this is what breeds cynicism

I didn't vote in the democratic caucus tonight since I opted to volunteer to help with the one in my boss's district. At first, I was a bit nervous that the race would be close, and I would regret my decision to pass up my opportunity to attempt to make a difference. However, as the districts have begun reporting, it doesn't seem as if it will be too close of a race anyway. Therefore I'm happy with my decision since the caucus I attended seemed horribly understaffed, unprepared, and unorganized.

I understand that voter turn out has normally been low in recent years. However, with the hype and attention that the recent campaigns between Clinton and Obama have been generating, I think they should have anticipated a much bigger turnout than usual. We ran out of Democratic party registration cards, which was a huge problem since, although most of the state are staunch Democrat voters, few are actually registered with the party. I think they even ran out of ballot sheets at some point in the evening, and there were nowhere near the amount of sitting room that was needed. I think I apologized more to people tonight than I've ever done at my restaurant job. Most people were nice about it. I guess they understood that it wasn't anything that I could have personally changed and they appreciated that the volunteers knew they were frustrated, too, with the endless line and crowded cafeteria.

In hindsight, I wish I had also said something about organizing the line outside. People waited well over an hour, only to be told that they were in the wrong location and had to be turned away. I understand that it was their responsibility to check their caucus location, which may have been different from their regular poll locale. However, thinning the lines out early would have saved a lot of frustration and anger.

The one thing that stuck with me was one old, Asian man. He wasn't one of those active seniors who can still rush around from place to place. I think he must have caught the bus down to the school we were at, waited in the long line, filled out all the forms they directed him to, and, after all of that, we had to tell him that he was in the wrong location. I saw him tearing up with frustration at the whole process, and that just tugged at my heartstrings. It was pretty late in the night at this point, and I don't know if he was able to make it to the right area.

And that kind of thing just makes me upset. If there are actually candidates that people care enough to come out to vote for when it isn't even a general election, then it should be easy and simple for voters to cast their ballots. And I don't think tonight was easy for anyone. There was a lot of waiting and confusion and I think it makes people more reluctant to actually vote when it matters or think that it's even worth their time to vote.

I really just wanted to leave and take the old man to the school he was supposed to be at. It really was quite a way to go before the short amount of time they had to get all the votes in.

I don't know ...

I still enjoyed the experience, as frazzling and hectic as it was. It was something new and I'm glad I got a chance to see how things work. I think that's the best part of my new job -- just being able to understand that process of government and actually get down in the trenches to see what's going on.

about working a real job

1. LOVE the clothes. Although, at times, I miss wearing jeans and street clothes, I've been stoked to buy fancy, grown-up, business clothes to wear to work. It's pricey, but my wardrobe is slowly expanding and getting gussied up every morning is great. However ...

2. HATE pantyhose. Seriously. I feel like I'm still ten years old because I still haven't been able to wear a pair for more than a week without getting a run. I've scratched my legs and pulled them so hard (because I was wearing them backwards and you could tell since they had a line that were supposed to come down the back of my leg and not some weird front-sideways area) and just done who knows what because they're running all the time. UGH. Plus I still can't find a shade that I like that's sheer enough to look like my natural skin color.