Lisa Belkin (I feel like I keep quoting her) in today’s New York Times brings up an interesting point about working: can wasting time actually be productive? She says:
Over the years I have come to see that the hours away from the writing are the time when the real work gets done. When a paragraph turns itself this way and that in a corner of my brain even while my fingers are buying books on Amazon.com. What appears to be wasted time is really jell time.
While I like the concept, and have come upon many good sites for those who want to kill time at work, I am not sure the argument for wasting time at work applies to me. Why? Because I’m a working mom. I feel like I don’t have time to waste time.
When I’m in the office, I’m constantly on the go, trying to accomplish all my tasks into a 24-hour work week. (I think my lack of time wasting is exacerbated by my part-time schedule.) If I don’t get my stuff done by Tuesday evening, well, I’ll be working at home on Wednesday, when I’m off of work. My Thursdays are like a mad race to the finish line. Gotta. Get. It. All. Done. Before. 5:30 p.m. Or else? I’ve got a long weekend ahead of me. And neither the husband nor the kiddo will appreciate me hovering over my laptop on a sunny-ish (I live in Chicago, remember?) Sunday afternoon.Â
I’m not complaining here, just relaying life from my vantage point. My friend who works full-time recently lamented about the coworker who actually thought she had time to stop and dawdle at Starbucks on the way back from work. The horror!Â
But the more I think about it, my whole “no time to waste time” motto may make a good case study for those women trying to get flexible work schedules. I’m quite efficient in my shortened work week. So much though, that a client even said to me today, “I don’t even realize it when you’re not there.” Imagine that!? Perhaps it’s that I have understanding clients (and colleagues), but more likely it’s that when I’m at work I’m there to work. I feel as if I’m not there enough to justify a little break here and there. I constantly aim to be busy as possible to keep on proving that part-time schedules do (cross my fingers) work in some scenarios. For most moms who work a full work week, I’m pretty sure any free moment they have in their day is spent with their kids. Or running errands (after work) for their kids. I don’t know many working moms with time to burn. Â
Whatever the case, I can really only think of one scenario where lolly-gagging away time at work may make sense. A great sale at Nordstrom. Now that’s worth a couple extra hours of work on a weekend.
Tags: Lisa Belkin, working mom, flexible schedules, flexible work arrangements, wasting time at work, mom-friendly companies
Nataly, over at Work It, Mom!, has started an interesting debate over women hiding the fact that they are moms at work because of the perception that being a mom will negatively affect their careers. Part of the issue discussed is how one woman doesn’t want to be associated with a “mommy” site or “mommy bloggers.” Pshaw, I say. Anyone, client or colleague, who I tell about my blog thinks it’s cool that I write on the side. So I personally don’t get that.
But when Nataly asks,
how many of us are hiding in the closet and limiting how much of our “mom†life to include in our professional interactions?
it makes me think: am I too much of a “mom” on the job?
I personally shout my mommy-ness from the rooftops at work. I’m not obnoxious about it (at least I don’t think so), but I do tell clients and colleagues I have a “mom blog” and I do talk about the things that happen to me as a mom. Like when I ran out of diapers and had to leave work early to go get some, which ultimately led me to taking a client conference call from home. I shared that little tid-bit with my client on our call. Since my client’s also a mom, she first laughed, and then said she could totally relate to my experience. I think telling her this story made our professional relationship a little more personal and definitely made me feel better about running out of diapers!
Perhaps it’s easier to flaunt being a mommy at work when you work with a lot of women (and moms) as I do, but I personally think that being a mom actually adds to my character instead of detracts. I’ve talked before about traits that I now have that I think help me be a better employee – I can multitask better and have more stamina than ever.Â
Of course, I try not to let the minutae of mommy-hood get in the way of work, but it sometimes cannot be avoided. My son gets sick and occasionally I have to leave early. But I believe being up front and honest will get me farther with my co-workers than if I try to cast my mom-persona to the side. Maybe I’m being really naive or unrealistic, but I can’t hide it: I’m a mom now, and really, that’s the most important job I have. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Tags: Work It, Mom!, working mom, mommy wars
I’ve often complained to my coworkers about the dim lighting in our communal bathroom at the office. The flourescent bulbs seem to be from an era past, casting my beautiful spring whites in nasty shades of yellow. My skin, which is already sallow to begin with, seemed ever more orange in the atmosphere of the bathroom. Which is why I was shocked to walk into work this morning and find that these tawny bulbs have been replaced with brighter alternatives.
