Busy Project Days

I'd say that I can't believe the weekend is over already but, really, I can. I can't say I haven't used every minute of it either because...I feel like I have.

My busiest weekends always end up seeming to be the ones where I don't have anything planned. My original intention was to get the tiling on my Tuscan room floor done. However, due to the unexpected expense of a termite extermination as well as having to buy a new lawnmower, the floor tiles were a little else on which to splurge.

Besides, Saturday ended up being a rainy, gloomy day and I needed to have a sunny, warm day on which to tile so the pups could be outside and I could put all the stuff currently on the floor of the Tuscan room outside so I'd be able to work. In the end, I had a very pleasant indoor sort of Saturday in which the pups laid around being lazy while i cleaned. I did some reading. I watched some movies. It wasn't the most productive day but I don't feel like it was a wasted laze. I needed that laze quite badly.

Sunday was quite the opposite. I decided to make it Project Day. I ended up building a nice trellis on the edge of my patio so that I could sit and have a bit of peace from the yappy dogs next door. I also made a neat little garden around the trellis so I can plant some honeysuckle and have it grow to give me complete privacy. During the trellis project, I realized that in order to move all the sod that I'd dug up to make room for the trellis, I really needed a wheelbarrow.

This is something that's been on my list of things to get since I moved in. So, I went to buy a wheelbarrow from Lowes. It turns out that wheelbarrows don't always come assembled. I did not know this. The particular wheelbarrow I wanted (read: The most inexpensive) was all sold out of the assembled model so I ended up buying it in three parts: The buckety part, the handles and the wheel and assembly stuff.

I thought, "Oh, it's a wheelbarrow...how hard can it be to build?" And I loaded the pieces up in my car and headed home.

Silly Captain Monkeypants. Considering I have trouble with even the simplest instructions from IKEA, I should have realized it'd never be easy. Building a wheelbarrow is quite complicated. There are cross bracy thingys, handles and all sorts of nuts and bolts. Long story short...I was successful. In between the taking all the parts out of the box and being successful is a series of rather rude words that I shouted a few times, a couple of minor injuries to my fingers and several "oops, I did that backwards" moments.

Still, I have a wheelbarrow. I also have a trellis. I have no honeysuckle because Lowes didn't have any. I will have some soon. I also have two very tired pups. They decided the best course of action for themselves while I went about my project business was to run around outside the whole time. Now they're sleepy. I am too, for that matter. I'm also a little sore.

However, in the long run, I'm very pleased with my day since it was absolutely perfect outside- sunny, warm and breezy. I find that on weekends with days like this, it makes the thought of Monday much more bearable.

Also, I'm tired enough that my brain has shut down and doesn't have the energy to be disappointed that I have to work tomorrow which definitely helps with the Monday thing. It also means that my blog will be a little shorter than some of my waffles because, well, forming cohesive sentences is getting harder by the minute.

Which, really, is how I usually begin Mondays anyway so I'm in good shape.

Happy Monday!

Muddled Mondays

Today was definitely one of those days where staying home, sleeping in and being lazy would have been a lovely thing to do.

It started with the Dog Whisperer. He has taken to letting the dogs out around 6 a.m. They inevitably run around yapping as they do every time they go outside. Unfortunately, they like to yap by their back gate which, sadly, is probably less than 20 feet from where my bed is inside my house. This means that not only do the beasts wake me up but they also get Rory and Sookie on edge.

When we did get up, it was to a very grey and gloomy day. Our forecast was for severe storms. We ended up just having lots and lots of heavy rain but even without the thunder and lightning, it was the type of weather that’s best enjoyed being lazy indoors.

Nevertheless, I went to work. It was a busy day. The solution to a grey and gloomy day is to be so busy that you don’t have time to think about it being a Monday. Because the other recruiter is out of the office due to his mother’s passing away, I’m the lone body trying to put people in jobs. This isn’t so bad- I like being busy. It’s just a little difficult when everyone wants me to do everything and there’s only so many hours in a day.

Still, I’d rather be swamped than sitting at my desk, twiddling my thumbs. It’s nice when you look at the clock and realize the day is passing in a blur.

On the downside, it was still one of those days that felt…muddled. Even though it began with a job offer for a candidate who badly wanted a job, it was one of those days where things just weren’t smooth. For this particular candidate, the company who wants him to work there is a huge pain in the bottom. Their HR manager is the type of person who expects everything done IMMEDIATELY. She wants things RIGHT NOW.

