5:10 p.m. - September 16, 2002
Day in and day out I'm a cog in nobody's machine
I don't think most of you understand what I do presently in terms of earning an income so here are the facts:
Entity A has Deaf employee/s or needs to communicate information to Deaf individual/s;
Entity A calls The Agency and says, We need an interpreter. The Agency says OK;
The Agency calls me and says, This is what your schedule is like and gives me work. If one is nationally certified (I have both certificates) one pretty much can pick and choose. The Agency knows my preferences and they do a fantastic job of giving me fun stuff to do. In addition, if one is a "good" interpreter, then one gets "good" assignments, and everybody is happy.
I make a little over (plenty) bucks per hour to do things like this:
�Monday: IRS, 9 hours (this was boring but I was paid to read for 7 hours).
�Tuesday: Federal stuff, 7 hours (shhh. Can't talk about it. But I love it.).
�Wednesday: Amusement park, 12 hours. Yes, that's right. I get to play all day on roller coasters here.
�Thursday: Federal stuff, 7.5 hours.
�Friday: Navy stuff, 7 hours.
Plus mileage at .40 per. It's not a bad set up, though I do have to pay self-employment taxes and file/pay quarterlies, but write-offs are a mile long.
It's great money, keeps the gray matter oxygenated, and I get to learn new things daily. Despite it all, I wouldn't want to do this as a career. I say that now, but I'm sure Wednesday as you're sitting in your cubicle looking out the window and see me on the coasters and bumper cars having a great time in the sun, you'll be compelled to throw something at me and remind me to be thankful.
And I will be.
