Beep

At my bank job, my task is to walk around a five story parking garage every hour. There are points scattered strategically that I have to hit with a mechanical device called a TocoWand. When I hit it, it makes a very loud beeping sound.

It's a humiliating experience at times, like today. One of my co-workers and I used to joke that, when you hear that sound, it means that there's an idiot close by. I especially hate hitting the chip when someone is around, as I get the feeling that the person is thinking, "Wow, how pathetic. At least he's not robbing me." Or they're thinking, "If my son ever turns out like that guard, I'm putting him out of his misery." My mind makes up these funny scenarios so that I can laugh it off and move on-- but I haven't been laughing as of late.

The past couple of days I've really been hating the bank job. My boss, Sandra, wrote me up again for bringing my netbook to work yesterday. That's two write-ups in as many weeks. I was applying to jobs online at the time, and Sandra was looking for my co-worker who was hanging out with me. She brought me in today to ask me dumb questions and I continued to respond that "I have no explanations for you". I wasn't trying to be a hard-ass or a badass. I've seen those guys who have these macho stories of telling off their bosses, and it always ended up the same: unemployment. Most of those people end up in the food service or security guard industry for the rest of their lives. My mind keeps my ego in check and makes sure that I never take it too far, but far enough so that I get my point across.

I know I need the bank job, but I'm tired of the $9.26 an hour. One co-worker left last week to work for $11 an hour elsewhere, while the co-worker that I got caught with has been accepted to work as campus police for $20 an hour. I guess I see these guys going to make more money and I want to make more too. I'm going to be smarter with the bank job, though. No more write-ups. I can do my job and apply for other jobs when I get home. With these guys leaving, that leaves more overtime hours for me, so there's an upside to this situation. But after almost three years at the same job, making the same money, hearing the same beeps, it gets annoying. With a year and a half left to work regular 9-5 type jobs, I have to persevere through the monotony of it all, focus on my goal, and stop minding the beeps.