And yet when it’s her turn to provide information or something else, it takes ages. This is why our poor candidate has waited 2 months since his initial interview to find out if they actually wanted him. Even when we found out he’d got the job, we still didn’t know how much they wanted to pay him, when they wanted him to start and if they were going to have him work on a contract basis through us or they wanted him to start directly with them.

This makes it a little difficult to tell someone they have a job offer. It pretty much whittles down to, “Hey, X…good news. X Company wants to make you an offer. I don’t know how much money they’re offering, when you’d start or who you’ll actually be working for but, hey, none of that matters…right?”

Of course it matters. It’s hard to be vague when a job hangs in the balance. Still, the candidate was excited enough that he was happy to provide his own start date and salary requirements. Now all we need to do is hear back from the company.

This is the type of thing that can turn a day into a muddled mess very quickly. Also, when you have an interview scheduled for a candidate who doesn’t show up because he had a childcare emergency, that can also muddy up the schedule.

Then, finally, when you have to wait at work for a candidate to show up after hours, this can muddle up everything the most. It’s hard to wait because by around 5 p.m., I’m already planning on how I’ll go home, change into comfy clothes after having a happy reunion with the pups and vegging with a nice healthy but tasty dinner.

Still, as Mondays go, even with the muddle, it wasn’t a bad Monday. It was gloomy and grey. It was a little hectic but I’ll take that any day over a Monday that drags by without any type of forgiveness or redemption. Those days are tough. I actually miss the fact that the TV show “24” is no longer on Monday evenings- I’m still convinced that it was a marketing strategy to say, “Hey, you think YOU’RE having a bad day? Jack Bauer is having a WAY worse one than you.”

Jack Bauer was usually having a worse day than me. My bad Mondays usually consist of slowness at work, irritating but non-severe problems and work and a general desire to be anywhere but where I am. Jack Bauer’s bad days had things like decapitating suspects with hacksaws, having to deal with radiation sickness, watching your wife be murdered by your partner and finding out your daughter was held hostage by a mountain lion.

You can see how all that can make me feel a little shallow when I wine about being tired and cranky because my candidate didn’t show up for an interview. What’s that compared to having to singlehandedly save the U.S. at least a couple of times a year on a really bad day?

I miss Jack Bauer. He made me appreciate the goodness in a bad day. Also, he made me wonder simple things like whether he had to go to the toilet, whether he ate food or if he ever just went to bed and stayed there for a week or two without worrying if evil enemies would find him hiding underneath he covers.

Even though Jack Bauer is no longer around to put things in perspective, I’m learning to try to appreciate Mondays for what they are. At best, they’re good days that don’t feel like a Monday. At worst, they’re a day full of faltering before the week begins to hit its stride.

While I didn’t get to stay home and be lazy with the pups, I think going to work and getting things done was a good alternative.

Even if it wasn’t nearly as comfy.

Happy Tuesday!

The Peril of People...

There are some days when I think it's best to not be around too many people. For me, today was one of those days.

This is actually somewhat ironic since one of the many reasons I left my last job was because I missed working with people and found interacting with my computer and our software to be soul-sucking and dull.

So, I found a job where I could work with people. Most of the time, I enjoy working with them. People are fun. I like nice people. I've met quite a few nice ones in my short time in this job. I have a new buddy down in Kentucky who is just the sweetest lady ever and I'd love to find her a job but unfortunately, the market isn't cooperating. There are other nice ones too. The ones I like most are the ones who take job searching seriously. They know I can help them and they're willing to cooperate with me.

Unfortunately, they're still people. People lie. It's a sad fact but it's probably one of the truest statements ever. I think Dr. House would agree since that's his personal motto.

Everybody lies.


It's true. I'm learning it on a daily basis. I don't think there's any malicious intent in them. They don't lie because they're mean people. They lie because they don't want to tell the truth for whatever reason. The reason can be as simple as not wanting me to know they're working with other recruiters in case I take it personally or as complex as them wanting a new job that fulfills them but, when it comes down to it, it's all about the money.

It's often about the money. I find that fascinating. As a recruiter, it's my job to find out why someone sent me their resume or they're on the great wide interweb looking for a new position. They all want to be more fulfilled by their jobs. It's common sense. We, as humans, are looking for happiness and soul-satisfaction.


Yet, it very often comes down to the money.


I try to match people up with jobs. I take into consideration the commute, the amount of hours required off-the-clock, the salary and their background. I like to get to know them, find out if they have young children which might prevent them from wanting to work too far from home or if they've been out of work for a while, what they've been doing to pay the bills.

