Thankfulness Challenge – My Typical Day

So the other day I posted that I was out of ideas, then the next day I had several ideas popped into my head. One of those ideas was to give a detailed account of a typical weekday for me. I say weekdays cause my weekends are not at all typical, especially during football season. However my weekdays are pretty standard, so here goes

I’m one of those crazy people who has several alarms set to wake up, to physically get up, to get out of the shower, to be moving to the car, to leave, all with a different song attached to it. 5:45, 6:10, 6:30, 6:45. I know it is insane but I know when Ed Sheeran sings I gotta wake up, when Bryan White starts singing it’s time for me to get out of the shower,  when Eric Erdman starts singing I should be dressed and doing my hair, and when Justin Timberlake comes on I should be moving to the car to leave for work. I won't bore you with getting dressed cause there's no rhyme or reason as to what I put on for the day, or how I do my hair cause after about 45 minutes of being at the office I'm going to pull it back into a pony tail or bun anyway. 

From there it’s a 20 minute drive to the office, sometimes I stop for a biscuit but typically I just head to the office getting there around 7:30. I used to spend my commute listening to the Daily Show but Comedy Central moved it and now i can't find it at the same time, which makes me a Sad Marcy. However I have a flashdrive in my car for those days that i can't find anything to listen to on the radio.  Once I arrive at the office and park, I might sit in the parking lot for a few minutes playing on my phone cause I’m not ready to get in there yet. I have also been known to see others getting out of their car so I sit there for a few minutes cause I don’t want to walk in with them, or more important ride the elevator with them. Granted they are not always from my office but sometimes they are. Look … it's too damn early to be sociable. 

Once I get out of the car and into the elevator I fob my way into the office and make my way to my office shouting Good Morning to anyone that I pass along the way then I log into my computer. Usually while I wait for my computer to come on I make my to do list and plan out my day. It takes my computer a stupid amount of time to come to life. Then once I log in it takes a little longer for it to come up to speed and I can use it. This is because there are these mandatory programs that automatically run in the background so those take forever to open as well and you can't really start work until those finish loading. Sometimes after loggin in I'll use that time to go get ice in my cup or talk to coworkers, or play on my phone. On Mondays I change out the sign on my desk. Last year for Christmas a coworker gave me the sign with those letter things and my goal was to change it out at least once a week. So far I’ve met that goal. Well except for those 3 weeks that out office closed after the chiller exploded on the AC flooding out our floor and the floor below us. I skipped a week during that break but I don’t count that cause no one else was there to see it wasn’t updated right?! I did get to work from home during that span and found it surprisingly easy. 

So then I spend the next 4 hours bouncing from project to project, helping coworkers, coordinating with subs, meeting with my boss or project managers and am typically shocked when someone comes around at noon to ask if I’m eating today. Usually the answer is yes but there are times where I bail on lunch to complete a task or punch and bind a submittal that kind of thing. However it’s part of my sanity plan to get out of the building at least once a day. Typically, we go somewhere near the office and grab lunch sometimes we venture further out. There’s usually a group of 2 or 3 that I go with on a routine basis. We don’t do fast food often opting instead for a sit down bring me food kind of place. Sometimes I miss the fast food I know my wallet does.

Then it’s back to the office for another round of meetings, conference calls, and draft submittal creation, or edits to already completed drafts. The last week or so I’ve been working on award nomination forms for some of the employees in our office. Over the last month I’ve worked on submittals for projects in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Georgia. I like the variety of the work that I do. No two days as far as the work is concerned is the same. The best part of my job is that at some point there is a deadline and I have to move on whether I want to or not. I don’t usually leave the office at 5, tho lately I have. Often I stay and work until about 5:30 or 6 either cause I’m trying to get something done or let traffic die down. Sometimes both, sometimes it's well past 6. The latest I have stayed was 9. I feel that's good enough and I don't really care for doing that but you do what you have to do right?!  

