Letterhead

Edwige will be coming back from her long work trip soon. And over on her page, I asked her how she does it. Don’t get it twisted, this isn’t about Edwige at all. Nor is it about my work situation. Because remember blogger rule number 2: Thou Shall Not Blog About Work.

However, I still wonder how can anyone be away so long and maintain their real life? Because to me, work is not anyone’s life. It’s what you do during the day. You might like it. You might hate it. But at the end of it all, it’s still your J-O-B. Furthermore, doesn’t everyone know that were you to die on your way to work, the office folks would collect loot for your funeral flowers, show up, and replace your ass the following Monday. But family and friends? Naw. Not so much. If you’ve been around, if you’re close, they will grieve and grieve hard. And I do understand you can make friends at work. So when I talk about ‘work’, I mean your company and loyalties to it. And I think y’all know I’m a loyaltyless, white-collar free agent!

Back years ago, I had a boss who called me late one afternoon and told me to take a trip the next day. M’kay. I won’t waste time painting a picture of this shrew but the bottom line was that it was her poor planning which caused the need. I was already scheduled to see one of my own clients the next day but she wanted me to cover for someone else. To make a long story short, I told her, for personal reasons, I would not be unable to take the trip. She was undone. She had the nerve to ask me what I had to do in the evenings that I couldn’t re-schedule both my personal plans and my long-standing work plans. Da f*ck.

This b*tch must’ve thought she was Uncle Sam and I was in the military or some special forces. I ended up not going. But it was a long road with an exchange of a string of e-mails that needed to be forwarded to her superiors. B*tch was dumb enough to use some rather harsh language and cite rules that simply didn’t exist. Gosh I love e-mail documentation. I don’t know if it was me being a whistle blower or just my steadfast belief in maintaining my client’s satisfaction and my work-life balance, but she never asked me again. I learned a few lessons with that. There were other people whose lives had been turned over to the company. Why? Because they allowed it and/or had no reason to not become a die hard worker bee.

A few years later, I had a job that would occasionally require me to come in at the crack of dawn on Saturdays for software upgrades. Required me to take short notice trips. Required me to stay late. However, they were big on making sure that we maintained our lives outside of work. As a result, EVERYONE bent over backwards to go above and beyond the call of duty. But I digress.

Early on, my parents taught me not to kill myself when my name is not on the letterhead or the signature line of the checks. Sure there’s value in hard work. But having a good work-life balance is not only a must, it’s healthy. I’ve heard people talk about having work trips extended from one to two weeks with no returns. And they talk like it’s a cute thing. These are bosses mind you. Bosses who, IMO, don’t quite get the whole work-life balance idea. When an employee signs their name on the dotted line, for most jobs, they are signing over a minimum of 40 hours a week and a maximum of what 60?? Sure sometimes it could be more. But not every single week. But for some people it is. And I guess they’re OK with that.

I don’t get it. In my new position, I spend a lot of time commuting. That has affected me in a major way. Some say I’ll get used to it. But I’m not sure I want to. I’m not sure I’m cool with being THAT worker bee. I’m not sure I think it’s cute to live my youth not enjoying my youth. Shut up! Thirty is still youth. People are living longer. Look it up if you don’t believe me! I’m not sure I’ll ever be cut out to be one of the people who can’t make plans with my personal time because something work related might come up!!

I look at the people I know who have families. How can a child bond with their parents when the parents are off working so much? And don’t tell me how y’all all bonded with your working parents. I didn’t say it’s impossible but I don’t think it’s the best situation. How can a marriage stay mostly strong when the people are splitting their time between work, kids, and spouse? Where work gets 10+ of their waking hours (commuting time included)! I just don’t get it. Nor do I get why people would want to work so hard, throw themselves so into their work that one day they wake up and have no life outside of work.

Most people have to work for money. Most people need money to pay bills. But I’m not ever trying to be the one who works to, well works to work more and not enjoy. My life is fulfilled through my interactions with family and friends. Not through working myself into a heart condition. right now I have the luxary of being able to leave if I find myself face-to-face with a boss who doesn’t understand work-life balance. And maybe when I get hitched and start staffingup the homestead, I’ll think twice. But for now, I’ll keep being the not-work-dedicated worker that I am.