Monday. First day at the new job. I've got my back to school outfit on: Ton Sur Ton jumpsuit featuring a rakish design of New Wave people, peach squiggles and a turquoise triangle or two thrown in for effect. Oh, wait, no--that was my first day of school outfit for the
9th grade and yes, I still remember it. How could I not? I even had matching socks and believe you me, it wasn't easy matching socks to Ton Sur Ton what with the way my Reebok's shown in the bright September sun. I kid, I kid. I NEVER wore Reebok's because that would have been ugly.
I could not find a photo of a jumpsuit as fetching as my Ton Sur Ton number. This will have to do.
So here I am. As nervous as the first day of high school. I don't know where my locker is nor do I know the combination. I have not seen my schedule. I have no idea if I'm taking Spanish or French, if I will eat lunch at my desk or at the end of the fourth corridor along with all of the slow kids and that short boy who is rumored to only have one withered testicle. The only thing I know how to do right this very second is to show up. I can do that. I'm doing that. Just as soon as I finish this post.
For the past week I have been a bit dramatic about my impending job. I have done ALL of the laundry in the house. Stocked the fridge with groceries. Had my hair cut, a facial, bought new bras and underwear, as if maybe leaving on a Monday morning for a 9 to 5 office job is a deployment rather than an employment. As if maybe I will be gone for months when really, truly, honestly? This new job is letting me leave every day at 4ish to pick up my daughter. I get 3 weeks paid vacation with an additional 10 paid company holidays. I get paid medical and dental for my family and paid membership to the gym on the ground floor of the building. Which I will never use but still. A gym membership. And did you clock how many times I said
paid?
The house I did not want to lose. The house I will not lose now that I have a job. Our house.Yeats was right in
"The Second Coming."
Things most certainly do
fall apart. But the Center? Well, he was wrong about that. The center
can hold.
And so here I am on a Monday morning Slouching Towards Employment, a full recap to come. Which reminds me: for those of you that blog and have an "office job," when do you write? At home, at night? At work, one finger poised to switch to a spreadsheet should your boss appear at your back? How do you balance your blog and work, not to mention family? How do you blog and still have a life to blog about? I need answers, people. Please leave your suggestions in the comments section.
I could not find a photo of a jumpsuit as fetching as my Ton Sur Ton number. This will have to do.
The house I did not want to lose. The house I will not lose now that I have a job. Our house.
And so here I am on a Monday morning Slouching Towards Employment, a full recap to come. Which reminds me: for those of you that blog and have an "office job," when do you write? At home, at night? At work, one finger poised to switch to a spreadsheet should your boss appear at your back? How do you balance your blog and work, not to mention family? How do you blog and still have a life to blog about? I need answers, people. Please leave your suggestions in the comments section.
35 comments:
I, shame shame tsk tsk, blog at work. I check the blog roll first thing in the morning :) then I write a bit...dwell and maybe write a bit later after lunch break. Mental moments ya know...we all need them.
I want to wish you luck your first day...you won't need it, but your family will :) You have actually been one of my daily saving graces while I'm at work...I so want to quit this job, but am unable because I it works with my school schedule...so YOU , my dear...keep me coming back for more...don't leave me now...you MUST find time to sneak in a blog or two
I blog, and read blogs, almost exclusively at work. I used to feel wicked bad about it, but then I started realizing how many others do it too. It's just a nice thing to have up during the day, for a break, or when you need some perspective, or whatever.
I literally sit at my computer ALL. DAY. LONG, so it doesn't take away from my Real Work as much as you might think.
If I didn't have a desk job, I don't know that I would blog at ALL, much less as often as I do.
Sure hope you can work it out, dude. I would miss you like OUCH.
Good luck at your first day! I loathe the first day of pretty much anything!!
Have a great first day at work. Good for you for getting out there. KUDOS!!!
That is one amazing job. Jobs like that don't come along much anymore. Head up, shoulders back. You'll be great.
ahhhhhhh, ton sur ton--you are the first person that i've heard mention that brand in a long time--i coulnd't afford the hefty 60 dollar price tag that came with one of those sweatshirt beauties....but my bff's stepmonster could. so we would "borrow" them out of her closet.
naughty.
Ok, so. I have a full time, 9 to 6 job. And my blogging times vary. Sometimes I do it right at my desk when it's slow (or when I simply can't work anymore). Sometimes I do it from home. Sometimes I do it at night and schedule it to be posted in the morning. Sometimes, I'm so busy at work and so exhausted and brain dead when I get home, that I don't do it at all. I hate those times.
