Just Call Me Steve Carell ...

For all you "Office" fans out there, I may have a scene or two I could contribute to an upcoming show. Don't get me wrong, I'm no stand-up comedian or a sitcom writer, but in just the four days I've spent at Harkin's office, I have witnessed plenty of fodder for a potentially great episode, including:

- The chief-of-staff for another Senator who shares our small space has a habit of talking in short, choppy sentences and rather loudly on the phone ... and most conversations end with, "Yeah, thanks, amigo!" And slam goes the phone. He then strides out of his office, sits in the empty chair next to the fellow, plops his feet on the desk, and proceeds to give her a blow-by-blow account of the conversation.
- My direct boss hit a lull the other afternoon and told me he had something he wanted to show me --- I figured it was a piece of legislation or a memo he wanted me to write, but it turned out to be the latest Maytag man commercial. My boss' childhood friend is THE new Maytag man!
- After leaving a constituent meeting yesterday, my boss asks, "Did you see that lawyer in there?" I had been completely oblivious and missed the blind, 50-something-year-old lawyer and his (apparently) very attractive twenty-something-year-old counterpart. This lawyer, according to my boss, is a lifelong friend of Harkin and pops by the office every now-and-again, each time with a different attractive blonde. My boss is convinced that he has a special hiring committee.
- Leave it to the intern to implode the microwave, fax machine, and printer all at once. I didn't know the surge protector was weak, and the simple act of heating my lunch wrecked havoc in the office, as all printing jobs came to a grinding halt. We had to call in the special Senate work staff to rearrange some cords and flip the surge switch. It only took all afternoon for him to arrive! I now truck seven flights of stairs (I'm trying to get in to shape.) up to the main office to heat my lunch.