Week 10

Yay, it’s week 10! Can’t believe I’ve already been working here for a while. I am starting to really get used to it. I like a lot of the people that work here. I could absolutely see myself working in an office.

Anthi had me mail a ridiculous amount of stuff today. It was not just this, but she had me find out the addresses for those people and then fedex stuff to those addresses.She was so confusing about everything she requested! Turns out she wanted to see those addresses before I fedexed them, while in the beginning she just said “Fedex those asap”. The thing is that she is probably the only assistant that is so frantic and confusing in her requests. I think she has a little too much to do because she has 3 publicists to work for and it truly is a lot of work, but I also think she is a person prone to stress. She does seem stressed all the time. Maybe she does have more work than others but honestly I think pretty much everyone has a lot of work, and a lot of the assistant publicists are pretty calm about it. Or maybe they are just internally calm, and super stressed on the inside? What I’m thinking is that a lot of people plan ahead on their work and get things that need to be done on time, on time, as opposed to putting them off, and then they have time to handle the new work that comes up. Still, some of them are often freaking out and having us mail like 30 copies of the thing in order to be on time. Fedexing 8 packages is a lot of work! They need to have their labels filled out online and printed and then packaged. The most ridiculous part was when she didn’t tell me that a couple of those need still the CDs inside so I had to unseal them and use other envelopes! Like how literal is ” fedex those now” or “find out the addresses and fedex those now”. There was initially no mention whatsoever that the CDs need to be with the press kit or  that her boss needs to check the addresses. So clearly there was a mess up with her instructions, but I tried not to tell her that I’ve fedexed the unchecked addresses already, because she would just get angry and her boss, too.

Week 9

This week was all about a new event – The Denise Rich Gala, which would have items sold for a charity. It was apparently going to be really big so we had to o a lot of calls and prep, also the thumbnail files The event was on Wed, so as soon we were there on Tuesday we had to start doing work on it. I like Wednesdays a little bit better than Tuesday because of the interns that are there. Tuesdays have Chloe, Elizabeth, Kevin and Brian working and Wednesdays – Kevin, Luci, Kristina  and Cracja. The Wed interns are way nicer and understanding. From the Tuesday interns, Chloe and Liz are friends already and they chat and go to lunch together all the time, and since Brian interns with them on Thursday, they also chat with him about boys (Brian is openly gay, I am not really sure). So Tuesdays are pretty depressing, if you also add up that Kevin is a suck up and I don’t doubt he would throw you under the bus at any opportunity he had. It’s not like I am looking for a job there but he overtakes most of the tasks and doesn’t allow me to help or anything if I have any tasks.

In general, week was boring, nothing too exciting happening or too much new work. A lot of sitting on the front desk to take calls, which by now I have mastered and I’m not so worried about it.

Week 8

This week I finaly got to work on an event! yay! I was very nervous and worried that I don’t have the appropriate attire (black dress), but it worked out just fine.  The majority of our staff was pretty dressed up though.  It turned out to be a Conde Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards. However, al we worked on was the red carpet and not the inside ceremony. It was in the New York Public Library on 42nd street, so it had the really nice atmosphere of sophistication around it. At first, they told us we will be runners, as in – try to spot when certain people (celebrity people) come and get out of their cars, so that we can have them be escorted through the carpet. It does sound pretty mindless and stupid … but it’s not. The people that I work with put in a lot of effort to organize those people’s schedules and to make sure that not all arrivals are at the same time. Event planning has to be ridiculously meticulous. For example, we do make a file with the thumbnail picture of everyone who is attending and their name, so that we can recognize them (because not eeryone knows everyone who is out there).

What me and Kevin ended up working on though, was cooordinating the live feed from the red carpet that was projecting on screens at the party inside. I am very glad we ended up doing this, because I do work on live teleision at Ramapo, so it’s something that I can say I have some expertise on. We used walkies and he was telling me when to go live (aka, when somebody important walks through). Through this same camera they get the b-rool for later if they need to send it out etc. I loved coordinating this, it ws like a live show we do here but a lot more dynamic because there’s people actually watching it, so it can’t look bad or have bad shots.

