Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I Wonder Why Work Stinks

Wicked M and I have joked many times over the years about our bosses/places of employ: “Don’t they know I have socializing to do/online shopping to complete/naps to take? I keep getting things to do as if they actually expect me to earn my pay!”

Well, I can firmly blame my lack of consistent posting since August on work. And that stinks, b/c I looove you guys! And I love having the time to wonder over things and share my ideas. And I love being able to sip my coffee and catch up on every post and every comment—here and on my friends' personal blogs.

So I can say with a great deal of certainty: work stinks b/c we are not allowed to goof off. Now, there are some jobs (professional comedian, pastry chef, finger-painter) where your flights of fancy are pretty much what keeps you in your livelihood. But like super j said, unless you have one of those jobs (don’t slag on models, super j! Modeling is HARD! As we will discuss soon when we wonder about “America’s Next Top Model.”), you’re pretty much stuck answering to someone else, doing things you don’t really want to be doing, and searching for someone with whom to complain about it.

If everyone who clocks in (literally or figuratively) were allowed to do so at his/her own leisure, and were given the chance to accomplish a set amount of work for each day but were allowed to use the other time as he/she saw fit, I think we’d have a lot fewer sick days. I’m proud of super j for not lying about that—I’ve done it once and it felt very sinful. If I knew that I wouldn’t have to sneak to do my post or check on what Television Without Pity snarked about last night’s premiere of “Heroes,” I’d be much more eager about leaving the house and the TV. I’m sure that all of us are pretty productive people—our priorities just might not be 100% with work all the time.

I know that there are corporations who encourage (and sometimes even mandate) afternoon naptime—but we can’t all work there. My justification for making work stink less is that I’m not a smoker. And therefore, the four ten-minute breaks I’d take during the day to step out for a cigarette are instead used to goof off. I refuse to feel guilty about it, most of the time.

Except at the beginning of the school year. That’s an entirely different kind of work-stink. I return to you today from the beyond, confident that my goofing-off time is returning to me after four loooong weeks of no time for even thinking about goofing off. How have you been? Missed you! Love you!

2 comments:

Wicked M said...

Um, yes. Why does work not know that I require a daily nap and time to scan People.com and the blogs of everyone I know and their 300 closest friends?

Where is PowerBall?! I need to win the lottery so that I may begin my life of leisure!

super jane said...

the ww must make a pact. if any of us win the powerball, we will share with the rest of the group.

now the question is - does anyone play?

mso, welcome back to the world. seeing as i too work in higher ed, i totally understand the hectic schedule you've been suffering. it's nice to finally have the semester underway, isn't it?