It all helps. I like getting to know my candidates personally. It's fun.

It's just that they lie. What they don't tell me is it's not really about job satisfaction as it is about that big paycheck. I try to get them the highest salary possible but more often than not, they hear a high number and they start to wonder if they can go higher so they look elsewhere as well.

Then they tell me they're not close to getting another job or they're not really looking. Thus, I do what I can to make sure I find them something. I have a soft spot for the desperate. It sucks to not have a job, especially this time of year. I work harder for those candidates than the ones who have a job but want to do something else.


So, often, my candidates get submitted to positions. They get interviews. They get second interviews. Then, just when I know they're going to get the job, they phone me to say they've accepted another position.


It's happened more than once. It's very, very frustrating because, all along, I asked them to let me know where else they were interviewing. Not only does it let me know where our company stands in their job search but it makes sure we don't submit them somewhere where they've already been submitted. I don't take offense if they're working with other companies. It's sensible. I just hate when they lie about it.

It always makes me feel cheated. I've worked hard to get them to the point where they're going to get a job and boom! They no longer want it.

I understand the knee-jerk reaction, particularly for the unemployed. A job is a job. Yet when you have a candidate who quit his last position in protest of them laying off half his staff, you don't expect him to take another position where the same thing is going to happen.

How do I know the same thing is going to happen? It's my business to know. We know which companies are in the process of outsourcing to India and which ones are going to be cutting jobs. As cutthroat as it sounds, we have to know this because we can help the people getting cut find new jobs. You have to be quick.


I sound bitter. I'm not. I'm just a little tired of getting my hopes up that I've succeeded in getting someone a job. It's not about the small commission I earn on each placement, it's about me feeling like I'm a success. I've had three candidates in the last week get close enough to be offered a job but before we can get final confirmation, they've taken another position.


It makes sense. Panic sets in, the automatic response is to accept whatever comes your way. It's a bad economy. Jobs are scarce.

I just wish it wouldn't come as a shock each time because my candidates have told me they weren't close to getting another position so, therefore, I don't expect it.


It's not all like that. When I do work with a candidate and he gets a job and he's happy, it makes everything worthwhile. It makes me happy that I work with people.

Overall, I love my job. I love the idea of helping people find satisfaction in life. It's just that sometimes I wish it wasn't so much about the money as finding the right job for the right person. Still, there is enough of that on somedays to make up for days like this when I feel a little like a failure because I've lost a good candidate to another job.


It's all a learning curve. As I said before, it's the side-effect of working with people. They're not automated software that can be rebooted if it crashes. They're walking, talking living creatures with their own minds and opinions.

It's what makes the job fun.

Mostly.

Now, about those lies...

Happy Wednesday!

Good Days, Bad Days...It's Nice to Like My Job...

This week is going quite quickly. Tomorrow's already Thursday which means it'll soon be Friday.
You'll hear no complaints here. This has been a better week at work. I've learned there's an ebb and flow to the recruiting business. Somedays, it's like spending the day fishing without getting a single bite. Even when you think the fish is biting, it turns out that your hook is actually caught on a week or you've caught a leaf. In my case, it tends to be that the weeds and leaves in the analogy are job seekers who, sadly, aren't really authorized to work in the U.S. even though they indicated on their resume that they were. It's frustrating for both sides- it's not that we don't want to sponsor anyone's visa but we simply aren't in a position to really do that.

Sometimes the weeds that masquerade as fish are people who simply don't want to accept the realities of the world. For example, I contacted a woman today about a potential job. She's been out of work for a while but not desperate for a job yet. She wants $100K for a position. The position I offered her was $85K and she pretty much snorted into the phone with derision. I have to admit, I have no tolerance for that attitude. I deal with enough desperate professionals each day who are victims of the economy that people like this woman make me cringe. I suppose it shows my middle-class upbringing but I can't help but think of all the people who take jobs as fast food employees, cleaners or shelf stockers just because their unemployment has run out and they have to feed a family. The economy is improving but it's still not great. There are still a lot of unemployed folk out there. I get irritated at people like this woman who don't understand that to the average, middle-class or lower worker, $85K is a pipe dream. In all honesty, she was on the third tier of people I contacted anyway so it's not like she's top of the line. Still, it's a lesson to me that not everyone really wants a job, even when they advertise online that they do.