Good luck on your first day!!!!
Ok, so. I have a full time, 9 to 6 job. And my blogging times vary. Sometimes I do it right at my desk when it's slow (or when I simply can't work anymore). Sometimes I do it from home. Sometimes I do it at night and schedule it to be posted in the morning. Sometimes, I'm so busy at work and so exhausted and brain dead when I get home, that I don't do it at all. I hate those times.
Good luck on your first day!!!!
Hi S,
Good luck today!
xo,
me
Ah, yes, since I have to boss present - I can blog at work or at home. One finger poised that is (while at work) in case my own staff should arrive abruptly at my office door. Sometimes material that is blogworthy comes when I read other peoples blogs and it sparks something and sometimes...I got nothin.
Mostly, I don't have enought time to write as eloquently as you do. Please don't forget us...I know YOU know that we all would need meds if you did, or if you "delete" again.
Good Luck today! All good karma and juju sent your way.
Geez...Since I have no boss present..that is what I wanted to say. BUT since I blog at work - I don't spellcheck, crazy, yeah, that'd be me.
It's Monday - close enough to a full moon that I can blame!
On MSNBC they were stating reasons why you could be fired at work--and in the top 5 was blogging--Be careful out there! I'm a teacher--and not that one has time to write or read at school--BUT--the computers don't allow you to go to any blog sites because some dirty old man teacher who was surfing for porn-gross-during school hours!!! We were all a little pissed that porn guy took away our freedom on the computer :)
Still gasping for air at the notion of the "withered testicle".
Oh...right, how/when/where I blog?
Totally at work. On company time. With fingers crossed that I don't get busted.
it's interesting to see how many people blog at work. I think most people do unless they have an "on your feet" job like a waitress or a teacher or anything where you don't get a lot of alone time to sit with a computer.
With my job I have a slow stream of constant routine duties, but I'm mostly here to respond to crisis which can and does happen at any moment. So as long as I'm here ready for action my boss doesn't care what I'm doing.
Everytime I go into my boss' office he's either shopping online for fishing equipment, updating his ipod, or chatting on gmail (yeah my 64 year old boss chats online) around here as long as you get everything done that you need to in a timely manner, no one wants you to have to shuffle paper and flip your screen to look busy. It's bad quality of life.
Thinking of you and wishing you all the best at your new job!
I usually blog in the afternoons or on the weekends. I was a teacher, so I couldn't blog from work. I'm not working until August since I quit my teaching job to go into real estate and can blog whenever now, but I'm sure that will change once I start working again.
Good luck on your first day! I'm sure they'll love you. If you do end up eating alone (which I doubt but still), I recommend the iPod. Just pop the ear buds in, lean back and give everyone a 'sup? nod as they walk by. This will give you the appearance of being a young Matt Dillon-like loner. Maybe also wear a Pink Ladies jacket.
As someone who was "let go" from one of her jobs because of blogging (yup- I was "dooced.") I am a huge believer in the blog one hour before work starts or ends rule. Granted I don't have a baby to go home too but still. That blogging-you're fired conversation? It's not fun.
Um, maybe I missed something, but I'm pretty sure you said you were a writer. Writers find time to write. It's not a hobby, it's a compulsion. When you've put it off long enough and your nervous twitch starts to register on the Richter scale, suddenly getting up an hour earlier/staying up an hour later seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do, even if you have to prop your eyelids up with steel beams.
Good luck on your first day!
It's been a long time since I've worked in an office, but everyone still jokes about how I would leave the games up when my boss walked in the room. When questioned, I simply would reply, "My work is done. I could work slower, and you could wait on my reports. Or I could continue to work twice as fast as everyone else, and play games when you have nothing else for me to do." If I had blogged back then, I would have been doing that instead of playing games!
first up - your house looks adorable!!!!
secondly, good luck at the new J-O-B. You are so going to be the new mysterious popular girl. I can feel it.
As a boss who's had to have the "your blogging at work talk" I try to lead by example. I post in the evenings and schedule them to go out during the day. We work from 11-6 so there is plenty of time for my gang to blog prior to coming in as well....
Before I had my own company I would probably have blogged at work too but now, knowing what goes into a business, it makes me crazy when people take advantage of work time to do personal things.
First of all, CONGRATS on this new journey and the bravery you have shown by beginning it! Whoop! Whoop! You will be BRILLIANT and they will Love.You.Madly. Because you are YOU, and that is irreplaceable and fabulous.
