Friday, April 24, 2009

Supercomputer Supermodel

Earlier this week, I spent nearly two hours in photo shoots at work. Pictures were being taken for our annual report and publicity materials.

Of course, since they wanted to make everything as realistic as possible, they chose two women and one man to pose between the rows of supercomputer cabinets. (After all, that is the gender ratio at my workplace.) In addition, we held a laptop while we examined the cabinets carefully. (Another thing that I'm always seeing people do.) We opened and closed cabinets, pointed out things to one another, and tried to be conversational despite the fact that we were wearing earplugs (it's loud enough in the machine room to damage your unprotected ears) and couldn't hear a thing. (Thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, those earplugs will disappear from the pictures.)

After the grueling hours in the machine room (hey, I was squatting for something like ten minutes, which gets really painful!), I told my boss that I really needed a personal upkeep allowance to buy clothing and have beauty treatments now that I'm a supercomputer supermodel. For whatever reason he didn't agree, claiming that he paid me enough for me to buy my own (damn) clothes and beauty treatments, with plenty left over for feeding my starving child. Personally, I think he refused because he's afraid he'd have to share the money they give him for that purpose. (Money he probably spends on conferences, just to obtain the conference shirts that are a staple of his wardrobe.)

3 comments:

ScienceGirl said...

At least they didn't have you write on a blackboard! (That, too, is a very realistic scenario.) Now that they have discovered your supermodelness, I bet you will be asked to be in those pictures year. after. year to keep up those percentages!

Doctor Pion said...

I liked your restrained level of sarcastic snark, but you didn't mention if other under represented groups were over represented in the pictures.

When my college sent a photog to get some of me in action, only a few pictures were posed. The rest were shot during actual classes, and in the end they had the good sense to not use the ones of me. (I think.) But they did use a great of one two really good students hard at work on a lab experiment that is ten times better than posed ones used in the past. It perfectly captured the "huddled together" collaboration that reflects real work.

PhizzleDizzle said...

"I....don't care.....what my teacher says....I'm going to be a supermodel...."

In case you think I'm crazy, those are lyrics from a song played in "clueless" from the 90's.

Hey hey supermodel! :)