It's all a learning experience. I'm learning that, as a recruiter, sometimes you have to sell your candidate to the account manager. So far, my instincts aren't proving too badly. My first placement was someone my boss didn't think was fabulous and yet he managed to get the job. I have another candidate who I knew could do a job but my account manager on that one didn't believe me. He's going into the second round of interviews so he's definitely not doing too badly.

It's all rather fun at times even though the days when you don't get a single bite are frustrating. They make me feel a bit like a failure. I've been told that it's a silly way to feel because then I'll have a day like today where I get three candidates for submittal. It's all just a big old circle. What I'm learning is that talking to people and getting to know them is the best way for them to want to work with you. Today, I helped a woman who's reuniting with her ex-husband from 30 years ago get a job interview up near Dayton. I helped another woman who's been job seeking for months and wants to live anywhere she can find a job get an interview. I found out she's been having a lot of bad hair days and so it's only natural she gets the interview during a period like this.

It's fun to get to know people. There are some rude ones- the guy who decided that he needed to send a rather long email correcting my grammar in response to a bulk email I'd been told to send, for example- but there are some really fun ones too. There's nothing better than talking to someone who's dejected and tired of job seeking and offering them a lifeline in the form of hope. It's satisfying. It's also fun to reach out to them as a human, to find out that they're having a bad hair week and they're wondering if it would be bad to wear a hat to an interview or to find out that they're reuniting with their ex-husband after 30 years.

It's not all like that but I'm quickly learning that the nice people make up for the rude people. It's one of the reasons I wanted a job like this. It's much more rewarding to get a message on your voicemail first thing in the morning from someone you placed in a job that tells you how happy they already are and how much they love thier new job. They say thank you. It's what I missed about my old job. There was no instant feedback like that. There was really no feedback at all though I'll blame that on the bad politics/human resource efforts of my former company rather on the nature of the software industry in general.


It's nice to be told thanks. It's nice to hear "good job" from your boss when you do something right. It's addicting because it makes you want to keep doing it. Granted, I get a commission for every placement I do but it's not about the commission, it's about the feeling of satisfaction and success I get when I do my job well.


It's been a while since I've had this feeling. It feels nice. It's nice to come into an environment like this from an environment where not getting fired seemed like a good reward, even if you had no reason to even get fired. You don't realize how paranoid you are that you might just get axed until after you've seen a company fire three people at different times, seemingly out of the blue. I'm sure it wasn't completely out of the blue but that's how it seemed to me and to the rest of the minions at my old company.


In addition, it's a pleasure to work for a stable company. I confess, given the rocky transition of my old company from being a university-owned company to being a private company to being a merged company, it never made me feel very secure. I'm hoping for the sake of my former coworkers/friends that the company sticks around but, honestly, I don't think anyone will be astounded if things don't go so well in the future.


So, four weeks in to the new job and I can safely say that I'm glad I made the decision to try something new, to leave behind the safe but crazy world of my old office. Having a day like today where I feel like I did my job well almost makes up for the bad breakup I had to endure with my old boss.

Almost, at least. It's going to take some time to get over that one.

Happy Thursday!

The Nature of the Job and of Humans...

Well, it's Friday tomorrow. It's been a strange week. I've been at my new job three weeks,almost. My past two weeks flew by. This week has gone more slowly. The process we have at work is that the two account managers try to get clients to ask us to fulfill their IT personnel needs. In turn, me and the other recruiter in the office get job descriptions and we're in charge of finding people to fill the jobs.

The process we follow is to try to locate people. We then phone screen them. We try to bring them in for an interview. When we're confident they're a good fit, we submit the person's resume to the account manager who decides at that point if they can 'sell' the job candidate to the client. If so, they forward the resume. With luck, the client likes the candidate and they get a job.

If they get a job, we call it a 'start.' As recruiters, we're required to get 3 starts a month, if possible. If not, we don't get in trouble but we do have to make up for it and keep working.

It's harder than it sounds. This week I had my first couple of 'bad' days. I had managed to get a candidate an interview at the jobsite. This is good because he's jumped most of the hurdles. At that point, it's up to him why he can prove that he can do the job.

Except then my candidate got another job offer so he backed out of the interview. He'd told me he wasn't that close to getting a job.

I then had to scramble to find another candidate. I found one who had called only two days before desperate for a job. I'd told him I'd see what I could do and so the minute an interview slot opened up, I fast tracked him and he got an interview with the client.

