Of Codeine Syrups and Clerks

It's been brought to my attention that I have yet to tell everyone about my new job. Since I've been off for the last two days because of strep throat and I have gained some perspective (I only started a month ago), I think I can truthfully talk about it.

I am a file clerk, which to me sounds almost as cool as saying I am a notary. So, do I have a short history of file clerks for you? No I don't, wikipedia doesn't have an entry for 'file clerk'. There is an entry on 'clerk' that starts "The word clerk, derived from the Latin clericus meaning 'cleric', i.e. clergyman ", then "In British English, although spelt clerk, the word is pronounced as if spelt with an 'a' (i.e. clark)." And for those who might be interested in being a clerk in Holland, "The cognate terms in some languages, e.g. Klerk in Dutch, became restricted to a specific, fairly low rank in the administrative hierarchy." Just so you know. (Oh, and in the U.K. there is a Clerk of the Closet. Yeah, that's right.)

Because I'm that way, I also did an image search for 'file clerk' and this is what was returned:


a)


b) c) d)

e) f)
g)


Image Key
a) clip art - okay, i get it (sort of)
b) i really hope i'm not a file clerk as long as the good Mr. Pekar and that i get famous younger
c) yeah, because that's just how i look when i'm sorting files (dirty, dirty files)
d) i have actually looked this happy when i found a file. why?
e) because this is a good approximation of the state of the offices files - just imagine about seven different offices, three hallways, a closed file room and two basement storage units worth of these files and you'll get an idea of how hard it is to find a file when it's not where it's supposed to be. which happens more than it should.
f) this is what i wished the files in the office looked like. ah, so orderly and categorized with that old-timey cabinetry goodness.
g) i have no idea. official file clerk swimming attire?

In conclusion, I am underpaid and overqualified and enjoying this job more than most others that I've had. What can i say? I like filing.

I do have plans to make the lawyers realize they need a full time records manager for the amount of files that they have and that it really is critical that they start to digitize records (a project I would be more than qualified to oversee) and include vital administrative information, like location of the file, in the existing database.


Okay, I'm off to take some more penicillin and codeine cough syrup (mmm, opiates).