Personal Disaster Kit

At work, I suppose you are accustomed to seeing mail, or boxes or letters delivered to your desk – the usual detritus of white collar life. So, I was slightly startled when yesterday afternoon, the receptionist handed me a “Personal Disaster Kit.” I wondered how he could have anticipated my need for hair dryers, hair straightening equipment, mouth wash, deodorant, feminine hygiene products or any of the other numerous consumer products without which I believe my day would end in a personal disaster?

Well, whatever I considered to be personal disasters, this little orange satchel certainly wouldn’t be able to address any of them. Displayed boldly on the front of the kit was the following message:

Personal Disaster Kit: Meets Personal Needs During the Initial 24 Hours After a Disaster
Please Insert this Label in Kit After Opening
6 Purified Water
1 Flashlight
2 AA Batteries
6 Food Bars
1 Pair Work Gloves
50 Alcohol Pads
1 Emergency Blanket
50 1” x 3 Adhesive Bandages
4 Burn Ointment
1 Cold Pack
1 Dust Mask
1 First Aid Guide
10 Facial Tissues
2 Plastic Bags
2 4” Rolled Gauze
1 Roll Tape
1 Zippered Case
Caution: This product contains natural rubber latex which may cause allergic reactions
Acme United Corporation

The Office Manager walked in a few seconds after the delivery of this kit and noted that in this post-911 era and given the fact that we were in a tall building in New York City (54th floor to be exact) one could never be to cautious. Indeed.

Looking at the list of items kindly provided to me by my employers, I ask how did Acme (the very name of the corporation invokes Warner Bros. cartoons) arrive at this particular assortment of items? Why 2 plastic bags and not 3? And surely, if I were involved in a disaster of mass proportions the least of my concerns would be a middling rubber latex allergy. I’m glad they’ve considered that we may wish to educate ourselves in the elements of First Aid once Doomsday is upon us – better late than never right? And to be fair, I’ve never known which bandage to use for which cut/scrape/bruise. But in any case, I have an unfortunate allergy to certain types of adhesives and probably wouldn’t want to touch the bandages. (I wonder why they didn’t stick a disclaimer for that ailment on the kit too?)

This reminds me of the kind of precautions they used to take in the 1950s in the aftermath of the invention of the nuclear bomb. People built bomb shelters in their basements and trained to use them in fallout situations. Surely, we couldn’t have said that was not a useful exercise – weren’t nuclear bombs pointed at this country from Cuba in the 1960s? Then again, the whole situation did end up resolving itself peacefully.

For a period of about 10 years from 1991 to 2001, there seemed so much hope for humanity. Maybe I felt it keenly since I was in my teens at the time: prosperity abounded, walls fell, Apartheid was abolished, Communism loosened its hold… Maybe this darker time will pass too. And hopefully my personal disaster kit will go the way of the fallout shelters.

First Day in a Career

It's not like I've never worked before. I've had lots of jobs... data entry, secretarial, fast-food, even the finance industry in 2005. But all those other jobs were temporary. I knew I was going back to school or moving on. I had the end date firmly fixed in my mind before I even took them on. They did not seem crucial to my identity or life in any way. This job is different. Today, I started my career.

Though I'm not admitted to the NY Bar yet (and cross my fingers I will be in November...), I am actually working as an attorney now. So it was when this morning ZW awoke at 5:30 am (her firm's first day of training lasts from 7:45 am to 10 pm!!), I woke too. There were butterflies in my stomach and I couldn't stop thinking about the upcoming day. I spent the next couple of hours packing my things and trying not to get nervous. It didn't help much that the humidity was horrible this morning in NYC - I could see the sweat soaking through my blouse and realized I would have to keep my suit jacket on to hide the patches of sweat adding to the misery caused by the heat. Damn it! - yet another thing to worry about!

Eventually, I made it out the door and onto the subway. The cars are airconditioned, so I hoped my sweat-soaked shirt would naturally dry in the train before I got to work. I didn't really want to be known as the "sweaty as a pig girl"... especially since the shirt was PINK! Damn it!

Adding to the uncertainty of the whole day, I was actually making my way to a different office. For various reasons, my departure to the Brussels office was necessarily delayed and so for one month I will be working in the New York office. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I arrived at the office. The office building near the Lexington subway stared down at me from it's great height... several dozen stories at least. After getting my bags scanned in a security machine, I picked up my temporary ID and made my way to one of the four banks of elevators. I entered the elevator and pressed the button and found that my ears popped as the elevator rushed up to its destination above the 50th floor. I tried to while away the seconds by staring at a mini-computer screen which flickered back stock quotes and the weather at me.

Things were no more certain once I got off at the floor. I wasn't really sure how to get in to the office, which seemed closed because I had arrived before 9 am. Eventually someone let me in, but she wasn't exactly sure what I was there for and it took a while for her to realize I had come to work. I sat down to wait. Sitting across form me was someone coming to interview at the firm. We began one of those nervous introductory conversations that people enter into simply because they feel they must interact to fill up the silence around them, but in which neither person is actually interested or invested. Eventually, CM and AH turned up at the office and I realized there were only going to be three of us new associates.

Once I met the other two associates and we got into training though, I was no longer worried. There was so much training to get through and so much paper to be filled out, etc... that the hours seemed to pass quite quickly. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch. The firm had organized lunch for everybody, so that we could all meet. They had even ordered a cake with our names on it, which I thought was very sweet. I made some small talk with some of the attorneys present. The office is small (only about 20 lawyers), so I wasn't overwhelmed.

In fact, some of the day had been downright cool! I still can't get used to the idea of having a secretary - who is the sweetest lady ever. Nor can I get enough of my view - I can see a good chunck of Central Park from up here!!!! AWESOME! The firm has been extremely professional and well-organized with all my equipment and materials. And everything seemed a breeze today.

Eventually I walked out of the office at 6:30 pm. Not too tired. Pleased at what had been accomplished. Looking forward to the next day, with a little less trepidation and a little more excitement. I could do this everday... in fact I have to!