I am the Gatekeeper of the Fortress of Purchasing Protection, you shall. Not. PASS!

Here we are again, Monday. And not just any Monday, but the Monday that marks the end of my 6th month here. According to my good buddy Cal, a few people upstairs were promoted from Temporary to Permanent after 6 months with the company, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get some news like that in the next week or two. Not only getting away from my *horrid* staffing agency that takes a third of my paycheck, but benefits would be amazing. In 2 weeks I'll be turning 23 and I'll be getting kicked off my parent's insurance. My mom said they would pay for me to continue under the COBRA benefits, but since it's really expensive and I'm already living there rent-free, I'm really not looking forward to the added burden.

In lighter news, I got word today that one of my (few, normal) coworkers (that I actually like) got a little bit of a promotion. Let's call her "Patty". She actually talks to me when she comes to the lobby and gives me first dibs on all of the goofy samples and free gifts she gets. Because she works in the Purchasing department, sales reps are always giving her free promotional junk to get her to buy stuff from them. Seriously weird stuff from seriously weird people. Smuckers hot fudge? This guy is really going to open up his laptop and make sales calls from the lobby?

I have really come to admire the people that work in Purchasing. They have to meet with and talk to annoying, greasy, schmoozy sales reps all the time who I can barely stand talking to for 5 minutes while I wait for Patty or one of the other purchasing buyers to come down and meet with them. They also get lots of cold calls and random drop-ins, and dealing with the latter is the most work but also the most satisfying. Essentially, I get to tell them to piss off, since an appointment is required to meet with any of our buyers, to avoid these annoying nut-jobs. Of course, I don't actually get to say "Piss off", which would probably make things a lot easier, and this is where things get sticky. (And by sticky I mean with their copious amounts of disgusting and unattractive hair gel.) As we all know from dealing with car salesmen, telemarketers, and anyone else who works on commission, these people are pretty...uh..."persistent". They pepper me with questions about how many people work here, what Patty or the other buyers' extensions or emails are, and "Is this the product you sell? You don't manufacture here, do you?" More often than not they are working in pairs, so I have four hungry eyes (or sometimes two hungry eyes and two pleading eyes, if the latter pair belong to a trainee) searching and dissecting me for fissures and weaknesses in my Fortress of Purchasing Protection. I feel like Gandalf every time they retreat out the door again in defeat. Then I reach quickly for the hand sanitizer because just talking to them makes me feel like I have cooties scampering all over my skin. Yuckth.

Oh, speaking of hand sanitizer, being the receptionist with a cold is no fun. I feel like a rat during the Bubonic Plague. Thank God I am quarantined to the front lobby, all alone. :(