Box Girl

BOX

GIRL

Copyright © 2014 Lilibet Snellings

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Excerpt adapted from
Against The Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob
by Lee Siegel, copyright © 2008 by Lee Siegel. Used by permission of Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Hopscotch
by Julio Cortazar, copyright © 1966. Used by permission of Random House LLC. All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Snellings, Lilibet.

Box Girl : my part time job as an art installation / Lilibet Snellings.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-61902-362-8

1. Snellings, Lilibet. 2. Models (Persons)—California—Los Angeles—Biography. 3. Performance artists—California—Los Angeles--Biography. 4. Women performance artists—California—Los Angeles--Biography. 5. Los Angeles (Calif.)—Social life and customs. 6. Los Angeles (Calif.)—Biography.

I. Title.

HD6073.M772U569 2014

702.81—dc23

[B]

2013028208

Cover Design: Jeff Miller, Faceout Studios

Interior Design: Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

Soft Skull Press

An Imprint of Counterpoint

1919 Fifth Street

Berkeley, CA 94710

www.softskull.com

Distributed by Publishers Group West

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1

FOR MY FAMILY.

And for Peter, my biggest cheerleader.

Literally. He is 6 foot 9
.

          
California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension; in which the mind is troubled by some buried but ineradicable suspicion that things had better work here, because here, beneath that immense bleached sky, is where we run out of continent
.

—JOAN DIDION,

“Notes from a Native Daughter”

[ CONTENTS ]

Uniform

Box Girl Rule Sheet

Please Wear Undergarments

The Box

Could You Tidy It Up a Bit?

My Natural Habitat

Hello, Box Talent!

Prep

An Emotional Detroit

Oh the Horror

Bam

The Various Positions in My Rotation

She's Got a Good Booty for a White Girl

Underdog

Star Gazing

Not-So-Model Behavior

Paper Planes

I Am a Slash

Run Lilibet Run

Like Visiting Day in Jail

Dear Mr. Retoucher

Metamorphosis

Out There

I Am Not a Beagle

Only the Lonely

Waitress

Anatomy of a Haircut

Entourage

Signs That You Have Made It

Signs That You Have Not Made It

Hooters vs. The Box

I Was a Box Bunny

Interview

The Zoo

Sometimes I Play Pretend

A Million Little Pieces (of Paper)

Numb

Beach

Voyeur

True Facts About a Box Girl

Sometimes I Wish a Blackberry Was Still Just a Fruit

The Big One

Tsunami

Scotch Please, Splash Soda

Alone

Smiling

I Love You!

Diorama

Bathroom Choreography

Outside the Box

Amsterdam

Gobble, Gobble

Things Even I Am Unwilling to Do

Clare

Panopticon

Mom-Like

Weltschmerz

The Concierge Desk

I've Got the Over on Fifteen Minutes

Tired

Whitman

BOX

GIRL

Uniform

I take off my shoes first and crack my toes against the cold
lobby floor. Then, I take off my jeans. Finally, my shirt. I am not naked, but close to it—in short white shorts and a tight white tank top. For the next seven hours, this is my uniform.

Reaching into my bag, I take out the things I want inside with me. Tonight it's my laptop, my phone, two pens, headphones, this week's issue of
The New Yorker
even though I haven't opened last week's, a legal pad, lip gloss.

I comb my fingers through my hair, press my lips together, and glance quickly toward my feet, surveying my uniform, making sure everything important is covered. Finally, I retrieve the stepladder, and, with my hands steadied on its sides, I climb up its stairs and crawl inside the box.

Box Girl Rule Sheet
¹

1.
  
Every shift begins at 7:00
PM
and ends at 2:00
AM
. You must be inside the box at 7:00
PM
promptly. Please arrive to the property by 6:45.
²

2.
  
You can take one thirty-minute break in the Employee Break Room and two bathroom breaks.

3.
  
No food or drink inside the box.

4.
  
Headphones are required if you are watching/listening to music.

5.
  
No eye contact or relations with the guests or staff.

6.
  
No socializing with guests or hotel employees before, during, or after your shift.

7.
  
Don't touch the artwork in the box.

Uniforms:

1.
  
The uniform is white boy shorts and white tank top. No alterations are acceptable.

2.
  
Please wear undergarments.

3.
  
Bring a robe, sweat pants, and flip-flops for breaks.

4.
  
Makeup is light and natural.

5.
  
Ultimately this is a modeling job and you must take care of your body. If you have severe bruises, bandages, or casts, you must wait until your body is healed and then ask to be put on the schedule.

Schedules:

1.
  
If you are late twice in one month and you don't call the front desk to let them know, you will be taken off the schedule the following month. A no-show/no-call may result in a month's suspension or termination.

2.
  
You must submit your availabilities by the twenty-fifth of each month for schedule placement consideration.

3.
  
If someone calls you to cover her shift for her, you must not accept if you are already on the schedule for that week.

4.
  
All shift changes must be relayed in writing via email to the Talent Coordinator. Text messages and phone calls are not acceptable.

General:

1.
  
Valet your car. The front desk will take care of your parking for you.