It's Friday Morning and I'm Kinda Bored.
So I'll blog!
I'm here at the Tourism office. After some wrangling about my title among other female professionals, I've decided to call myself the Tourism Tsar. "Secretary" was pish-poshed, though I'm not sure why or when that title went out of fashion. What's wrong with it? Why replace a totally useful title with "Administrative Assistant"? What makes that ponderous title any better?
I was told that I was much more than a mere secretary. I am the driving force behind the Tourism Commission, don't ya know. I said that maybe their definition of "secretary" was too limited, because everybody knows that a good secretary is the driving force behind most big wigs.
Tsar is better anyway. No one can argue with a title like that, unless to quibble about spelling.
Anyhoo, I'm here in my basement office, listening to the local AM station's local morning broadcast. They play "classic country". Oh, don't they all? And it's never really "classic". I don't hear a whole lot of Hank Williams or Loretta Lynn or the Carter Family or any bluegrass. It's mostly just 80s and 90s country schlock like "Baby's Got Her Bluejeans On" and other would-be forgettable tunes if it wasn't for classic country stations regurgitating them into our suffering ears.
Still, I put up with it because of the local news and, especially, for the 9:30-10:00 "party line" where people call in and announce stupid birthdays and the DJ, a fixture on the station, says, "I knew someone special had a birthday today! Now we know who it is!" and sings "Happy Birthday" in a style that can only be compared to Mr. Rogers. In fact, he's very Mr. Rogers-ish; a former minister with a soothing voice and absolutely nothing funny to say but with a lot of comforting words and an aptitude for dealing with the old people who call party line and prattle on about having horrible colds and old refrigerators for sale that need a little work. He skillfully guides them through their stump speeches and ends with something like "We can take comfort knowing that Jesus is there for us when we're not feeling well. OK, bye-bye now."
Of course, I've been featured on this morning program more times than I can count! If I suddenly couldn't count beyond, say, 3! Our advertisements have led to a good amount of business. There aren't too many people who don't listen to this station between the hours of 6 and 10.
Normally when I get in, I turn on my computer, check my 1-2 (if any) email messages, and listen to my 1 or none voicemails. It's not a spectacularly busy place. Then I check the Event Calendar (www.hometownmo.org--I'm using code names)and the paper, to see if there's anything to add. Then I get bet busy on one of many plans to increase tourism here in Hometown. For example, I contact various billboard companies and figure out different costs for different numbers of billboards in different areas. Then I boil that down to one page of expertly presented information for the Commission. They vote Yay or Nay, and I carry on from there. I meet with other tourism-related entities to see what they're up to, what kind of help they would like from the Commission, what we can do to make this or that event more successful. I deal with marketing, special events (like the upcoming Civil War sesquicentennial in 2011), lead fulfillment, redoing the website to make it more tourist-friendly, the budget, the agendas for the monthly meetings, and all of the paperwork related to T.C. funding.
It's turned into a really nice gig. It's part-time, I have immensely flexible hours--my scheduled hours are 8:30-12:30 M-F, but if I go to an evening meeting I can work fewer hours one morning, if I'm sick or volunteering at the school, I can shape-shift my workweek to make up the hours. I'm meeting everybody, I'm in on all the hot gossip, and I have a somewhat high-profile (for this small pond) position yet it's a neutral-to-positive role so I avoid the ire of those inevitable small-town irelings.
And I can stream "The Office" while I work on less concentration-heavy tasks, so I never get lonely.
So how 'bout I get back to it, eh?
I'm here at the Tourism office. After some wrangling about my title among other female professionals, I've decided to call myself the Tourism Tsar. "Secretary" was pish-poshed, though I'm not sure why or when that title went out of fashion. What's wrong with it? Why replace a totally useful title with "Administrative Assistant"? What makes that ponderous title any better?
I was told that I was much more than a mere secretary. I am the driving force behind the Tourism Commission, don't ya know. I said that maybe their definition of "secretary" was too limited, because everybody knows that a good secretary is the driving force behind most big wigs.
Tsar is better anyway. No one can argue with a title like that, unless to quibble about spelling.
Anyhoo, I'm here in my basement office, listening to the local AM station's local morning broadcast. They play "classic country". Oh, don't they all? And it's never really "classic". I don't hear a whole lot of Hank Williams or Loretta Lynn or the Carter Family or any bluegrass. It's mostly just 80s and 90s country schlock like "Baby's Got Her Bluejeans On" and other would-be forgettable tunes if it wasn't for classic country stations regurgitating them into our suffering ears.
Still, I put up with it because of the local news and, especially, for the 9:30-10:00 "party line" where people call in and announce stupid birthdays and the DJ, a fixture on the station, says, "I knew someone special had a birthday today! Now we know who it is!" and sings "Happy Birthday" in a style that can only be compared to Mr. Rogers. In fact, he's very Mr. Rogers-ish; a former minister with a soothing voice and absolutely nothing funny to say but with a lot of comforting words and an aptitude for dealing with the old people who call party line and prattle on about having horrible colds and old refrigerators for sale that need a little work. He skillfully guides them through their stump speeches and ends with something like "We can take comfort knowing that Jesus is there for us when we're not feeling well. OK, bye-bye now."
Of course, I've been featured on this morning program more times than I can count! If I suddenly couldn't count beyond, say, 3! Our advertisements have led to a good amount of business. There aren't too many people who don't listen to this station between the hours of 6 and 10.
Normally when I get in, I turn on my computer, check my 1-2 (if any) email messages, and listen to my 1 or none voicemails. It's not a spectacularly busy place. Then I check the Event Calendar (www.hometownmo.org--I'm using code names)and the paper, to see if there's anything to add. Then I get bet busy on one of many plans to increase tourism here in Hometown. For example, I contact various billboard companies and figure out different costs for different numbers of billboards in different areas. Then I boil that down to one page of expertly presented information for the Commission. They vote Yay or Nay, and I carry on from there. I meet with other tourism-related entities to see what they're up to, what kind of help they would like from the Commission, what we can do to make this or that event more successful. I deal with marketing, special events (like the upcoming Civil War sesquicentennial in 2011), lead fulfillment, redoing the website to make it more tourist-friendly, the budget, the agendas for the monthly meetings, and all of the paperwork related to T.C. funding.
It's turned into a really nice gig. It's part-time, I have immensely flexible hours--my scheduled hours are 8:30-12:30 M-F, but if I go to an evening meeting I can work fewer hours one morning, if I'm sick or volunteering at the school, I can shape-shift my workweek to make up the hours. I'm meeting everybody, I'm in on all the hot gossip, and I have a somewhat high-profile (for this small pond) position yet it's a neutral-to-positive role so I avoid the ire of those inevitable small-town irelings.
And I can stream "The Office" while I work on less concentration-heavy tasks, so I never get lonely.
So how 'bout I get back to it, eh?
posted by lulu | 6:48 AM
2 Comments:
Woke up, got outa bed, dragged a comb across my head...
(change to Fred R. voice) Let's visit the Hometown Tourism Tsar, shall we? Do you know what a Tsar is?
Sounds like a good gig.
Irelings?
and how was halloween in pagan Hometown? Did the boys make the rounds in costume? I recall last year's memorable post about trick or treating in central swingstate.
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