Sacrifices for Happiness

Since I can't very well allow Twixter One to post a blog and not have one to follow, here I am. Many, many things have changed since my last entry.

Here's the mini run down:
-Husband and I may or may not be moving to Florida. We may be looking into California. (Do not die of a heart attack Twixter One. You need to be on gchat nao so I can update you.)
-I quit the very well paying job I hate to take 2 lesser paid jobs that make me much happier
- I started filling out all the paperwork to go back to school this next year and graduate. I seriously cannot wait.
-Husband finished his second novel of his life and I couldn't be prouder.

Now, some explanation. I'll start with just explaining this last weekend since it pretty much changed our lives.

This last weekend, one of our best friend's from college (whom we shall call Gavin) graduated. When he invited us to his graduation party, we knew that no matter what happened, we would be there.

But first, I have been applying like a mad women (even while at work) to other places so I could quit my call center job. I knew I needed to have 2 jobs to cover what I was making there but needed to get out of that place so bad it was making me depressed. So I applied like crazy and Thursday night I got a call. I had interviewed at Old Navy and they wanted to hire me. I had the potential of 40 hours as long as I was available. And boy was I available. During the last week I had also been in talks with a manager from Starbucks (thanks to the Husband's rocking connections, I got to skip the whole interview process and just talk straight to a manager who needed a barista). She had sounded pretty sure she was going to hire me. So as soon as Old Navy offered me the job, I got in my car, drove to my call center and quit on the spot.

This was a very rash move for me. I've never just up and quit a job in my life. Ironically they wouldn't have let me put in notice anyway. They really didn't care. Proving even more how much I hated that job. So I snuck out like a thief in the night with all the items from my desk and got ready to go to California. My shoulders felt like a giant weight was lifted off them and I was practically dancing as I shopped for random stuff we'd need for the trip.

On the way down, I was confessing to husband that I was kind of depressed to be going to our old school and town because to me, the drive felt like I was going home, not going to visit. To be honest, I've felt ever since we moved that California was my home. As excited as I was for adventure and moving to Florida, I was scared it would be just like Las Vegas without family. Just Husband and I in an apartment with only 1 friend an hour away. I had suppressed that thought for a long time.

But California. Husband and I arrived looking snazzy and dressed up for graduation. It was really fun to see all the people we had missed. All the while I was slightly shriveling inside.

This was supposed to be me. I was supposed to be graduating right now.

I only have 6 classes left. But due to the move and Husband and I's financial situation and the lack of married housing on campus, we were forced to move straight to Nevada without a glance back. I sat there at graduation, proud of all my friends who were wearing their gowns and walking up the stage but still reminded I should be done. And wanted to be done. Now.

After graduation we had an amazing day. Gavin's graduation party was exactly what I want mine to be. A small group of family and closest friends celebrating a great milestone with beer and pizza. It was perfect. Afterwards, we went to the beach and just played in the sand. Gavin and his cousin and his brother from Maine actually went swimming like crazy people. But I guess if we swim in the ocean in Maine, Newport Beach isn't so bad. Afterward we ate dinner, hung out at the bathwater warm pool.

Husband and I had a dawning realization.

We miss people.

We're extremely social and as of right now, we sit in our apartment and watch TV. Every once in a while we have people to hang out with. But not like in California. We hung out with Gavin nearly every single day for 2 years. Not to mention one of my best friends in the world and maid of honor (whom we shall call Riley) was there everyday too. I just need that back again.

So needless to say, Husband and I are looking into all our options, which include moving back to California this upcoming fall or spring. We've got a lot to figure out, but I can't wait to decide.

Miss you all.

Twixter Two

More Blue Collar Than I Ever Thought

So I realized something yesterday.

I think I'd rather be a blue collar worker. Not necessarily the stereotypes of construction or things like that, but I really don't mind wearing a uniform.

Right now I work in an office type environment, tethered to a desk for 8 hours and it drives me crazy. Only reading blogs online can keep me occupied in my down times for so long. My limbs long for walking and standing.

It's ironic because I always saw myself as a sort of up and coming business woman wearing epic heels and pencil skirts, giving presentations and holding meetings. I walk by the meeting rooms at work now and cringe. No one looks glamorous, or like they're even enjoying a minute of their work. They all sit, staring at their laptops while watching Power Points full of graphs and data.