Guess what? He got another job too and cancelled on his interview. I felt hoodwinked. I'd fallen for his desperate story and sold him to my boss without feeling completely comfortable that he was the absolute best match. I think he could have done the job. I think he would have done it well but I bypassed other resumes in order to help him out.

I learned a couple of lessons this week. Mostly, that candidates lie. They need a job. I understand that. They don't want me to think that they don't need an interview even if they think they might have a job offer. So they tell me they're still looking and then, boom, I'm left holding their resume while they're about to start another job.

Secondly, I learned not to take it personally. That's a big thing. I have to look at it from their point of view. They need a job. They're going to say anything so that I help them get a job. If they find a job, they no longer need my help. It's that simple.

It was a tough lesson to learn. I'm a creature that likes to suceed. I also like to control things. I've been working with software. It has a strict pattern that it follows to get the job done. If the software breaks, I generated a bug report and someone fixed it. It's an A to B type of process.

Working with people is different. It's been a while since I worked with people. People are not A to B creatures, for the most part. Even the most organized humans aren't that simple.

That's what I've had to remember this week. Humans are not software. They can get other job offers, they may answer the phone but not be able to talk because they're in the middle of making meatloaf and their hands are covered with hamburger. They may come into the office and drink a can of Mountain Dew in less than one minute and in one drag and then ask for another please. They may walk up and down stairs while reading a book and not even look to see where they're going.

Yes, these things all happened this week. The point is, humans aren't predictable. I need to remember that. I love my job but I need to start remembering that I'm dealing with real live people with real live...lives. If they don't show up for an interview, I can't file a bug report with my boss and have him fix it. It doesn't work like that.

It's going to take me a while to get used to it. I admit, I love it, even when things don't go quite the way I planned. It's different every day. Sometimes, it's different from hour to hour.

It's a different change of pace but it's exactly what I needed. Now, if I can just get stop candidates from lying to me....

Happy Friday!

It Really is Just a Job....

This week seems to be going rather quickly. That is definitely not a complaint by any means. I like it when the work week goes quickly, as long as time slows down for the weekend.

Outside, it's one of those strange fall days where there are now more leaves on the ground than the trees, where there are some clouds look almost like smoke where you can see rain showers happening in certain areas but the sky is clear in other patches, preparing the blueness of sunny day. It is chilly out there though there's no frost this morning. We have had some glittery frosty days recently but I'm spoiled now and I only see them from the warmth of my unfrozen car. Having a garage is nice though I do need to get a bag of salt for when my driveway gets icy.

Today, at work, miraculously, I have no meetings scheduled. This is literally the first day in a week where that has happened. Following the lines of "be careful what you wish for," I have been put on a project team. It's a team that gets together to take one of our software applications and find ways to improve it according to the specifications of one of our clients. It's actually quite fun and I'm trying to actually contribute. The tricky part I'm finding is that in my former life, I got to act as a liaison between computer programmers and the end users. This means I learned to translate technical babble into plain English. It also means that I learned an awful lot about the technical side without actually doing any programming myself. I'm finding that in this company, they don't seem to understand that concept because here, you're either a developer/programmer or you're a functional person, meaning you use the software and help other people use it. There seems to be little in-between. I've tried beyond reasonable measures to get my boss to actually look at my resume, to see that when I ask a technical question, I want the answer because I might actually understand it. Instead, my boss just gives me a flippant response and moves on. It's not his fault; he pretty much inherited me as an employee. The boss that hired me left during the transition a few months ago.

Nevertheless, at least I'm on a project team so I mustn't complain.

The thing that I hate about jobs is that when they're not going well, they tend to colour your entire life. No matter what other happy stuff is going on, you still have to go to work for 40 hours a week. That's a big chunk of time and there's no way to ignore it; it's a fact of life: Jobs affect us mentally. On bad days, I despise my job; on good days, I can actually get excited because I find the prospect of hope and challenge enjoyable and I think I might actually have some of both. The problem is there are usually more bad days than good. Sometimes, all you want to do is complain about your job, to have someone listen sympathetically and then help you verbally bash the crap out of your company because it's therapeutic. Unfortunately, I, like many, have discovered that most often, that's not what you get when you vent. More often, you'll vent to someone, wanting them to be on your side, and they'll say something like, "it'll get better soon," or "don't let it get to you."

The truth is, I've probably said those words myself because it's the easy response, especially when the person saying them is ok in their own job and getting along just fine. That has been me, I know it. It's easy to look at the rosier side of life when things are going well for you or, at least, fairly well. I've done it. We all do it. The words are good and most likely true. It will get better soon. I shouldn't let it bother me.

