I write the majority of these blogs on Sunday evenings or midday Mondays when I am at work. A couple of days a week I work on campus at my university’s library. This job is rather low maintenance, when I first started we learned basic things on the technical side and the hands-on stuff of the job really only requires you to know the alphabet and how to dust off a shelf. We are encouraged to use the downtime of this job to work on homework. I try to make good use of this time but more times than not I find the hours pass me by and my homework assignments have remained the same.
These times when I am at work, attempting to write these blog posts that I hope someone will be interested in – I imagine Rory at her on campus job. There is a point in Gilmore Girls where Rory works at one of Yale’s dining halls as a card swiper. We don’t get many scenes of Rory working throughout the entire series so I find these moments interesting. In one scene that we get of her working in the dining hall, she is sat at a small table at the entrance with a neverending line lined up at her reader. She is shuffling to get the cards scanned in a timely manner, accompanied by her textbooks. I wonder if this was also the kind of job where she was encouraged to work on homework. Something tells me it was not.
I have worked this job since freshman year and over that time I have worked many different hours during the day and night. I’ve learned the times of day when the library is most full and busting, and the times when everything is quiet and boring. In my day to day life I feel like I don’t get incredibly distracted when going on with my tasks. But working here in a spot where everyone has to pass me by, and in a spot directly across from the library cafe it is near impossible for me to stay focused. This semester I work morning and early afternoon shifts, compared to my past night shifts I’ve found midday shifts to be the time where I can attempt to get the most work done. During these hours the library is more calm, seeing as many people are busy with afternoon classes.
During what I imagine is Yale’s lunch rush, we get another glimpse of Rory at her job. Only this time, when there is a very large amount of students needing her assistance, she is on the phone with her mother, Lorelai. I always get second hand stress from this scene when I watch it, because although Rory is swiping students cards she is not doing it at the pace I would be. Instead, she swipes a card then falls back into focus on her phone call. Eventually a student takes the lead and swipes their own card, and all the students behind follow. Rory shrugs it off and lets it go on. I think this was the last time we saw her work this job.
Seeing as the series ends right as Rory gets her first real job I’m left to wonder how she handled those days. And if I will handle my real job days the same way.
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