I try to do my work. I have a manuscript to proofread, and what do I have to deal with?
You try getting those papers away from him.
(And isn’t it super cute how he looks so casual with that leg on the manuscript? Too adorable!)
I was at work a bit late this evening–I stayed until 5:15 or so. I usually work 8:30 to 4:30, but got to work around 8:45, so it wasn’t like I was working incredibly late. I was in the middle of something and just wanted to finish it. But as I went to drop something off at someone’s desk, I ran into three people who were all, “You’re still here?!” This is somewhat unnerving. For one thing, it’s hardly the first time I’ve stayed late. Should I be staying late more often? Do I come across as a slacker?
I’ve actually been staying a bit later more frequently lately. Some of it is that I’m super busy. But it’s mostly because I’ve been driving to work (I won free parking for a month). For some reason, when I drive to work, I stay later. When I take the bus, I am hyper aware of the time at the end of the day, and always try to get the same bus home. It makes no sense. My bus runs every 10 minutes or so, so it’s not like missing my normal bus will get me home much later. At my previous job, when my commute involved a shuttle to the Metro to my bus, missing the shuttle did mean getting home considerably later, so maybe I just still have that mindset.
Of course, it just seems that I have some odd notion set in my mind that no, in fact, I have to take the same bus to work every morning and the same bus home every night. In the mornings, I know what time I have to get up in order to catch my normal bus. And if I hit snooze one time too many, I’ll think, “Oh, I’ll just drive.” Because apparently, I can’t just catch a slightly later bus. And then I wind up getting to work late.
None of this makes sense, but I have no idea how to change it.
We got a new person in my department today, and to welcome her, we had some bagels and sat around chatting for a while. One person suggested we go around and have every person provide a word or two to describe each other. What did they come up for me?
Neat. Precise. Consistent. Sporty. Soft-spoken. And, after a bit of a pause, a hidden, wicked sense of humor.
It’s interesting, because those are probably not words that I’d use to describe myself. Well, maybe consistent. Consistent and precise probably come from my being an editor–that’s my job, and these are coworkers, so that makes sense. Neat is because for some reason, everyone at work is fixated on how tidy my desk is. I admit it. We’re actually having a clean-up day in a couple of weeks, and people were scoffing that I needed to clean at all. As my apartment proves, a place can be neat, but not clean. (I desperately need to clean my apartment–vacuum, dust, the works.) I just happen to keep things nicely in piles. That’s how I work. Otherwise, everything’s confused and I can’t concentrate.
But sporty? Really? I guess it’s because I like baseball, but that hardly makes me “sporty.” That makes me “a sports fan.” And really, “a baseball fan.” (Though I do like other sports.) I haven’t actively played a sport since…volleyball. In the tenth grade.
I think soft-spoken and hidden, wicked sense of humor go together. I am pretty quiet at work. I stay in my cube. I pop out and talk every now and then, but I’m probably not as social as the others in my department. And when you have a more sarcastic sense of humor, you try to watch it at the office–it’s hard to know how people react, and annoying people you work with isn’t a good idea. It does creep out, though.
It is always interesting to get a glimpse into how other people see you.
The other day at work, I spent the entire afternoon just completely dragging. After lunch, I was forcing myself through the day…and this is hardly a rare occurrence. I finally perked up and got some energy around 4. So I’m going to officially come out in favor of siestas. I feel like my productivity would skyrocket if I worked, say, from 8:30 to 1, then 4 to 7. Nap for a little while, maybe play with the cats. It would be great! Seriously, I think I spend more energy in a typical afternoon trying to keep myself awake than I do actually working.
Of course, this arrangement would really only work for people like me, who live close to their offices. Maybe they could add siesta rooms to office buildings…
At our monthly all-staff meeting, my current place of employment, in addition to awesomely having cake to celebrate that month’s birthdays, acknowledges people’s anniversaries. The weird thing is, you get a certificate every year. (And you have your picture taken with the president of the association.) That just seems like a bit much. One year doesn’t really seem that significant. I feel like maybe every 5 years should be acknowledged. Besides, sitting there for that part of the meeting gets kind of boring.
Needless to say, I opted out of being acknowledged at February’s meeting.
I’m editing this document, and I mutter, “Man, I’m so bad at ‘decision making’!” Then I laugh. I meant trying to figure out whether it should be hyphenated, but it works on its own, too.
Yes, I talk to myself when I’m editing. It’s not like I’m bothering the cats.
I got in to work this morning, and maybe 15 minutes into the day, my boss came and sat on my desk right next to me. This completely threw me off, because (a) I thought she was out today, and (b) hello, personal space. (People at my job seem to have little awareness for other people’s space–when they want to talk to me, they usually come right up to me. Ack.) Anyway, the conversation went something like this:
Boss: I’m supposed to go to Indianapolis to exhibit at a conference this weekend. If I can’t go, would you like to go?
Me: …Indianapolis?
Boss: You’d be going with X and Y, who’ve done this a number of times before, so it’d be a good way to ease you into this.
Me: …This weekend?
Boss: You’d fly out Thursday, or Friday even, and come back Sunday. There’s no pressure–if you don’t want to go, that’s fine.
Me: [Somewhat confused look]
Boss: I’ll let you think about it. Let me know by noon.
So…I’m going to Indianapolis. Tomorrow. Should be interesting. And I had to have earned tons of brownie points; I mean, filling in for my boss at the last minute? And I do like traveling–particularly when someone else is picking up the bill.
The one big downside to my new job is that I no longer have an office–I’m back in cubeville. Almost everyone has a cube, unlike the last time I worked in a cube, when there were only two of us in cubs. My new job has much more of an “open” layout. Which means that I can hear a lot of people talking a lot of the time.
On the positive side, my boss is pretty flexible, and I noticed that a lot of people had headphones. The other night I went out and bought a nice set and holy crow, has it made a difference! I put on some classical music (or something with words, if I don’t have to concentrate too hard on what I’m doing) and it’s like I’m in my own world. I love it.
I still don’t love that people just walk in and come right up to me without knocking, but…oh well.
I had scoffed at people’s ideas about working for the government. I’ve worked for the government for almost 4 months, but haven’t really run into many of the stereotypes. There are a couple of people entrenched in their positions who could use the heave-ho, but most people aren’t like that. It’s a lot larger than anywhere else I’ve worked, but doesn’t seem terribly different.
And then came this afternoon. I needed to FedEx something. Not far; just to another government agency. It seriously took multiple hours. Oh, how I miss just walking next door and grabbing a mailroom guy. This FedEx involved two different forms and chasing down someone for a signature. I seriously had to go 2 or 3 levels above me to get this approved. It was nuts.
Ah, bureaucracy in action.