Except, it's never that easy. If you work 40 hours a week somewhere and it's not going well, it's impossible not to let it get to you. It does get to you because even when you leave for the night, driving, relieved, out of the car park, headed home at last that you have to go back there, that you might have escaped for the day but it'll be waiting for you the next day.

There does come a change in attitude eventually that we do all get to. I call it the Office Space approach. I was there a couple of weeks ago. I'll be there again in another short while. This approach means you've got to the point where you really just don't care that much, that you've done everything you can to remedy a problem and no one's listening so why bother worrying anymore? This stage is fun because I start enjoying my job. It's the phase during which I doodle most creatively, when I carve pumpkins at my desk. I love being in this mood. Yet, somehow, it never lasts as long as it should because I really do care, I really do want to like my job. I start getting sad that my attempts to talk to my boss are forgotten and that I start noticing all the things that are wrong with a job instead of the things that are right.

That's a bad place to be and I'm fighting it now. It is just a job. It is not life. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. I think we probably all do. Instead, I need to look at the other aspects of my life that are not work: Friends, family, writing, cooking....there's a lot more to life than the way I earn my paycheck.

I apologize; I actually didn't mean to get all heavy in my blog. Sometimes it just slips out. I'll try to be lighter tomorrow, to be less reflective and more constructive. I also need to actually write about writing again. I'm planning on compiling a series of short stories based on my doodles and I'm working on a novel for National Novel Writing Month. It's a challenge to authors to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I'm making good progress. It's probably going to be a silly effort but that's precisely why I'm writing it...sometime you just need to be silly. People need silly. I need silly. I'm hoping if I get a silly book out of my system, it'll undo some of the damage my last novel did- a novel that turned out well but was more effort to write than I ever thought it would be and one that I still can't decide if I like or not. I'm planning on liking the one I'm writing now: The Reluctant Demon . I won't tell you what it's about because I don't really know. I'll let you know when I've written it; that's usually how I figure out what's going to happen.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Happy Wednesday.

We Are All Worker Bees...

I've come to the inevitable conclusion that when it comes to days off, I'm just plain greedy. I just had a three-day weekend and despite the fact I got a whole extra day off, part of my mind is thinking, "wish I had another day off."

I acknowledge the fact that I should just shut up and be grateful for the fact that I a) just had an extra day and b) have a job to go back to after my three-day weekend.

I can't ignore the fact that I don't want to be at work, however. I can't ignore the fact that outside, it's a grey, oppressive day in which fog hangs thickly over the land, the sky is gloomy and dank and I would much rather be lying in bed being lazy.

However, here I sit at the very start of my workday, waiting for motivation and excitement to kick in.

I think I might be waiting a while for that. I am, after all, at work.

Nevertheless, there isn't a day off for us day labourers until Thanksgiving. That's a long time away from now. I think there's a Columbus Day in October but, alas, my company does not recognize it.

It seems to me that the National Observations/Days Off From Work are a little unevenly spread on corporate calenders. I mean, in November, there's Thanksgiving and usually the Day After Thanksgiving.

In December, there's Christmas, even if you don't really celebrate. This is followed by New Years'. Often, New Years' is followed by Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Then there's nothing. Nothing really until Memorial Day. Some companies, mine, for example, let us have Good Friday off. To avoid religious implications and controversies, my company calls it "Spring Break Friday". But, really, it's Good Friday.

Nevertheless, there's a really long dry spell during January, February and March in which the long winter months drag on and on because there's nothing to really break them up.

After Memorial Day, the official 'start' of summer, there's Independence Day in the middle of summer. Then there's Labour Day at the official 'end' of summer. I rather like the 'bookmarking' of the seasons. I think perhaps we should have another day for the beginning of Autumn, use Thanksgiving at the middle one and allow Christmas to be an overlap for End of Autumn/Start of Winter.

We need more days in February and March and, perhaps, even April because some companies don't acknowledge Easter at all. Even ONE day in there would be a bonus.

I know, I know, I'm dreaming. If you read my blog on Friday, you've already read my griping about the stinginess of companies and their PTO policies. Thus, it's unlikely that my suggestions for more days off will ever go anywhere.

