Free Beer

Last weekend I worked 20 hours in two days at the Fifth Avenue Diner in Park Slope. I made $70 per 10 hour shift ($4 wage + tips). That's $7 an hour, which is actually below minimum wage. However, I was ecstatic to be working all those hours, because poverty is becoming a very real possibility on my horizon. The owners and waitstaff are mostly cool. The waitresses are generally around my age and native to Brooklyn. The manager in the morning is a tiny Russian woman who likes to drink Bloody Mary's and yell at people. She'll look up from her Blackberry from time to time, then complain about the first thing she sees without any idea of the overall operation. She looks a lot like Benjamin Button as a young kid.

I hit O'Hanlon's Bar tuesday night for a comedy open mic. It was a good show because it was really for the comedians, and that's what I want an open mic to be. It wasn't so much a performance but more like a workshop. I knew a guy there, Brad Hagen, he's from the same town as me and he hosted a popular open mic in New Hampshire.

MEC (Media Edge) is an advertising and marketing agency with clients like Paramount and KFC. They gave me an interview yesterday for an entry-level Media Buying position. I would work on a team that talks to networks and gets the clients commercials on the air for the best price possible. I really want to get this job and tell 5th Ave. Diner to suck it. I went in and the receptionist handed me an application to fill out. I knew the company was called Media Edge, but everything was labeled MEC. I asked her, "What does the C stand for?" and she said, "No don't worry about that, you just need to fill out your information." I said "Yeah, I know. But I'm curious, what does the C in MEC stand for? There's Media Edge, and then a C." She said, "Sir! You don't need to worry about that stuff! You start with your last name and then fill out the rest of the application." I said, "I understand how an application works! But I have a simple question! What does the C stand for?" And she stared at me, so I walked away and filled out the application. I still don't know what the C stands for. Probably not Company, but maybe Communications or Content. When I walked in, I had no idea about the job or the company, but the woman I met with gave me a detailed run down. Following that, I met with the managers for 4 seperate assignment-based groups. They all had openings, and I thought the interviews went very well. So we'll see what happens.

That night I went to a party for Relix Magazine's release of a special issue. It was at the Touring Company, a clothing store in SoHo. The store had a bunch of stuff by independent designers, and small placards about the designers next to the items. A friend of mine from college works at the magazine and invited me. There was an open bar (only serving Magic Hat's) and I definitely had my fill. Around nine o'clock they were closing the store and ending the party, so I grabbed another beer and double fisted. Because I'm all class.