Tuesday, September 18, 2007

If you ever ask me about the dumbest thing I ever did at work

I would tell you about the time I drove all the way out to Monroe to interview the co-founder of an animal sanctuary. And I'd describe how, in the middle of the interview, I started getting nudged by this cute little donkey named Pete. And then I'd tell you how I started petting him, and how I didn't notice that he was chewing on my microphone cord. Then I'd explain that I started noticing how I wasn't hearing anything through my headphones, so I checked the cord and found the place where Pete chewed almost completely through. Then I'd tell you about how my interview, who was a television reporter before co-founding this sanctuary, said "you have a backup, right?" I'd tell you how I reassured her I did and sprinted back up to the car to get the backup. Then I'd tell you how I frantically searched through dozens of useless cords, only to realize that I did not, in fact, have a backup. So then I'd tell you how I rescheduled the interview for two days later, and how the nice former TV reporter tried to make me feel better by telling me one of her dumb-mistake stories. "I didn't feel better though," I'd confide to you. I'd tell you about how I got back in my car and drove all the way back to Seattle, shaking my head in disbelief and occasionally muttering "well, fuck".

I'd probably leave out the part where I got lost on the way back to Seattle and inexplicably wound up in some nameless suburb for 20 minutes. Because, you know, I'd want to preserve a teeny bit of my dignity.

1 comment:

john said...

One thing that big shot national reporters never ever do is drive all the way out to south of Olympia for an interview, then realize that while they brought their recorder they didn't bring the little flash memory card, then have to create a lie of a story to the interview subject, then drive all the way back the next day. Nope, us big shot national reporters never ever do that. Especially not three months ago.