Boredeom = frustration = ranting.

Well, I've been endeavoring to do absolutely nothing this week, given that I have one whole day (whoopee!) off for Thanksgiving, which makes the week seem kind of pointless. I figure I should be just as useless myself as a week with no Thursday in it.

So I've shut down most of my daily rituals, like blogging, have done absolutely no work of any kind besides the bare minimum of answering the phone and pretending to be civil to the people who come into the gallery. The phone calls and visitors alike have been relatively few and far between, but I swear, they must have all turned off their brains just like me! It may very well be that I am so bored and listless that anybody would annoy me at this point, since I see no reason I shouldn't be just sitting at the desk today coloring or something (but my boss does, so there goes that idea), but I really honestly think the people are just getting dumber.

Firstly, last week we opened two shows. One, which is currently on display here at our gallery on 57th Street, is a group show of Latin American artists. The other, at our 25th street location, is of giant and amazing paintings by Vincent Desiderio downstairs, sculpture and prints by Michele Oka Doner upstairs. Seems simple enough, given that our advertisements and website and everything give this information to anyone looking for it.

Well. Apparently this info is not so easy to digest for the stupid masses out there. Because damned if I haven't gotten at least ten calls a day from people looking for information on the Desiderio show, which they all seem to think is here at 57th Street. Not that I'm against people liking Desiderio - he's one of my absolute favorites and an utter genius - but for crissake, read the damn fine print, people! I don't know what price they're going for because they're not HERE. The only thing more annoying on this count than the constant phone calls are the people who actually come here, to 57th St, looking for the Desiderio show, and then get all pissy and disappointed and obnoxious with me because it's not here. Well what the hell am I supposed to do about it except sit here and smile vacantly as if I have the slightest interest in their plight? Some of them get all mopey and accusatory, like it's my fault they can't read and apparently have been in NYC for a week and for some reason waited until the morning they have to be at the airport to come see the show, only to find it's not here. I'm not sure what they want from me, but I've been adopting the "gallerista" model of receptionist-ing lately and just ignoring the crap out of them. Dumbasses.

And on top of all this confusion, I've been getting people who come in looking for the last show we had here at 57th St, as well, which came down TWO WEEKS ago. These same people get very upset when they find out it's not up anymore, and want to talk to a director about seeing some of the pieces, then get even more annoyed when the directors tell that because most of those pieces sold, we've already shipped most of them back to their owners. As if we should be expected to keep things here for months after a show just to placate them.

I've also had a host of calls and visits from people who think that, because this is an art gallery, I - as a receptionist - will know every detail about every other art gallery, not only on 57th St, or in New York, but in the goddamn world. Or, if not about other galleries, about the contemporary art world, in vast amounts and excruciating detail. Or to know the minutae of all of our artists' creative processes.

This makes no sense to me. I am the receptionist. It is my job to answer the phone for the people I work with. That's it. If I don't know the answer to your question, then it's your job to accept my answer of "I don't know" and move on with your goddamn life. I am not a 411 operator or an encyclopedia of the contemporary art world.

Hot damn.

And to top off my list of annoyances, I have been getting phone calls literally every other minute from a recorded voice at Verizon that wants me to hold on the line while I'm connected to a representative. They. Called me. And told me to hold. Are you SHITTING me?

I am so ready for a day off.

/end rant.