This is in response to the comments made by Ms. Moffett in the article "Textbooks vs. Technology" Sept. 27. I would challenge Ms. Moffett to spend a day in the life of a school age child. I have taken the liberty to design one for her. I think I can do this rather effectively due to the fact that I have children at the elementary, middle, and high schools.
Wake up and be excited about going to work. Find your largest purse, no you'll need a bigger one than that, you'll need one that can carry about 60 percent of your body weight. Now load it with everything you will need to get through the day. Great ready to go.
You are at "work" now, wait don't drop that purse yet, you have no place to put it, oh you were assigned a locker but your boss came up short and the company doesn't have money to buy more. You have been informed that you have "volunteered" to share your locker, that wasn't big enough in the first place, with the smelly guy upstairs who always has garlic for lunch. You
wisely decide to carry your "purse" with you to your desk. Oh yeah, that desk that was just yours and yours alone, well, scoot over, you are sharing with a coworker. You put your purse on the floor where your boss immediately trips over it. He yells at you, but don't take it personally, he is just tired (and rightfully so) of tripping over your coworkers purses.
Next it is off to lunch, too bad if you didn't bring one, you get to wait in line so long that your lunch break is almost over before you even get your food. If you did bring your lunch start looking for a place to sit down. You soon give up this lost cause so you sit on the floor or stand to eat (pretend it is a cocktail party).
Now it is time to find a bathroom, well, actually finding one is not that hard, getting in to use it is a different story. Your boss's assistant is at the bathroom door to enforce the strict two minute rule. There are too many coworkers waiting to allow you any more time. Once your turn comes you discover that most of the stalls are either broken or don't have toilet seats. Most don't have paper either, but you are flexible, figure something out. Next you try to wash your hands only to discover that the soap dispensers are either empty or broken, water will have to do. But don't get sick or you will be in trouble with the boss, and oh, the work you will have to take home.
After lunch you head back to work refreshed and ready to go. The office you are sharing is now 85 degrees, you can't open a door because they have to stay locked. Oh, let's open a window, but you can't because they are broken. Oh, well, the heat doesn't bother you! Now is time to research that article you are writing (this is obviously fiction) but you can't get on the computer because, choose one a) there aren't any, b) somebody beat you to it, c) you "volunteered" to share with the smelly guy and he beat you to it , d) the computers are so old that you can't use them for the Internet.
Now go call your boss and tell him that as soon as he is off work he must drive you to the library. The research that would have taken 20 minutes will now burn up two hours, but it's OK, you are flexible. What is that noise, oh noooo, it is a disgruntled former worker shooting up the place. You rush to lock your office door, but no! The lock is broken and your boss didn't care enough to
spend the money to have it repaired. The former worker is subdued, time to get back to work.
It is now quitting time, try to walk to the car without tripping over the cracks in the pavement. By the time you get home from the library and finish your homework, it is now about 11:00. Get to bed, you get to do it all over again tomorrow.
KELLY WILCHER
Carson City