I blog at work. Oh, shame on me! And I blog at home. Not every day, of course, but when I can. And I ask friends to help me with ideas. And I share what I can, even if it's two or three sentences, or even one YouTube video.
We will still love you no matter how much or how little you write. And we will always be proud of you for what you're doing. Go get 'em, Diva!!
with love from Pittsburgh...
Good luck today! I work at home, but I do some projects hourly. And, yeah, I blog (reading and writing) sometimes on the clock. I reason that if I just take a break from my work for a bit, I'll come back to it refreshed. Whatever.
My boss is great and does not prevent his staff from using the internet-games, blogs, shopping, etc. I, however, am getting seriously pissed because I see staff taking huge advantage of his trust. People, even on my own staff, are NOT doing their jobs and when approached about it, I hear, "I don't have time. I can't do everything that's expected of me. We need more help!" That would be fine except that these are the SAME people who seem to always be playing games or shopping on the internet everytime I walk by. Now, I'm writing this comment and read your blog here at work. But, once that's done, I WORK. I eat and work at my desk. I work on the weekends and after-hours. If I were incredibly busy at work, I wouldn't have time to read your blog. I have always hired and supervised staff with the assumption that I am dealing with adults who share a work ethic common to mine-though I only ask that staff work during business hours, take their breaks and lunch and leave the work at the office after doing their best each day. But what I'm seeing here is that people are stealing. They are stealing time that they are being paid for from the boss-a boss who trusts them enough not to censor their internet activities. It's all in the balance as far as I'm concerned. If you do your job and can still blog a bit, no harm, no foul. If your boss has been stung by employees like I am seeing, watch out though. It's so bad here now that, if it were me, I'd take away everyone's free pass internet access at work.
You'll do great at your new job. I know you and you aren't a slacker-couldn't be if you tried. You'll do your job well and you'll continue to blog because you ARE a writer....and you have all of us hooked already.
Work and Write...and be a wife and Mom and everything else we women do. You saved your house. Your job pays a hell of a lot more than mine and you have loads more PTO than I do after years.And, yes, I am jealous-YOU pay for lunch next time...and why didn't you buy me the DvF dress for the wedding? It was ONLY $650-you can afford it, I can't. Kidding... You are WOMAN hear you ROAR. You CAN do ALL the things that are important to you...I know that because I know YOU! Love Ya....Mom
Ton Sur Ton! You just slay me, Susannah! Thanks for that fabulous visual. I don't think I had Ton Sur Ton, but I know my BF did. I'm sure I had the frosty salmon lipstick. I hope your day went well. You'll figure it all out!
It was my first day at my new job so I am right there with you feeling all the same nerves. Hope it went well.
yikes, ladies, please be careful about blogging at work! I know this is a buzzkill, but seriously, people get fired for it all the time, and I think rightfully so. I work in a very casual office, but I respect my boss, I respect her work ethic, and I respect the way SHE respects our clients and the trust they show us by paying us for our services. The thought of getting busted by her for writing my blog--which doesn't contain anything inappropriate, but is nonetheless very goofy and personal--on company time makes my skin crawl with horror. Don't do it!
oh, also: your house is absolutely gorgeous. Love!
Blogs are what keep most people from a 3pm nap- it's blogs or the crossword and because a newspaper on your desk, ballpoint in hand is way too obvious, blogs it is? Blogs it are? Congrats on your first day! I can't wait for my last :)
I may wear my Jennifer Reed sweater and stirrup pants to work tomorrow in your honor Susannah. If I am unfortunate enough to be caught blogging by Mr. Fussy Pants, I shall refer him to the comments section of your post as my defense.
Two words - Alt-Tab, it will save your a$$ while you blog at work. If you are so brave and chose to do so.
Best of luck
I just found your blog, I love it and yes I am at work! Slow season, not much to do and after reading all the comments I totally agree with Judy (is she really your mom)all work must be finished and finished properly otherwise it is stealing.........
Here at this office we have a full kitchen and within reason we can ask for whatever to be purchased, but I envy the gym....I'm thinking of getting bands and keeping them in the bathroom for a 5 minute 'pick-me-up'
Your first day of work outfit sounds completely fantastic. Rock out, chica!
OMG...
My mother had that sewing pattern.
The comment you wrote under that adorable house of your is VERY inspiring and shows your strength...There is lot's of struggling going on in this country and you show that you are in the "survival of the fittest" category.
Hope you are enjoying your new job :)
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