Then I drag it out to the car and make the 20 minute drive home. Sometimes I make stops on the way home, medicine, groceries that kind of thing but usually it's a stright shot to the house.  Once there I change clothes, we usually have dinner as a family, everyone takes their medicine, then mom and I watch TV until 10/10:30. Depending on the day of the week or the season it changes what we watch. Big Bang Theory is a constant, we also like watching reruns of Mad About You, as well as Reba. Stuff we've likely seen billions of times. Every once in a while we'll watch a movie, especially during Halloween or Christmas season, and we ALWAYS make time for A Million Little Things. . . . Always. Usually i'm watching with one eye and playing a game on my phone, or texting with a nephew, or Golden while just sitting around on my duff. Before I go to bed I give mom her nighttime medicine and I head to bed. Where I pull out my phone and either scroll my twitter feed, watch you tube videos, or text with Golden until I fall asleep. I’d say on a good night I’m asleep by midnight on other nights I’m asleep by 1.

So that’s a typical day for me.  
Marcy

Venting - Work Edition

It’s the weekend!!!!!!! Which means what … nothing ….. well nothing to me. I worked last weekend so this weekend I’m being more lazy than normal. I woke up this morning and realized it’s nearly time for my social media break (March 6 - April 20^th). It’s a rough time to go on a social media break to be honest. In March alone I’m going to North Carolina for a SMPS conference (Ashville) and then going to spend a few days afterwards with my cousin and a friend who just moved to the area. Other interesting things of note for the lent season: my Auburn Tigers will join the rest of the SEC for the Gymnastics Championship in New Orleans (the weekend after my trip or I’d be there); my boss is planning an employee appreciation night at our local college’s baseball game which was really fun last year; my SIL has a birthday; then in April my friend Katie and I are going to see Kiss in Birmingham, and I personally think Baby Sussex will be here sometime in March cause I don’t think Meghan is making it to April, but that’s just my opinion. I’m sure there’s other fun things in the mix I haven’t even thought about yet.

It should be a fun and relaxing month or so, and I can’t begin to tell you how I need it. The last month at work has been beyond insane, and I know I say that a lot but this past month nearly broke Marcy. A submittal I should have had over a month to work on solid, ended up being crammed into a week and a half and in that timeframe, I also had another one to get out the door, and assist with two others. The week to get it done would have been ok but I had a Subconsultant that just wouldn’t send me their information. I finally got it the DAY BEFORE I HAD TO PRINT. That’s not good. That did not make for a happy Marcy. The submittal ended up being 5 pages shy of 200 pages. Not gonna lie almost added some fluff to get me there but I ran out of time. It’s a good submittal. Do we have a snowballs chance in hell of getting the contract? Time will tell. I can honestly say that I did my part. That’s all I can do.

As you know dear reader, I’ll give my job everything I have all week long, I do my best to NOT work a weekend. I think it’s good for me and good for my company for me to have those two days. However, as I recently told a co-worker sometimes you do what you have to do to get it done. Her response to that made my blood boil. She basically told me to my face that I “Shouldn’t be working on Saturdays” then she sent me a link to an article that said “Always leave office on time” saying “you really should read this.” I guess implying that I needed the wisdom of this article in my life. To summarize the article this random dude on Linked In had shared an image of 7 points about why someone should always leave the office on time, then he gave his own 2 cents about each of those points after of course telling everyone how surprised he was that his post nearly went viral, whatever dude.  

