Last night at my freelance gig myself and another artist were waiting to be released.  “Can you hold on a minute for a couple of minor tweaks?”

Of course we said yes and thus entered the first phase of overtime, where one thinks, “I’m almost out of here — please God, no revisions.”  Now once we past that hour it turned into, “That’s three hours overtime.  If they keep me for another I can get those new tires.  Hell I can even go out to eat somewhere nice.”

By the time I left I was not only hungry, I could barely form a sentence and the art director snapped at me.

Did I snap back?  Well, honestly I thought about it.  (I can form sentences in my head no matter how tired.  In fact they are quite “colorful”).  However I just did the work and after all was said and done the art director apologized, “Sorry about that man, I’ve been working long hours.”

As I ate my dinner I thought how the art director was probably on salary with no overtime.  “It’s a shame they’re overworking a Mench like that.”

I took another bite of my $45 steak and reveled in its juicy tenderness.

No matter what, it is good to be employed.