Week 7

This week was just horrible – I missed the bus twice in the morning! I think they switched the driver to a different one and this one arrives earlier and also doesn’t wait for us.  The bus I get on is the last bus from Ramapo, so I had no way of getting onto the city on time. It’s was nightmare-ish. Tuesday was especially bad, I really had nothing I could do! I went to security, I asked cabs (to go to the next station and catch the next bus) and they didn’t have service yet. Of course I couldn’t ask anyone to drive me because it was really early in the morning, so no one is awake. It was truly stressful and I ended up getting to New York, but being very late. Thankfully, the assistants didn’t care and were nice about it. On Wednesday I missed it again, but got on another bus that was coming from the city and going back to the parking garage. So we went back to the parking garage on the bus and waited until the next round.

Today I did a lot of work for Janet, like all of her clippings, documents sorting and some taping. I like Janet, she os one of the really nice assistants and I love doing work for her. She always explains everything in detail before she has you do it. She also doesn’t get mad if you mess it up. I haven’t messed up any of the work I did for her though, mainly because she takes the time to explain to me. I love it. I wish I could be her personal assistant, and not slave other people, because then I’m sure I’ll really learn stuff.

Today I was asked to do this list of upscale downtown venues that could host a possible private party for Cara. She said one of our celebrity clients wants it, and it’s only 3 weeks away. It would be really hard to book something in such a short timespan to plan but I not only had to call all of them but also call and ask for a quote. It was hard dealing with so many event planners and restaurant owners who wanted details of the people, of who it is for, etc. Some of them were really nice though. I recommended to Cara the ones that were nice, when I sent her the list

Week 6 – Wednesday

Today is a pretty awesome day. I finally got asked to work an event. It’s one of the next weeks and it’s some awards show whatever, but oh well so excited to get the out-of-the office picture of how they work together.

So today I walked into the office and I got to help one of the ladies that is one of the senior account executives, so she is fairly important. Kevin (one of the two other interns from Marist) was helping Lindsey Brown, one of the assistants working on events. She was working on the books for the press coverage for the 2008 Tony awards. So she had him go to Kinko’s and have them bound. I went with Kevin. As soon as we walked out of the building he said he has a tip from Brian to me. Apparently Brian said I take my breaks too late in the day (around 4) and I shouldn’t because they need more help later in the day. I was clearly very angered at this. Why would Kevin tell me that Brian said this? And why would Brian even make a remark about when I take my breaks? This is so peculiarly bitchy that even I can’t find a description for it. And why would Kevin think it’s worht mentioning to me? So sneaky and just mean mean mean! Rest of the day I was trying to chung it, really, it was hard cause I did not expect this. Luckily Lindsey Ferraro (who is also one of the intern coordinators) gave me this list with newspapers to work on so I retired to a computer in another area of the office and worked on it for the rest of the day.

Week 6 – Tuesday

Woohoo, it’s October! While being here, I am trying to organize the Model UN dinner this month, doing all the catering arrangements and so. This year, both of the dinner chairs decided to drop out of the club and not tell me (?!) so it was quite frustrating that I have to do all the work and I am not even at school 2 days of the week. I cannot load the new kids with so much logistical work yet, as they just started with the club. But that includes me having to do personal phone calls while on the job. Today I missed two phone calls from the restaurant while on the job. I’m also getting stressed over not being able to do a couple of other arrangements because I’m here, so I can’t go to offices at school. Today was a truly busy day in the office and it also became clear that I’m not hitting it off with the other interns. The thing is that sometimes I think I have trouble relating to other people because I’m foreign, so it is kind of scary because it does lay out the prospect of never being able to fit in this society.  On the other side, I just think they are being either idiots or really bitchy people. One of the girls actually won an internship with the company and moved to NYC for it from Pennsylvania. That sounds pretty unbelievable that you would move all the way here to work for free and then have an apartment and be jobless, probably hoping that this internship would get her a job? Even if her parents were paying for it, it sounds risky. Sometimes I think she’s kind of slow, or she just doesn’t understand what I’m saying when I’m asking for it. I’m not very explanatory but at this point I think people should have mastered their tasks and know what I’m talking about.

