Sign of the Times

I absolutely love it when I'm on time to something. That's not to say that I am chronically late, but I am the type that prefers to arrive right on time rather than get there early and wait. As you can imagine, airports are annoying to me in this way. Not all of them are, but definitely the ones that aren't equipped with a whole lot of stimulation. If I could get there right when it's time to board, I'd be a happy man. I manage within the confines of their time regulations though.

In my perfect universe, I'd knock off all of the items on a particular day's to-do list methodically, and simultaneously very precisely within the supposed allotment of time. Things like traffic, long lines at the bank or post office, or a lack of parking spaces are rarely figured in and usually derail my best laid plans ever so slightly. Today, however, I had actually managed to do the impossible: I tricked myself with the very elementary method of setting an alarm earlier. On my virtual organizer, I had slated 3-5pm as the time when I would need to be at the Oakland Unified School District's office to participate in the Substitute teacher's fair. The event actually started at 330pm, but somehow my body and mind were proceeding as though I needed to be there by 3pm. I was dressed by 2pm and decided that I could stroll over to the credit union to make my car payment prior to heading for the fair. No traffic (i walked) and no lines set me back and I was back in my place making a sandwich by 250pm. At 320pm I was doing the unthinkable. Having already parked the car, I was walking up to the building thinking that I just might get a jump on the crowd and as a result be able to leave early.

Jim Carrey's Dick Harper (Fun with Dick and Jane)had the same pep in his step that I had as I walked into the OUSD office. Like Dick, I may have even been whistling the most care-free of tunes. Unlike Dick, there was no mad dash up the stairs, racing against other would-be candidates for the "hot" job opportunity, nor would I have to sabotage their progress with a well aimed brief case. However, reaching the top of the stairs, I experienced the exact same kicked-in-the-stomach-by-an-old-mule feeling that Dick must've felt as he emerged to find himself in a line 200-deep with guys in suits like his, carrying brief cases like his.

There were a mere 96 people in my crowded hallway, but that was more than enough for me to get the picture that a) our economy is pretty bad and b) i wasn't the only one with the brilliant idea to be a substitute teacher and c) it was going to be a little tougher than I thought to secure consistent work on a day-to-day basis in this camp. The folks at the district office were clearly overwhelmed as well. Had they known there were going to be that many folks, they might have re-thought their strategy.

They started out by calling in people to interview one at a time, but this proved to be much too slow and the line in that hallway was not getting any shorter. I had purposely not brought anything to read because I figured I would be fully engaged by some presentation or by someone asking me questions. I ended up surfing the internet on my Blackberry Storm (it's a good thing that the touch-screen has a zoom function) for the bulk of the 90 minutes that I sat there waiting at the end of the hall.

By the time I finally got called, they were taking folks in 6 at a time for group interviews. I guess none of us said anything to make the red flags go up (well, actually one lady definitely did!) because they offered all of us employment; well, employment in the sense that "hornaleros" are workers as they sit and wait to jump in the back of somebody truck in the Fruitvale district.

And so begins another chapter in my interesting life....