Look don’t get me wrong I get it … balancing work and life is a struggle everyone has. Some have kids, husbands, pets, that require their attention at certain times, I myself like my quality time with my TV and adult beverages. I get that I totally do. However, I would argue I’m paid, quite well I should add, to do a job. It’s up to me to get that job done. Literally whatever it takes to get that job done is what I’m going to do. If I need to work a couple extra hours during the week to make that happen then that’s what I’ll do. If a Project Manager isn’t getting back with me the way I think he/she should then I’m going to start putting together pieces and parts knowing that when he does finally engage it may change but at least I’ll have a start of something. . . . anything. The deadline doesn’t change cause she/he isn’t doing his/her part. What my coworker fails to realize is that that PM is usually doing actual work work. Don’t get me wrong our work is important too, but the work HE/SHE does pays my salary which in turn allows me the benefits of enjoying my life away from work. That same PM likely works many a weekend and doesn’t get to complain about it, then again that PM makes way more money than I do for that privilege. Hell last week we had a PM who ended up in the hospital last Friday after spending 3 days walking around unable to breathe. Like for real guys he was not able to take a breath but he did a presentation, had 3 conference calls, visited two offices and then on Friday his coworker drove him to an Urgent Care and the Urgent Care put him in an ambulance. He’s better now but Friday night it was scary wondering if we were ever going to be able to talk to him again. So that’s an extreme that I don’t condone but I can totally understand the mentality behind it. YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET IT DONE! Then you lie down, recharge, and start back up again. If these guys can put that effort into it, then I can sacrifice a couple of hours a week and an occasional weekend for them. It’s only fair.  

However, I was talking about this asshat’sarticle, feel free to read it if you wish. The article is a lot of “feel good comments and clichés that really just justified his ass being able to go home at 5. 

His points are shown below …

•  Work is a never ending process
• Interest of a client is important, so is your family
• If you fall in life neither your client or boss will lend you a helping hand, your family will
• Life is not only about work, office and client
• A person who stays late at the office is not a hard working person
• You did not study hard or struggle in life to become a machine
• If your boss forces you to work late

Then as I said he justifies each of these points with his own bouts of wisdom which frankly sound good on paper but that’s all …. It’s not always practical. I do agree with him that work never ends, if it did we’d all have to find new jobs. However, I’d argue that tasks do. If I can stay an extra 30 minutes or and hour at the end of the day to finish something so I can move on to the next task then I’m going to do that cause it will make my tomorrow better. The best part of my job is that the deadlines are hard. Once that deadline gets here the job is done cause if I haven’t submitted then submitting late isn’t going to get us anywhere. So at some point I get to move on no matter if I am ready or not.

This article stresses time management as the reason most people don’t leave the office on time. I’d argue that is true to an extent. However, is it my lack of time management that I spent say 3 hours of my day helping coworkers get their stuff done then have to cram my stuff into the rest of the day? Is that on me or them? When they are walking out the door at a quarter to 5 after me spending time on their work am I the idiot here? Yeah I guess I am. Again, I’d argue that’s the role I’ve risen to in my 15 years at the company. My boss trust me cause he knows giving me a task means he doesn’t have to worry about that task anymore. I take pride in that. I hate when I have to lean on him during a submittal (that 200 pager required him a lot more than typical and I felt bad about that cause every time I left his office one of my coworkers was walking in behind me). So should I be more selfish of my time so that I can increase my “time management” ? Hold that thought ….

The guys second point was that family enriches your life more than a client ever will. I agree with that too cause clients can be nothing of a headache cause clients rarely call when they are happy. However keeping clients happy is important to. I’d wager a guess that if you aren’t available when a client needs you he will soon stop calling you at all. This asshat also fails to realize you spend far more time with coworkers than family in a given week. What I truly love about my place of business is we rally in times of need and support one another in a way that family does. We are after all one big dysfunctional family. I’d also argue that family often let’s you down, so yeah on this one he can suck it. 