I can dream, however. There's nothing wrong with that. While I'm at it, I will dream of working for a company in which workers are respected. I think too many companies credit themselves with their benevolence in allowing their employees to have a job. That is the employees reward for working. I agree, in the grand scheme of things, there is a template for the workplace:

1) Employee gets a job.
2) Employee shows up to work and works.
3) Employee benefits company.
4) In exchange, Employee gets a paycheck.

Now, in a simple world and, in the world of business logic, this is the normal model for a company. The receiving of a paycheck should be reward enough for work.

The problem is, this is a different world, a different generation than when that model was developed.

There are days when I think of the Days of Yore in which children left school at fourteen and went to the factories or homes where they'd become servants. Those days, working wasn't something you got to contemplate, ponder, consider...it was something you just did. Kids worked, parents worked until they couldn't. It was the only way to support a family. Every penny mattered.

I read a lot of books, a lot of Thomas Hardy, a lot of Charles Dickens, even more recent novels in which the caste system of society was dependent on if working was an option or not. If you were rich, it wasn't necessary to seek employment. You got to ride on your horse all day, take care of matters of the Manor, talk to your stewards, arrange fancy dinners. If you were less rich, you usually worked but had a position of honour, a doctor, a lawyer, something that required education.

If you had little or no money, there was no education. There was only work. There was only employment to bring in a paycheck. There was no leisurely job seeking, there was the interviewing for a position and hoping you got it because it meant money coming in.

So, yes, I confess, when I think of the Days of Yore and I whine about my job, I feel bad. I have a job. I have a job which I essentially chose. I've changed jobs many times to find one that fit. I have a steady paycheck, steady weekends and a regular schedule.

And still....I complain.

However, I stand by what I said before about living in a different world and a different generation to the Days of Yore. This is a different era. It's an era in which the Western World has been allowed to become free. Yes, there is always going to be a class system in which the rich folk hold the power but it's also a world where anyone can become one of those rich people. It's a world in which we are permitted to choose a job that suits us. If we don't like it, we can leave.

There's the rub. That's become a refrain for employers, "If you don't like it, leave." It's a way of threatening employees, of making them remember their place in the world. They're only a worker bee. They need their job and if they don't act like a worker bee, that job might be taken away.

I argue with this threat. Granted, it's harder in an economy where we are grateful to have a job. It's also different depending on what field you're in, what position you hold. I can only speak for myself.

I work for a small company that develops products and then tries to sell it. Our products are ones that takes creativity, intelligence and skill to develop, test, enhance and release. We employees are all skilled in our respective area and we want to do a good job.

Yet on a day-by-day basis, sometimes it feels like I'm trapped in a cage. In a strange way, it's akin to being on a production line. Each day is the same, I am a prisoner of my responsibilities.

The problem is my responsibilities are dull. I've tried to change it...to no avail. There's never any time for new projects, new ways of spicing up a dull routine.

The sad thing is I'm not the only one who feels this way. There's a general hang-dog pall that often hangs over the office; no amount of Awkward Bagel Days and Forced Social Interaction can help. Our Management tends to feel that we are lucky to have jobs and that we're whining if we grumble or complain about things in the workplace.

I can't help but see it from a worker bee point of view. They need us. We are the ones that keep the work flowing. Sure, Management is necessary but without us, they'd have nothing to manage.

There are companies that have 'rolled with the changes' of a society that can choose where they work. Most of them or software companies or technology companies that recognize that the old Business Model of "Workers get a Paycheck and Shouldn't Need Job Satisfaction" is defunct. They give their employees incentives for staying at their jobs. I'm not talking about money because, as I've proved by my job-hopping over the years, money isn't as important to me as enjoying my job.

And this is recognized by companies like Google, Atlassian, Pixar...companies that need their employees to stay sharp, stay loyal and give back. It's not about money anymore. Yes, that's the driving force that inspires most of us to work in the first place. However, there's another element to it: Enjoying how you earn that paycheck.

So these companies have found ways to get their employees to give back by helping them enjoy their jobs. These companies have fun working environments with places for employees to go to brainstorm, bounce ideas off one another, have fun. This is as simple as a ping pong table where employees can go to take out frustrations. They have hours in which employees can work on individual projects because it inspires creativity. They make the company a fun place to work because they recognize that humans aren't as productive if they have to put their nose to the grindstone for 8-hours a day with no break from routine.

These companies don't make the employees feel bad if they do play ping-pong at work or take a break to do something else. It's part of the perks of working for the company.

That's the key word: Perks. It can be as simple as free soda or as complicated as having a game room where employees can go when the work isn't flowing.

