The People in my Neighborhood

I think I moved to Chicago at just about the worst time of year.  I want to get out and explore the city and just walk around and take pictures of everything, but it's freezing!  When I walk outside, my immediate goal is to get inside.  This is obviously everyone else's goal as well.  Yes, people here do walk fast, but there are also people who are a little more leisurely in their pace.  If someone wants to get around you, they will.  I haven't discovered too much rudeness about the city yet (besides the incident listed below).  I also haven't discovered any extreme friendliness.  People here are independent.  They're very much in their own world and don't seem to pay much attention to others.  This, I have found, is more apparent on the streets of Chicago and on public transportation than in buildings.  People seem a bit more caring/friendly when you're inside.  Perhaps this goes along with the winter/freezing thing.


The one account of actual rudeness towards me occurred last week when I was waiting in line to board the Megabus.  The line of people waiting for the bus stretched out across the sidewalk and there wasn't much room for fellow pedestrians to get through.  There were maybe 6 inches between me and the person in front of me, and a man walked up to me and literally put his hand on my upper chest and pushed me out of the way so he could get by.  He didn't say anything.  But really?  Who does that?


I think if we all practiced good "customer service" outside of retail stores and restaurants where it's required by the job or to get a tip, we'd all be a lot happier.

A Note About Whole Foods

No one knows what they're doing in Whole Foods.  I don't mean the workers, I mean the customers.  I observed this yesterday while eating my turkey sandwich from the upper mezzanine level at the largest Whole Foods I have ever been in.  I had a great view of the Fresh Kitchen Sides, Sushi To-Go, and something else where they make Japanese food for you as you wait.  Really, people just walk around looking confused.  They'll stand in front of a display for awhile, debating what food to buy, and debating whether they really need 6 rolls of sushi for $7.39.  The Kitchen Sides were rather indistinguishable from above.  All I could see were bins full of differing colors and textures.  I'm pretty sure even if these food items were at eye level, I still wouldn't be able to tell what they were.  Several people walked around this display, eyeing a few bins slowly, and then moved on.  It made me feel better that everyone else seemed rather confused at this shopping experience.  I know that when I'm on the ground floor I wander around slowly, eyeing the rather high prices on tiny digital displays for each item.  So thank you, fellow Whole Foods shoppers, for being just as confused as I am.

Day 5

I have my fair share of downtime at work, so I'm going to type what I do throughout the day.

8:58 - Arrive at work, check e-mail (3 new e-mails!)

9:03 - Check front and back fax machines (there's a lunch menu in the back one, maybe we'll order from them for lunch today)

9:06 - File checks from this past week into appropriate folders

9:20 - Look for restaurants to go to for dinner on Metromix

9:33 - First phone call of the day! It's the UPS guy, I sign for a package

9:36 - Coworker A comes in, she shows me how to use the stamp machine

9:45 - A tells me to get a bagel from the back. I do, and meet the props girl also

9:50 - Eat bagel, doodle
10:20 - Remove staples from old head shots
10:40 - Update contact list per request from my boss
10:55 - Get panera menus from the menu binder, go around the studio and ask for everyone's orders, call in order
11:30 - Answer a few phone calls
12:10 - Lunch!
12:45 - Remove staples from old head shots again, shred head shots
My boss came in so I stopped blogging for a few hours.  My afternoon consisted of sorting mail, answering more phones, checking my e-mail a lot, and more doodling/looking for things to do this weekend.
4:30 - Wait for it to be 5
4:50 - Get ready to go
5:00 - Go home!