Archive for June 2007

American Waitress in Paris

Posted to Work on 9 June 2007, with 10 comments so far.

by Meredith—Age 58—Oakland, CA Unaccustomed to wearing a uniform and even less accustomed to wearing an apron, I wore both during my four-month stint as a waitress (excuse me, bilingual waitress) in the coffee shop of the Paris Hilton. Falling in love with a Frenchman during my junior year abroad had apparently brought along a [...]

Sprucing

Posted to 400 Words News on 7 June 2007, with 3 comments so far.

Hi, readers. Now that it’s summertime, I’m starting to think that the site might need a face-lift in the form of some new banner photos. Having despaired of finding time to take any myself, I’m throwing this to you. I want you to send me pictures that involve the number ’400.’ Street addresses, road signs. [...]

Useful

Posted to Work on 4 June 2007, with 2 comments so far.

by David—Age 39—Melbourne, Australia My working life is comprised of two types of jobs. The first type is jobs that I thought were of some value, but didn’t care about enough to do them well. This always made me feel guilty. The second type is jobs that I thought were of no value and didn’t [...]

Invisible

Posted to Work on 4 June 2007, with 2 comments so far.

by Jessica—Age 29—Tamarac, FL Students see who they want to see. One young man repeatedly enters the classroom late. One morning he pauses at the front of the room and begins to sharpen his pencil. I’m in the middle of a brief lecture and turn to openly stare at his interruption: He doesn’t see or [...]