Extra work report--

Here are two stories from the set today:

I was just standing around between shots, minding my own business, when JULIE, who has been on the show for fifteen years walks up to me and says, "Have you ever had the turkey at Chef's Take Out?"

At first, I think it must be code. Then, that she had been under the hot lights too long, or possibly she had been talking to somebody else about this place and transferred the conversation to me.

My reply was "No, is it good?"

She said it was and I followed with at least a couple more questions, which I thought were pretty good considering the spot she had put me in. "Did you go there today for lunch?" I queried.

"No, it's too far away," she replied.

"Oh, is this the food we're serving to the homeless on the show today?" I tried again.

"No," she returned, giving me a look like I had just asked to father her child.

Then we started shooting again and that was the end of our little exchange.

 At the end of the day, there was a tray of cookies sitting on one of the tables. An important-sounding man said in a rather gruff tone, "Don't eat the cookies, we're using them tomorrow." Immediately following this proclamation, two of the stars of the show chuckled and grabbed a couple of cookies, indicating, as I saw it, that he was kidding, that they wouldn't use the same cookies the next day. They weren't even using the same extras the next day, so how could the cookies matter? It had to all be a joke.

So as the crowd started to dissipate, I put my broom away and started off, but as I passed the cookie tray, I reached out to try one. Of course the cookie-guard was still hovering at this point and my efforts were met with a high-decibel "I said not to touch the cookies! Are you hard of hearing?"

To which I replied, "Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

But he was not done. "Then I'll repeat myself. Don't touch the cookies. We're using them tomorrow."

I put the cookies back down exactly where they were. The cookie-guard reached down and moved them about a half-inch to the left. Thank God they have someone so dedicated to the cookies. And thank God for him there was one guy less important than him on the set that day: the lowly extra.

I considered it to be in my best interest to simply depart, so I did. I could get a cookie of my own on the way home.