Asterisk's Workin' Girl Blues

My favorite part of any given work day is my 15 minutes break.

I just recently learned (and by recently I mean within the last couple months) that if you work for longer than three hours at a time, your employer is required by some law to allow you 15 minutes off sometime during the duration of your work day.

I just recently learned this, because as it turns out, my last employer did not follow this rule. Uh… okay, then.

Anyway, now that I’m aware that I have the right to do whatever the hell I want for a whole 15 minutes, I’ve been doing just that, and it’s great!

See here’s my job:
According to my time sheet, I’m an Archives Intern, although to be honest, I don’t really do much archiving. My job is much less interesting.

I’ve been scanning stuff.

For eight hours a day.

Woooooooooooooooo.

I’ve spent this summer in the back corner of the office section of the school library, sitting between a Drobo Drive and the massive scanner, Gregor (named for the main character in Metamorphosis because of the weird bug noises it makes), digitizing page after page of old yearbooks, and I think I’ve scanned almost 3000 images in the last two months.

I don’t hate my job by any means. The hours are preferable to my last job, I get paid more, my boss is cool, and the few co-workers I’ve seen are pretty nice. Plus, sometimes people bring in snacks or whatnot for the library staff. (My favorite was the mini-cinnamon roll day. Oh my GOD.) But my work is still a job, and the fact that I’m trapped inside all day, while it’s nearly 80 degrees and sunny outside is a little distressing.

This is why I enjoy my break so much. I’ve got it set up perfectly:

1. Take a break at either fifteen after an hour, or forty-five after.
2. Go outside and lay in the grass.
3. Don’t think about anything.

The nice thing about my school (in addition to tons of other stuff) is that we have a clock tower right outside the library, where I work. Also next to the library is a stream that runs through campus.
So if it’s sunny, I just go and lay next to the stream, and zone out. It’s warm, the grass smells all nature-y, and the sound of moving water is relaxing. The clock tower rings on the hour and the half hour, so I can count on it to wake me up if I accidentally fall asleep.

IT’S SO GREAT.

Actually, it’d be way better if I could just do that all day long, but noooo I’m a real adult now and I have to suck it up and join the work force. Growing up kind of sucks, but oh well, I’ll get over it.

Probably.
…I hope.

Fortunately for me, I’ve managed to put off joining the adult world completely. As July draws to a close, so does my internship.
Meaning I’m getting the hell out of here and going on vacation!

¡Adios!

~Asterisk