Just Another Cog on the Gear

I’ve been pondering the replacebility of the average employee in the workplace. We’d all like to think that we are irreplaceable. The sad truth is that in the eyes of corporate America, we are all replaceable. Especially in today’s market.

One of the few truths in life is someone will always be better or worse than you. Your job will rarely reflect that particular fact.

Instead, today’s employment landscape tends to be a savannah of averages. Who can provide the most at the least cost and potential negative impact on the company.

Where are the standouts? The people who excel?

While my duties might seem simple on paper: answer phones, maintain calendars, arrange meetings, file. Those simple actions are not the sum of my work life. I do so much more.

I am an expeditor of schedules, a wrangler of people, a soother of egos. I diffuse difficult situations before they get to management attention. I manage information, then condense it into useful packets. I manage costs and budgets. All of this is difficult to quantify and are outside of my job description.

Yet, I am seldom rewarded for my reaching outside of my parameters. So, what motivates me?

I do. I’m motivated to make my environment better.  I take pride in making my job fulfilling.  It gets me a reputation for being exceptional at my job.

I’m more than a cog on a gear.

The Air is Filled With Music

Songs fill the air as unattended cell phones ring forlornly for their owners.  Pieces of songs from Alicia Keyes, Black Eye Peas, Metallica, Gershwin filter across the floor.  Then the annoying message alarms that range from Beep, Blat, Honk, Clash and Boom.

Admin Gal admits that she likes a relatively quiet workplace.  Not silence, just everyone doing their job. If someone is listening to music, that’s what ear buds are for.  This need to abandon a cell phone on the desk and leave it off vibrate is just plain inconsiderate of others in the work place.

Yes, we live in the age of unilateral communications.  Be considerate, keep you cell phone with you so the rest of us don’t have to listen to people try to get a hold of you.

Dress Code or How Not to Dress Like a Pop Tart

The summer has drawn to a close.  People have once more started covering their bodies with more layers of clothing in order to accommodate the wildly fluctuating temperatures of the fall.  HOWEVER…

That doesn’t mean that some people do not try to keep summer alive.  The sad, sad truth is that companies need to put forth some sort of dress codes. If only to educate the clueless.

This summer my eyes have been assaulted with cleavage baring tops on people where more fabric is a necessity not a fashion statement.  Skirts that with a stiff wind or an inappropriate bend the world would be privy to their privates.  More knarly, sparkly flip-flops that were stinky bio-hazards that did not belong in a corporate environment.  All of the above a direct violation of the company’s dress code.

People.  I am not the fashion police.  I’m sure that people look at me and say I could desperately use a make over.  But when I leave the house in the morning, I know that no fashion catastophe will happen.  All my bits and parts will stay properly covered and never see the light of day so that my co-workers will wish never had happened.

The advice of a good friend follows :   Folks – put a mirror in your foyer – one last look before you leave for work, doesn’t hurt.  If you have to question to yourself whether or not something is appropriate, it probably isn’t!

De-Stressing

I received an article in my email today about 22 Affordable Ways to De-Stress.  To be honest I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.  You see, today was a very bad day.  Murphy, of the Murphy’s Law fame, had visited me with a vengeance.  Leaving me ready to raise my white flag in defeat.

I’ll recap some of the recommended methods of de-stressing that I thought could prove to be a little dangerous for a person on the edge:

1. Visit the Shooting Range – Who hasn’t had an urge to destroy something, it is usualy a passing fancy that I know that I can’t act on.  But never in my wildest dreams would I give a stressed out individual a gun.  Even to shoot at a poor defenseless target.  You never know when the shooter might just snap.

2. Cook a Delicious Dinner with the Items you have in your Fridge – In principle this sounds good.  But the typical stressed out person usually has many questionable things in their refrigerator that no amount of cooking will kill the bacteria that will likely send you to the emergency room.  Instead, take yourself out to your favorite restaurant or have a potluck with friends.

3. Make “To-Do” Lists and Actively Check Items Off – In theory, this might sound like you are accomplishing things. But if I were to have one more list on top of the myriad of lists that I have and keep track of for other people, I would have to take the gun from number 1 and find the author of this article.

4. Take a Long Drive – I can only see this working if you don’t live in a heavily populated area.  Commuter traffic is enough to make a person mental.  Five minutes on the road with people behind the wheel on cell phones makes me tighter than a snare drum.  Nope, no long drive for me.

I know that the author(s) of this article were only trying to help. De-Stressing in today’s workplace is a highly personal process but extremely necessary.

My only advice is find your center and take the time to relax.  Do whatever it takes, you will be a better person for it.

Just keep away from fire arms.