The one I took huge objection to was the person who stays late is not a hard working person, mostly cause he went on to say that person is not working effectively or a benefit to the company and is frankly a fool. See previous statement about helping others with their work while I have to do mine after the “time limit” this guy has established has passed. He states planning your day is a major factor in getting your stuff accomplished on time. I make a to do list daily. Sometimes the day before and it starts with the things I need to accomplish (including tasks left over from the day before) in order to meet my given deadlines. Then throughout the day other things get added to that list in another color. It’s always interesting to me at the end of the day seeing what’s crossed off and what’s not and typically it’s the things that get added to my day that are crossed off first. The ironic thing is when I do blow people off so I can focus on my stuff I’m told I’m not a team player, or called not nice names that often rhymes with witch because for one day … one mfing day I’m not being helpful when someone says jump. Again maybe he’s right maybe I am a fool. A fool for coming in on a Friday when what I really wanted to do was take that day off, and for staying until 4 when what I really wanted to do was leave at 3. What was I doing on this day? I spent half of it creating a section for a coworker and writing an approach for a submittal that wasn’t mine, then I pulled resumes for another office and helped a different office with language for a different submittal. However, that’s right it was my choice to not take that day off but if I had who would have handled all that other stuff … my coworkers?! I doubt it. My boss was on vacay with his family Friday so he couldn’t have done it … .so again I ask who!? So Mr. Go home on time guy … whose doing everyone else’s job when I’m being selfish and working on my stuff? Huh?! Ever think about that?! Maybe I am a fool.

His next point … you didn’t study hard or struggle in life to become a machine. Again he’s correct in theory. No one grows up as a small child thinking man if I could only get a job that requires, I work 40-50 hours a week that’s the dream! Mr. Asshat states you have 24 hours…. 8 hours to sleep (who the hell is he kidding), 8 hours for work, and 8 hours on your own. So he’s stating that essentially there are 16 hours to play with here. Cause let’s face it find me an adult who sleeps 8 hours and I’ll show you an adult who is not adulting at all. Then his 8 hours of “my time” does that include say the hour or so it takes to get ready for work in the morning, for the record I can do it in 30 minutes, it aint pretty but I can. What about life time … groceries, taking kids to various appointments, dr appointments, what about commute time, say that takes an hour a day both ways five days a week that’s 10 hours a week right there. What I’m saying is it’s a cute idea and a cliché premise but it’s not practical. That’s my issue with this entire article. Nothing in this article is practical and it might be what’s wrong with this generation. 

Lastly the comment about a boss forcing someone to work late. I’M SORRY BUT YES SOMETIMES PEOPLE NEED TO WORK LATE. THAT’S CALLED LIFE. However, I can tell you I have the best boss on the planet and he’s often begging me not to. He told me one time he had one employee he couldn’t get to leave the office and one he couldn’t get to stay in said office. The truth is my boss has never once told me to stay. He’s told me to leave but he’s never once said you need to stay. He gets that I have this thing that makes me want to succeed and this thing in my brain that if I leave without finishing something I might as well stay cause I’m not going to enjoy wherever I go. AKA I could leave a task unfinished and pick it back up tomorrow and go home but I’m going to be at home stressing about said task being incomplete so 30 minutes here or there will allow to me 100% be at home unstressed about my work life. Plus I’ll sleep better for the 3-4 hours a night that I do get. I will also add that stress dreams about work suck super hard and I don't reccomend them at all.

My point is this …. I work hard, I am very good at my job, I wish others around me understood and were able to also state those things before they send links to me about how I need to reevaluate how I do said job. 

That is all. 

Marcy (@beaslma)

Wonderful Week

Hey readers!!!! Listen carefully ….. cause I don’t say this often ….. but I had a WONDERFUL WEEK!!!!! Work went well, it was my birthday, and I’m learning a new program at work that is frankly turning out more “fun” and challenging than I thought it would be.

I realized this week, even with some new co-worker drama that it’s been a long time since I dreaded going to work. That was a nice thing to realize. I have a new boss who appreciates my talents, sees that I’m a hard worker, and who values my input. I really feel like I don’t work FOR him as much as I work with him, tho I do admit I enjoy letting him take the lead on the co-worker drama then again that's why he makes the big bucks. I won’t get into the coworker drama cause frankly you wouldn’t believe some of it even if I told you cause I’ve lived it and can’t believe some of it.

This past week I turned 30-something …. I’m closer to 40 something than say 20 something but I won’t share with you my age just yet. Not that I really care about my age but people tend to write people off based on their age. You are too young, you are too old, you are lacking experience, or you are out of touch and your experience no longer counts. It’s a pretty lame thing to judge someone by but that’s the world we live in. So for now just know I’m older than a college kid but act like an elementary school kid sometimes and others I act like the old lady who lives in a shoe, sans children of course.

