November 16, 2005

coming and going and busy both ways (also a mild labor rant)

Regatta photos below - go look. I'll wait.

-- files nails --

Things are stacking up to do both before we leave for Philly and after we get back. Given what November has been like, I was sort of thinking of not bothering to get out of bed the weekend after Thaknssgiving, but it's looking like that may not be an option. Of course after all that travel, the house is a disaster and the larder is empty. My socks are self-destructing at an alarming rate, and so far I've bought approximately one holiday present. That wouldn't be a problem, with Chanukah not beginning until Christmas Eve this year, but my mother and brother's birthdays are toward the beginning of December. I think I'll just wait until we visit to see what they might need. Rudder's birthday and Christmas gifts are also complicated by the fact that we still have no idea what we'll be doing next year, and two of our possible options include putting most of our stuff into storage.

Among other things I have to do before we leave is to pack up my entire office. Thanks to a new corporate policy I'm being moved out of my nice private roomy office into an eensy cube. A duoible one, in a room with ten other people. As you might imagine, I am not thrilled about this. I dislike cubicles both in practice and in principle; I don't believe people get as much done with no privacy and no space. The noise from others is distracting and I don't think it says much for the respect given to employees' dignity.

Someone said, "Well, at least you still have a job," and I don't like that philosophy either. The company doesn't hire me as a kind gesture; it pays me the amount it thinks I'm worth to perform a necessary job. If it decides that job is not necessary, it will not keep me around out of charity. In other words, I think I'm as valuable to my employer as they are to me. I even think my company realizes it, though they may forget it now and then in zea to reward stockholders. It's a two -way street, though; that principle implies they need to treat me with respect, but it also means I need to make damn sure I earn my paycheck, because they don't give it to be just because they like me just as I am. That may be a radical view on both sides, but I don't think it should be.

Posted by dichroic at November 16, 2005 12:13 PM
Comments


Thanks for the pictures. About as close as we will ever get to a physical meeting. You're a good lookin' bunch of people. Yay ! ! ! !

Posted by: Denver doug at November 16, 2005 12:32 PM

You know, I was all set to say, "ick, I'd never want to work in a cubicle, either." And then it occurred to me that my desk in a lab isn't much different. There are four bays in my lab, each with two benches, two desks, and a windowsill between the desks. It's fine for doing actual labwork, but it's difficult to read or write with lots of other people around...

Posted by: naomi at November 16, 2005 04:55 PM

Paula, I can't begin to imagine having the stamina to do a rowing marathon. I love the photo of you with your medal. Your happiness made *me* grin--it's fun to bask in someone else's joy.

You have my sympathies on the cubicle. Our home is tiny and mostly open plan but I do have a tiny room of my own in which I work. The summer we were refurbishing it, the summer I had to move everything into our livingroom and live without a place of my own, was very hard for all the reasons you've enumerated. Amazing how being able to shut a door helps to focus, eh?

Posted by: Marn, eh at November 16, 2005 06:22 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?