Unfortunately, this means now I can see how bad I look by the end of the day.
I’ve ranted before about how difficult it is to get ready in the morning for work when you have a baby to contend with. But now, I fear, my new foe is the brilliant bulb giving off its ray of fake sunshine in the loo. It’s bringing out the very worst in my appearance.
See, 8 months into this working mom thing, I’ve got my morning routine down pat. As long as I can distract my son with an episode of Noddy or whatever is on at the early hour I get ready, I can apply my foundation semi-evenly and smear concealer onto my chin, where it seems I am reliving my adolescent youth. A stroke of blush, some mascara, (permanent eyeliner if I am lucky), finishing powder and I am typically good to go. Fixing up my face is the last step of my morning routine and when I am finished, I usually do not take another look in the mirror. There’s no time for hiding that one last freckle or wrinkle. I’ve got to get to work.
And when I’m at work, I’m usually too busy or too lazy to check on my appearance.
But by the time 3 p.m rolls around and I leisurely stroll to the bathroom to stretch my legs I am horrified at what I see. My mascara is smudged, the pubescent acne spot (ok, zit!) is erupting and I have a sheen about me that reminds me why I never opted for the “dewy” look in the ’90s. Yes, I could bring my powder compact to work. Yes, I could reapply concealer at the end of the day. But somehow, I always forget to do this.
At least there’s a bright side. My son. Thankfully, he doesn’t care how shiny, or matte or smudged I look at the end of day. As long as I’m home in time to put him to bed, he glows like the brightest bulb there ever was. And that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?
Tags: working mom, office rants, getting ready for work
What do you do when your kid wakes up at the crack of dawn covered in yesterday’s pizza lunch, and your husband really needs his sleep?
You go to Target. At 7:55 a.m. And wait for it to open.
Stalking the security guard to open the doors.
And buy some useless things.
Bob the Builder and a cute cover-up really can cure a hangover. Light bulbs, not so much, but I actually needed those.
Happy Sunday and Memorial Day.
Tags: Target, hangover, Bob the Builder
I always thought it is my job as a mother to protect my son. That was true until I met The Childproofer.
Not too ago, I began to realize that my watchful eye was no longer going to protect my son from all the evils of the world. Well, my home.
Until he started crawling, I never knew the dangers of ordinary household items. In a matter of weeks, the banal and boring became fun and exciting. Cabinets and drawers filled of kitchen utensils were a veritable chest of toys. Blind cords became ropes to swing from. You name it, my son was into it.
If you want to read more about my harrowing experience with “The Childproofer” read my online monthly column on NBC.5.com Chicago!
Tags: babyproofing, baby+proofer, child+proofer
I usually drive to work. It saves me about 20 minutes on my commute, and I don’t have to deal with the public transit system in Chicago known as the “El.” Or, as I call it, “the thing formerly known as the ‘El.’” Because the El is different these days. It’s getting a makeover. More like a gazillion dollars worth of reconstruction, but a makeover nonetheless. Many of us in Chicago have been dismayed by the El’s recent ongoing transformation. Not only don’t the stations look as pretty, but the service and quality have been tremendously diminished. There’s even a whole blog dedicated to the topic.Â
Which is why it is strange that I voluntarily chose to ride the “El” to work last Thursday. It was a nice day out, and I had to stay downtown for an event after work and really didn’t want to deal with car-hopping from location to location in downtown Chicago. So I put on my tennis shoes and headed out for my commute.
And it wasn’t that bad.
I thought for sure I would witness many levels of elbow-slinging and seat-stealing by riding the train at the height of morning rush hour. But after I switched from the Brown to the Red line at Belmont, I actually got a seat.
To my surprise, an empty-ish El car.
And no man tried to take it before me. I’ve written before that the El is not a chivalrous place. And my other pregnant friends can vouch for this. Tales of bumping and terrorizing pregnant women on the train abound. But on my El ride I encountered none of this.
(I am going to regret writing this, deep breath). My El ride was actually pleasant enough that even though it takes me longer to get to work I may ditch my car once in awhile and take the train to work. Especially if I get to see a sunset like this on my ride home.Â
So what if the river is dirty and cold?
That’s just something you can’t see while driving.
Tags: the+El, CTA, subway, commuting+to+work, working+mom
