“Another day, another seventy-five cents…”
I get on my feet and start my ritual. I brush my teeth, starting on the right side. After two minutes, I rinse and finish with mouthwash. I take my electric shaver, turn it on, and begin to remove the overnight stubble, stretching and contorting my cheeks and chin. When I’m satisfied with the results, I wash then dry my face.
A quick brush of my bed hair, I leave the bathroom and it’s part two of my ritual.
‘Hmm. I guess I’ll wear this shirt,’ I ponder as I pull out a bright blue polo. I also pull a pair of dark slacks from a hanger then lay them on the bed. Boxers. Boot Socks. I’m set and change clothes.
I gather my two sets of keys, my wallet, and a business card holder, as I think about lunch. A peanut butter and grape jelly sounds good. I head to the kitchen and make my lunch, while taking out four bottles of water. I check my backpack and laptop bag. Everything looks good. Time to head out.
After starting the car, I place my smartphone on its stand with the USB cord connected. Mirrors look fine. No remaining warning lights. Time to drive.
The highways are rather clear but I know better to take it all the way. After about 45 minutes, I get off and take the streets. It’s nice to drive through the intersections with all green lights and the schools not open at this hour. Despite intersecting with one of the major highways, I continue on the streets. I arrive at Headquarters, early as usual. I walk in, greet the front desk guard, put my lunch and water in the fridge, and head to my cubicle.
After logging on my terminal and clocking in, I pull out yesterday’s stack of paperwork and start preparing them for the scanner with blank sheets and checking for staples (I hate that). I place the stack on the tray and click the button. I hear the tray rise and then the scanner take in the first page. I look at my email and see yesterday’s late file requests. I print them out and pick them up at the copier as I walk to the file room.
The lights are on in the file room as I start to open the cabinets on the pocket files. I then start getting files after taking my cart. I pull out of the files and exchange it for a check out card, filled out with the employee’s name, the date, and the file’s name.
One of the files requested has already been checked out, so I write the date and name on the email. Another file has been checked out for one of the audits. I return to one of the terminals and log in the files requested. I leave the file room and place the files in their appropriate cubicles. I return the cart to the file room and my cubicle to see the stack has finished scanning.
I verify the number of pages scanned and start to index the documents. My fingers dance across the keyboard as I enter the date, document title, and account number. Some fields do not fill in, which means I need to switch applications and verify the account to entering my hand.
This continues with more paperwork being placed in my tray until it’s lunchtime. There’s really nothing exciting here, as I eat my sandwiches, drink my water, and check Facebook. Oh, the breaks are also nothing exciting to write about, as I just sit around and look at my smartphone.
The afternoon is bog standard from this morning, save for a random request by the supervisor for a file that takes precedence over my current workload. I get a call from the front desk that the P.O. Box mail has arrived. I pick it up and sort it out to the appropriate employees and departments (why can’t this be done properly?). Back to the my work.
Five o’clock. Time to clock out and drive back home. Man, I wish my drive home was as free-flowing as my drive to work. The traffic is horrendous and the heat is unbearable, despite having the heater on to keep the car relatively cool.
I’m finally home. I toss my stuff on the couch and grab a soda from the fridge. Dinner is leftovers from last night as I watch a slew of YouTube videos on the culture of Japan. I wonder if I should consider going in 2020, when the Olympics are hosted in Tokyo.
After a change in sleep clothes, I slump onto my bed and check Facebook one last time. I attach the USB cord and place the smartphone on the nightstand as I lay on my back and look at the ceiling.
“Another day, another seventy-five cents…”