This year’s Birthday is going to rank as one of the top Birthday’s of my life. Not because I did anything all that interesting but the people in my life made me feel ridiculously special. Some co-workers forced me to go to lunch (I was working on a deadline and thinking I might work through it) they took no for an answer and I had a fantastic time. I haven’t laughed that hard in years. The conversation was fun, the company was fantastic, and it was just the break I needed to get through the rest of the day. A dear friend sent me a cookie bouquet, my office got me a cookie cake (when I was younger I enjoyed those more than cake so mom would make me one every year, I told a coworker that and she remembered), and mom and dad grilled me a hamburger. Mom put extra bacon on it, which is the definition of love I think. As with anyone else in the social media age I heard from a lot of Facebook friends and even more Twitter friends wishing me a good day. My phone always has a heart attack on my birthday but it’s always worth it seeing friends who took the time out of their day to remember me even if it was just cause Facebook reminded them to.

At work we implemented a new program today, a program most of the world have been using for a while but it’s new to us. When it was first introduced about a month or so ago I was skeptical about it, it feels like taking an already stressful job and making it even more so for no reason. Between project managers who don’t get into the game until late, to subconsultants sending their information in a variety of formats, it just seems we are adding unnecessary work to the process all because someone thinks it will look “better.” Frankly I think we could do a lot of the same stuff with our old programs but after using it today I have to admit, I’m enjoying this new process. Yes it’s going to add a learning curve and make the process a little longer at first but what I created today looked good and was kind of fun. I didn’t feel like a copy and paste monkey so that was fun. I’m sure in a few weeks I’ll be ranting about how crazy all this is or how frustrating life has become with insane deadlines and recreating these documents from scratch every time.

Oh! And if that weren’t enough my Auburn Tigers Gymnastic team has been kicking butt and taking names. Next week they will be live on SEC Network so I’ll get to watch them take on one of the best Gymnastics programs in the NCAA. This team has so much promise and is filled with so talent it’s sick. These girls are amazing!!!! WAR EAGLE!

I don't have weeks like this often so I wanted to document it. Sorry to brag. Overall it’s been a great week, so I hope you guys had a good one as well and if not maybe next week will be your week.

-Marcy  

 

Thankfulness Challenge - Day 13

Today, I’m not going to lie, has been rough. Yesterday after lunch it was decided my firm would submit on a project that was DUE on Friday. This Friday. Tomrorow. So doing the math that gives me a day…day and a half to get it done. I spent most of yesterday afternoon getting the team started or at least figuring out who my team would include. We knew about one sub but needed another and the manager involved was literally MIA. He has this thing he does where he sits on a project for a week or so then says let’s submit then like Keyser Soze is gone. You can e-mail and you can call but he’s just like the wind and gone which is frustrating as hell. The guy is a super nice fella and I have no doubt he’s busy and not just ignoring me cause he can but damn it’s annoying that I can’t get my work done cause I can’t get him to make a damn decision.

I got to work today before 6:30am, and left at 6:30 tonight. I did leave for about 30 minutes to grab some lunch but because this guy couldn’t make a decision I felt like I was behind all day long. I know in my head it’s not me, and I didn’t drop the ball, but I also know it’s not going to get done if I don’t keep pushing it. I deeply resent almost having to be a bitch to get answers for a project. That said I knocked out everything but the resumes today. Which is pretty damn impressive if I do say so myself. Keep in mind that working on this one has taken away from the one that I was suppose to be working on for next week. Sigh...

So today I’m thankful that my coworkers were smart enough to see that both my headphones were in my ears, that I was super focused on the task at hand and they left me alone. This has been a pretty stressful week, from a dear friend having a double mastectomy on Tuesday, to the stress of this submittal, Friday can’t get here fast enough.

On a side note if anyone sees Golden give her a Diet Coke and a pat on the head cause she has the black plague and I miss her so tell her to get better soon!!!  --Marcy