*Excuse me while I vomit*

Now I know that I don't just want to be a "worker" my whole life. I want to move up, get promoted, manage. Just maybe not in an white collar type office.

The more and more I think about it, the more I realize the only thing I've truly been passionate about my entire life is people. Now I do wish it was something a little more sell-able, like photography or being an expert harp player or something, but it's just not. I love people. I also love helping them by being as knowledgeable as I can be on my subject of work. Just ask Husband or Twixter Two. I know far too much random crap than any person ever should.

So yeah. Now I just have to wait 5 months to see if Disney is going to be it for me. Maybe I could handle working in an office if I love what I'm working for. Or who I'm working for.

What do you think? Are you more Blue Collar or White Collar? Or something in between like me?

I Understand Your Frustration, Ma'am.

Working in Account Services (retention) makes me apologize. A lot. Now, I'm told that I'm a great communicator. In my month or so on the phones, I've never had a customer request a manager or supervisor. As my supervisor would say, "It's because I don't have any stink on my voice". I'm assuming that means attitude. I really don't have any of that. In fact, I'm told that I'm too nice.

To maintain my job without getting in trouble, I'm supposed to "save" 45% of my customers. Right now my rate is at 40%. The problem is I care too much. I feel that the customer is telling me the truth. Why would they be lying about what happened in their life? Your life is terrible. You called the right person. I'll track my manager down and get your Early Termination Fee waived.

Now that is the wrong first thought. I'm supposed to look at what I see on the computer and feel no mercy. Customers lie. Often. I was cussed out for 30 minutes by a woman yesterday who sounded like satan. As she yelled, her voice became all guttural and creepy. I did not enjoy it. All over internet service.

While I'm not keeping the most customers for my company, most of them leave with a much better taste in their mouth about this company and may come back. I could say that all day, but I'm still 5% down from acceptable, let alone 7% from getting bonuses.

So for the first time in my life, I'm learning how to be mean. It seems so backward in customer service, but I have to begin to process that I work for a business, not the customer and do what's best for the company.

This continues to solidify the fact that I need to not work in this kind of customer service. I need to be somewhere that really is about your actual experience.

A place like, oh, Disney World. :)

Lunch Time

Twixter Two and I have a clever little work time ritual that involves treating our business emails like instant messenger - desperate to talk to someone from outside our tiny cubicles during the 9-5 work day. But right around noon every day the subject inevitably swings to the same subject: soup.

Okay, not soup - but lunch time. Unfortunately for us, lately lunch time = soup. Yesterday she had potato. I had chicken noodle. Last week it was split pea. and tomato. We’re both so sick of soup.

Today I branched out a bit and rummaged through the cupboard to find some Uncle Ben’s microwaveable Rice Pilaf. hmmm. Well, at least it’s not soup. it’s rice.

Soup and Rice are the foundations of my lunch time diet. Our office keeps a fridge and pantry stocked with easy lunch time necessities - but that largely comes down to soup, rice, or sandwiches. I’ve had a dislike for sandwiches every since Jr. High days - after eating sandwiches for lunch for 12-years of my life, I just can’t stomach turkey on wheat anymore. So again, that leaves me soup. and rice. soup and rice.

It starts to get old after a while, but I just can’t bring myself to bring valuable groceries from home, when there is free food sitting right in the office fridge. But I hate the food we have in the fridge. Too often the meager offerings of the company fridge send me out to get fast food. But this month The Boss has been in town - which means no lunch break for me. (But consequentially no wasteful spending on fast food. There’s an upside to everything.) So instead, I get to eat soup. and rice. soup and rice.

I’m really starting to dislike soup and rice.

Thanks, But No Thanks.

So, I had an interesting week at my job here at the call center.

First, I was offered to produce (with zero budget mind you) a training video encompassing all the different departments of the company. It’s going to be cheesy, very corporate and I’m in love with the project. There’s a new kid in the training class (who is a d-bag who thinks he's God's gift to broadcasting,but working in a call center) who has all the equipment I’d need. He’s a broadcast major who’s very excited to help/take over the entire project. Ehem.