We were so busy today having to finish packing this press kit it was insane. I could barely go out to eat but I did. I like to take my break, it’s a tip I got from Cara, one of the assistants here. She said “make sure you take your break, they’re not paying you so don’t go the extra mile if you don’t think it’s helping you in any way”. She also used to intern here, so I believe her. Maybe the person not to take their breaks and eat in the office would be Brian (Brian is a second semester intern from NYU). Whatever, it was stressful.. I think we did fine.

Week 5 – Wednesday

Once again, I jumped on doing recordings of the TiVo. New Kids on the Block were supposed to be on Access again, and again they were not and they had even announced it this time. This just makes my life harder because people at Access are not coordinating what’s on their show right now and confusing people. And that’s after I already told the assistant (Anthi!) that it’s on. Boo boo boo, oh well we can atleast enjoy the NKOTB super VH1 special in this so not speacial day… rest of the time I was working ont his media list with latino magazines and newspapers, it was pretty easy just order them and then find the whatever editor. I’m pretty good at organizing lists, I think =)

Week 5 – Tuesday

Yay, thanks God it’s week 5. I am excited to be done (soon) with yet another week. Today I did recordings again like insane. It totally is my favorite ting to do. There was stuff to tape right away so I jumped on it (of course).  Then more and mroe video assignments showed up. I looked through Access Hollywood at least a zillion times because Anthi was absolutely positive that New Kids on the Block were on it even though I told her they’re not. Apparently, Access pushed their segment off because of the Paul Newman special (for his death). It was annoying to go through it so many times just because she is pretty positive. But I am not blind or anything I was following closely and they were def not on, on any of the both days. She made Brian, the other intern, go through it, too, which was like offensive, like she doesn’t trust me.

I also taped this segment from the Sleeping Beauty 50 year anniversary premiere party. I don’t know if we rep the lady that did Sleeping Beauty’s voice or we were just doing the event, but three of the other girls (intern girls) were at the premiere, working it this Sunday. I feel like they dont give me stuff like that because I don’t do important stuff for them but what constitutes important stuff?

One of the intern guys, Kevin, is in a frat. That seems weird because he looks kind of geeky but I guess not. He’s horribly pushy though.  Maybe he’s pretty upfront and that’s how he gets the important tasks. I don’t think he’s gotten any events though, or freebies. I reallly want to get freebies, and so far I grabbed only this one Broadway guy’s album. I mean after all we work for free. Where are the rewards already?

Week 4 – Wednesday

Today has not been much different than yesterday. I was totally blending in and doing stupid mindless tasks, like recording. I totally do love recordings though, I dont know if I have mentioned it already but I consider myself really good with taping off a show in the right manner. I think that instead of just doing the task I kind of pay attention to what they would be looking for in their client’s performance of interview.  A lot of these NY show tapings get sent to the people’s agents so they have to look good, not have annoying commercials or interruptions on them.  The others don’t seem to get these small details, and I think this does give me a slight advantage. But then on the other side the others are way more pushy and get themseles into quite cool tasks. Even though I can’t say any task is quite cool if it includes calling people that don’t want to be called and asked about the same stuff anymore.

Week 4 – Tuesday

Today is def not remembrable ( I know this word does not exist). Days have passed and I don’t feel like super much is happening. I feel like the others get a lot more important tasks so I’m concerned with the fact that they maybe don’t like me or trust me that much? This probably should be a concerning matter because if you get to do more work and more serious stuff then they’ll see that you’re capable and they will have the chance to notice you. On the other side, I am scared to do serious work…