In Rochester, New York, my best friend Brian returns from a mission to fix an errant Xerox brand copier, the company that employs him as a technician. I sit in the offices of the L Magazine in DUMBO, as an unpaid intern. A spontaneous interview/conversation.
***
Robert Tumas: Did you fix it?
Brian: Yes I did.
Tumas: What was wrong with it?
Brian: Jam before the xerographic module.
Tumas: Sounds like a Phish album name, which, awesome.
Brian: Yeah. Not really though.
Tumas: Not really awesome? Or not really a phish album? Or not really a jam before the xerographic module?
Brian: No… I guess it is all of those. My life is xerographic modules, fusers and document handeler feed rollers
and oc load letters…
Tumas: Who are your primary customers?
Brian: I have forty-seven copiers in twelve different schools in the Greece Central School District in Rochester. About six different models… maybe eight.
Tumas: Who asks you to come in?
Brian: All the secretaries. Usually old, fat women…
Tumas: What are the names of some of the schools?
Brian: Well it is interesting. In the Greece Central School District the high schools have Grecian names such as Apollo Middle School, or Arcadia High. Odyssey. Names like that. The grade schools all have names that resemble the respective areas, like Longridge, or Autumn Lane.
Tumas: Interesting.
Brian: The grade schools are creepy. They all have the same blueprint with subtle differences. But all of the front desks are the same. So it feels like some days I turn the same exact corner six times a day, but I see and talk to a different worn-out old face each time.
Tumas: What is your boss like?
Brian: I have a few of them.
The Xerox boss is laid back. Or at least that is what he tries to act like. I can’t figure out which one. He reminds me a lot of stereotypical Atlantic City character. His jovial manner and arrogant speech…
The boss in my building, or the district office, is a bald guy who definitely considers himself in charge. He is always aware of the fact that he is the boss, and he loves it. He needs to re-enforce it, any chance he can. I don’t think he likes me because I know that its only a temporary job for me, so I have no reason to fear him.
Tumas: Do you just hang out at home until they call you?
Brian: No I go in. I come home to cook lunch. But I don’t leave until someone calls or 2:30, whichever one rolls around first.
