Has it been 12 days since I last blogged? That’s terrible.
I don’t know why working 37.5 hours a week as a waitress left me so much more time to blog than working 37.5 hours a week as an office worker, but I guess it did. Or maybe my level of unhappiness kept me writing more often. Whatever the reason, I really don’t have a lot of free time these days.
But it’s not bad because I’m beginning to suspect that I might genuinely enjoy my new job. I mean, it’s possible that I’ve managed to not only be in the right place at the right time, but to actually be in the right place for me, at the right time. Here are the things I like best about my job:
1. Being in charge of the department email box – the polio eradication division of the not-for-profit that I work for has its own email box. I answer emails asking for statistics on global polio cases, PowerPoint presentations, fact sheets, bumper stickers/pins/buttons, information on donating and fundraising, etc. I get to check and answer emails all day long! It’s great. And this is in addition to my own email box, which is where all my real work comes from.
2. Interacting with others – I talk to people all day long because I need stuff from them or they need stuff from me, and, so far, they’re all pretty cool people. I have a great boss for whom I don’t mind doing things (another big part of my job). I love people. I need to be around people all day long.
3. Typing – Today my supervisor needed a document that was undownloadable from the Internet (any suggestions anyone? I could not copy any part of it). So I had to sit there and type four pages of highly formatted text from online. It took about two hours and I worked through lunch (for the first time) because she needed it urgently. I love typing.
4. Breaks – I always eat away from my desk (except for today). This has always been a strong rule for me. I hate eating at my desk and you’ll rarely see me do it. We also get two 15-minute breaks a day. I actually take those, too.
5. Words – I enjoy updating documents, editing information so it’s clearer, explaining a detailed conversation in an email, etc. If I’m working with words, life isn’t bad.
6. Cupcakes – I’ve been baking cupcakes or cookies or brownies and bringing them in. I love baking and I didn’t have anyone to bake for before (Bob doesn’t eat sweets). People seem to like it.
7. Committees – I’m on the Coordinator’s Professional Development Training committee and the Picnic committee and I’m also in the Book Club, although that isn’t a committee and is just for fun (we meet at lunch). I love being on committees because they lead to —
8. Meetings – I think being in a room with a bunch of other people focused on one conversation is the next best thing to a dinner party. And they’re even better with snacks.
9. Training – There are so many classes and training sessions I can take! I’m learning to be an expert at Word, Outlook, email, Excel. I’m also taking a Fred Pryor seminar on Document Retention and Destruction (Arthur Andersen jokes are appropriate, since I worked there when it went down). In the future, I’ll be taking training in time management, business writing, “managing up” (I think that’s when you actually know better than your supervisors, but have to manage how to convey that to them), conflict management. Oh, it’ll go on and on!
10. Saying “good morning” – I’m surrounded by all these nice people who act like they like me. Maybe I’ll never be lonely again!
I have little free time for blogging because on weekdays I get up at 6:00 a.m to go to the gym and be at my desk by 9:00. Some days I go to a book club or writing group or discussion group after work and get home around 8:30 or 9:30. At that point I just go into the kitchen, pack my breakfast and lunch for the next day, talk to my husband a little and go to bed (I rarely buy food when I’m at work). If I come straight home after work, I usually don’t feel like sitting in front of another computer screen. Oh! That’s probably the real reason right there: as a waitress, blogging was totally different from work. Now my body wants OUT of the sitting down position by day’s end. So, I’m not blogging a lot.
But I really want to. Maybe I can work on it. The last time I had a desk-with-computer job, it was 2004 and I was working at a job that required me to do so little that I surfed and blogged and wrote emails all day. My blogging took place on the job, no problem. This job is not like that at all, but I like it so much more.