Your Online Chat

[BBhasin]

It is wed 11:00 am.

Is it you sitting alone at your computor typing away like crazy?

OR

There is a whole team of staff/ researchers with you dictating to them. You get a zillion querries, who and on what basis is it decided which ones to answer, any carried over to the next week etc etc. You want to go to the bathroom.... what happens then.

Get the drift?

Would you be kind enough to paint a picture for us ( we dont need to know about the bathroom, Ha Ha )

thanks

[Tom Sietsema]

Ha!

I get to work early on Wednesday morning in order to prepare for the 11 a.m. chat, and I do this by pulling up a screen on my computer with all the (early) questions and comments that have been forwarded to me by a producer in Arlington. There might be a dozen questions waiting for me, or 20, or 40. It depends.

I'm a slow typist, so I begin to answer queries in a Word document -- this is also when I make a call to verify a chef change, or track down addresses for restaurants in Paris -- and cut and paste my responses once the show starts. Obviously, once we begin, I really have to hustle, because the questions start to flood in, faster and faster, beginning at 11 a.m. Out of over 100 questions, I can get to 30 or 35 on average.

During this time, the door to my glass office in the Style section is closed, and I'm armed with a bottle of water and hot coffee. It must look like I'm studying for a big exam, with my reviews and books scattered about my desk.