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Day 2 as a Poll Worker…
“Mega-flex” is not just me bragging about the time Jennifer Aniston hugged me.
Day two at our polling place felt a little more relaxed. We’d had a day to figure out how not to botch democracy by doing the procedures in the right order on the first try. Today, we were the rulers of admin and ballers of security.
I was looking forward to both teenagers performing for us today. They had speeches they wanted to practice when we had downtime. But the young woman couldn’t get her script as we don’t have any WiFi (another important point in elections — the routing system that the voting machines are not accessible to us or anyone else) and the young man was more interested in getting his marine biology homework done than doing his speech. Sadly, I was not given the chance to do what I do best — judge. Instead, I got jealous, yet again, because teenagers can take freaking marine biology in high school. Further proof I was born before recorded time.
An observation about voters who come in, other than everyone is kind, nice, and truly a cross-section of this community is that maybe 5% of them are wearing masks. Only one other poll worker beside myself is masking the whole time. And after my shift today, I logged onto social media to see another friend who got COVID for the first time. The disconnect of where we are at is frustrating but also, a massive failure to communicate by our leaders. COVID is not gone and you should still not want to get it.
I talked at length with another of my fellow poll workers who is the kind of person I wish everyone got to have in their lives. She’s funny, sassy, smart, works in some division of budgeting for the county, and it was her birthday. We talked about her 15-year-old cat, how she and her husband are getting ready to have a baby, and her job. She has a positive, joyful essence that she just can’t hide. Also, she and I roll our eyes at the exact same things. Soulmates, really.
I asked her about how county overtime works and she launched into an explanation of the rather complicated system. The county can’t actually afford overtime for most of its workers. She’s on something called, “mega-flex” where instead of getting paid hourly overtime, the hours she works get banked into her vacation hours. Huh! What a great example of how governments can adapt their budgets. And a takedown of what I considered “mega-flexing” which is when I talk about my celebrity encounters.
DAY 2 SUMMARY
- Am I glad to be here? Yes.
- Would I do this again? Maybe…
- Would I recommend doing this to others? Yes.
- Did this restore my faith in democracy? Yes.
- Do I feel like things will be better after this election? Eh…
- Did Jennifer Aniston actually hug me? YES! And complimented me. Mega-flex ALL DAY.
