Conference Calling

Unhappy faces. Telepresence is not real Presence.

But it was still fun.

The Date on My Badge

I heard Friday afternoon that Tuesday would be my last day.  I'm not surprised.

Not surprised that my manager hung out with me in person for 2 days and didn't mention it.

Not surprised he's a chicken, that he would never answer a direct question.

That he was too stubborn to change his mind, or allow for the possibility.

That his focus would be on what his team can win, and NOT what will improve the project.

I'm glad to leave before I get more emotionally involved with the other employees (I love them all). Before I fall more in love with the habit.

I'm glad I can go back to NYC.  Everyone else has to look at those walls and my empty desk until it all gets washed of my existence.  And then I'll be completely gone.

How to Hang In

Vacations are underrated. 

It's much more amazing to realize that you are happier Not Working for a company than Working for it.

Some people (17 or 7 or 4 year veterans) are stuck with their life investments.  They are terrified to make a move or to have a move made upon them.

It's a huge deal to explore open positions, other companies, or even a new commute. Old habits die hard.

The more you move, the more efficient everyone can be. All the detritus falls away. So much surrounds us everyday that is distracting. Habits, rooms, hallways, desks, coworkers.  Everything is there until it isn't.

One bad earnings call, one rough afternoon for your boss, everything at your job can fall away until nothing is left, not even a paycheck.  It's a matter of dodging as many bullets as you can, and try not to be shocked when you get hit.

Corporate Work Doing Dishes

When I got my first few intellectual jobs (Linguistics), I was so PROUD that I was being hired for my brain.  (And told more people than I should have, who probably didn't think I should have been as surprised as I was)

Stage Managing in Theater was all about setting up the chairs, being the secretary and making the calls, an assistant, the maid.  The Servant.

I would have been lucky to make $70K a year.  (Even as the head Stage Manager of Hamilton.  Worse, there is NO job security from show to show.  Even if I had made it all the way, it would be $2k a week for 20 weeks a year...)

Corporate Work is just as bad in ways, and worse. My manager doesn't want me to write my own reports, he wants to look at my notes and sculpt it into a report of his own.

I was hired for my relationship skills, my degrees, my experience and felt like I was the mistress (Contractor) but now instead of being appreciated for who I am, I'm told that my whole job is to do dishes.

Waltham Traffic, 7:40am

There has been no sun or rise for the past two days.

Rain and fog, although no ice yet.but it will come.

I've stopped listening to the news since the election.

I sit in my car for an extra 10 minutes before I enter my work building.

10 minutes of music a day is all I get.

Haunted by Your Former Self

Drove by the old coffee shop in a taxi the other night. The building next to Grand Central is gone, and the view is gorgeous.

A hole in the sky.

And I can afford to take a taxi, and can afford to give a nice tip without worrying.

Rich People Complaining

One querulous woman kept complaining that the morning shuttle was late (15 minutes). Day of, and the day after. Needing to reaffirm her righteousness.

And she had a meeting in the afternoon, which she fell asleep to, but annoyed the rest of us. 

Walking to a 5:30 start, the girl who stopped me because she was high as a kite. The police were after her for peeing in the bushes at the NYPL. But she couldn't tell her father, back in the Netherlands.

Pleading with me, stuck in an expensive habit.