It doesn't matter. It's not about what the perks are, it's about companies recognizing that perks are necessary to keep the worker bees happy and make them give back as much as they can. It's a way of letting your employees know that they are appreciated for more than the fact that they're a body with motor functions. It's a way of letting the employees thrive in an environment that isn't a necessary cage, only a way of earning a paycheck.

I'm a dreamer. I'm an idealist. These things I know. I'm also an employee and a human and I know what makes me work best. I need variety, creativity and freedom in my job. When I don't get this, I feel like I need to look elsewhere. When the economy sucks, I'm trapped. When I'm trapped, I know it and my workflow slows. It's a vicious cycle.

Once again, I've managed to blog about something of which I had no intention of blogging. It just slipped out. I know my dreams are lofty but all I'm really asking for is for mutual respect between employees and employers.

I also know I'm being horribly tactless to those who have lost or might be losing their jobs; a fact for which I apologize. I have no right to whine about being bored when, again, at least I have a job. Yet, what I'm really writing about is a world that is NOT suffering from a crappy economy and which jobs are plentiful and easy to come by. I know it's the not the world in which I currently live but it's ok to dream...right?

Happy Monday.

The Beautiful Promise of a Long Weekend....

At long last it's Friday. Not only that but it's the Friday before a long weekend a fact, for which, I am very thankful. Of course, today also happens to be a major day at work. The software project that I have worked on diligently for the past couple of months is supposed to be released today. This means its all hands on deck until we release it.

In the meantime, however, I'll try to do what I'm told and do what I can and try not to raise any red flags. I find that a safe way to get through the day.

And once I get through the day, the weekend begins. Once more, last night, I discovered my evening time dissolve in front of me even though I tried to make the most of it. I decided last night would be a good time to switch my wardrobe from winter to summer. It was a multi-tasking project because it would also help me figure out what to pack for my trip to Washington D.C. this weekend as well as for me to figure out what still fits.

Sadly, though I used to be a skinny Monkeypants, these days, I cannot brag about that fact any longer. While I'm not heavy by any means, I believe I must surrender to the fact that I am no longer in my twenties and can eat whatever I like while maintaining the silhouette of a stick-insect. These days, what I eat does matter. For the most part, I will say, I'm actually comfortable being a little heavier, being a little curvier. The only time I'm not happy is when I realize that the beloved clothes that I had no problem wearing in my slimmer days no longer fit and I have to find strategic ways to hide the less svelte parts of me. Summer makes this hard. However, while I am determined to continue my exercise program after the trip, I think I must accept that I will most likely never again fit into a size four and must change my perspective to fit what size I really am.

Last night, I found several pairs of trousers and shorts that I no longer fit into or, if I do, probably shouldn't. I also found several tops that will no longer suit me because I felt a little like the Michelin Tire Man. I could get depressed about this. I thought about getting depressed about it. Then I thought about what to have for dinner and the urge passed. For the most part, Michelin Tire Man aside, I do have plenty of clothes to get me through the summer.

That's the nice part of a wardrobe switchover; it's almost like shopping in your own closet for a while. You remember items of clothing that you bought and forgot about. You realize you have a pair of flip-flops to match almost every piece of clothing, sandals for most. It's a lovely feeling to look at the lighter, thinner closet and not see the heavy fabrics of winter wear anymore.

Don't get me wrong, when I switch back in the Autumn, I'll go through this again. I'll feel like I get to shop in my own closet again. It helps that I'm a bargain shopper and at the end of the season, I'll find items that have been ridiculously marked down because the season is over. I buy these clothes and then, when the season rolls around the next year, it's like a present to myself. At the end of the winter, for example, I found two lovely sweaters on sale from the original price of $30 to a lovely $3. I wore these sweaters once this year. Next year, they'll be staples of my wardrobe.

Today is the first day I've dressed in proper spring attire for work. We're a casual bunch- t-shirts and jeans are acceptable. Yet I like dressing up a little, wearing a skirt and sandals, for example. I find that it makes me feel better, even when I'm not having the best day. I'm hoping today isn't going to be like that, that it's going to be a good day where things run smoothly, our software gets released and I can go home and relax in the knowledge I did my part of the work, even if, as part of a team, I'm just a bit player.

And, if it doesn't go well, I have the prospect of a lovely trip to Washington D.C. to spend with my best friend to cheer me up. I can't think of anything better.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend.

Ps. I'll try to blog next week while I'm away but if I don't get a chance, I'll be back on Wednesday.