Auction

My school, like many law schools, holds an auction each year to raise money for students who will be working unpaid in the public sector during the upcoming summer.

At my school, to get one of these stipends, you have to jump through a few hoops. One of the hoops I had to jump through this year was to help with the auction itself. I was assigned to work in the room with the actual goods that had been donated and then purchased during the course of the evening. Some of the items had been displayed on tables during the night, and then were brought down to the room where I was working to be checked off and then processed through to the winning bidder. I ended up working with the chair of the inventory committee (that's right--it's a whole committee--this shindig was HUGE) on keeping things running smoothly, primarily by making sure all items were present and accounted for by checking a large database on my laptop with what was physically present in the large room.

Each lot number was taped along the front of a table (in a series of many tables - hundreds of items here), and when the items were brought to the room, they had to be put in their appropriate lot. Some lots consisted of many items, like dinner gift certificates and Broadway tickets.

There were some items that I couldn't account for, and eventually, someone found a stack of items that hadn't been brought down with the rest of them. I was missing a few items from different lots, and I had people running around searching for them and reuniting them with their lots.

I sent a runner to find me a set of Broadway tickets for one lot where the rest of the items had already been located.

Her: What play?
Me: "Anything Goes"
Her: Okay.

And off she went. I continued to search, direct, and reunite lost goods with their rightful lots in time to be ready for the winning bidders to pick up. Five or ten minutes later, she returned.

Her: What is 508 missing again?
Me: Broadway tickets. "Anything Goes"
Her: Okay. But what play?
Me: "Anything Goes"
Her: (puzzled pause) But, just...anything? What?
Me: "Anything Goes" is the show. I need you to find the tickets to the show "Anything Goes."
Her: OH! I thought you just wanted to find me any Broadway tickets and I couldn't decide which ones you wanted.
Me: (suddenly concerned about what else we had Broadway tickets to that were rolling around still...and suddenly feeling like I had been in some sort of Abbot and Costello thing)

All in all, it was a very successful auction! We had many generous alumni and community members attend our auction to help us work in Public Interest jobs this summer. And I got home by 10, which is all I ask on a school night. (I know--I'm an old woman.)

So many of my friends will be working in a wide variety of public interest jobs this summer. Most of these organizations rely on help from law students, yet cannot afford to pay them at all, due to extremely limited funding. We're so blessed to be at a school that supports our ambitions and helps to fund us in working toward what really matters!