THEN after that, my trainer, whom we shall call Trainer (I’m creative, I know), approached me and asked me if I was good at Excel. Let me give a little back story on young Twixter Two. I was the child, where at age 9, created an Excel document of my Christmas wish list. I included graphs breaking up my gifts by cost brackets, what stores they were from and level of desire.

I’m completely serious.

But after that, all I’ve know is above the average person about excel. I can fix basic problems and create general formulas.

So I told Trainer that I was good at Excel. I am, above the average Joe. So I had a meeting with the big boss on campus, whom we shall call Bundles. Well, Bundles offered me Friday, “a loan”. What this loan means is while my pay and title remain the same, I am on loan to Bundles to help with the corporate Excel documents. Highly classified information about the company, including performance reports, etc. Well, Bundles wanted me to repackage the information into different graphs and formulas. And learn a technique called VLOOKUP.

Now I accepted the position. I was dazzled. I’m brand new to this company, only starting out on February 1st. To be offered something like this is unreal. It was implied that if I stayed and showed the stuff I was doing had some value, it would become an actual management position.

Then I went home. Husband helped un-dazzle me of the excitement of getting offer a kind-of-promotion. And I spent 2 hours trying to learn VLOOKUP. I had no idea what it was talking about. I’m a fast learner, but I researched VLOOKUP on 5 different Excel sites and still could not figure it out. This was a problem, since that was going to be my main formula. Then I had some questions. I’m not getting a raise, but I have more responsibility: would my title change? What can I write down on my résumé? If I change my hours, will that affect this?

After all the questions rolled around in my head, and the lack of Excel knowledge, on top of the fact that Husband and I are moving in less than 6 months, why would I take this position? For 1, it’s way over my head. For 2, it’s not very beneficial to a company to train someone for a promotional job when they’re going to be leaving. For 3, I was scared out of my mind I would suck completely at it.

So I talked to Bundles this morning and was very honest. It had nothing to do with her, just the fact that if it were my company, I wouldn’t want me to take the position. Bundles was very surprised by my honesty. Not many people would sacrifice getting off the phones in a call center life.

Little does she know I just didn’t want to give up my bonuses. (Bwahahahaha).

I'm baaack

Sorry for the break everyone, but I’m back and up and running – though a little worse for the wear.

The last week and a half I’ve been in Nashville, TN on a business trip – the very first of it’s kind. I actually had a whole stack of entries prepped and ready to fill in the time that I wouldn’t be writing, and then I was hit with a massive cold. February was the month of sickness as I’ve been in and out of bed with one malady after another. However, the worst of it hit the day before I left for my trip, which left me barely hanging on for life as I teetered around the convention center in heels with tissues and cough drops poking out of every crevice that could hold them.

Luckily I’m back in sunny California, though the cough and nasty fever blisters still manage to hold on. Though, not enough to keep me from writing like I’m supposed to – I promise.

So, I planned on returning from my business trip with a kick ass blog all about business trips. But I’m coming up dry.

The truth is, for the large part, it was boring. Almost too boring to blog about.

However, I did learn one very important thing on this trip:

I HATE business trips. I spent 5-days straight stuck inside a convention hall, and I only ever breathed fresh air once. Business hours weren’t 9-5, but whenever and wherever people could find us. And they found us - back to back meetings from dawn to dusk.

The Boss goes on a business trip once if not twice a week – he’s always traveling and for a while I envied him as he was boarding planes and I was stuck behind my metal desk in LA. But by the time I returned from my trip I was so worn out, so exhausted, and SO tired of dealing with clients I didn’t want to work for another two weeks. To pick up and repeat with another trip week after week would be a terror.

I wish I had more exciting tales to tell you from the road but the trip was an endless succession of meetings until I finally collapsed on my cousin’s couch in Nolensville ready for a couple of days of R&R with my family. That was the main perk of my Southern business trip – a chance to catch up with family that I haven’t seen in a couple of years. 4 days of sleeping in, watching movies, and lounging around my aunts beautiful home in Franklin, and nights of good food and company with the family.

While the tail end of the trip did give me a nice dose of family, I have to say, it’s nice to be back home in LA.

Hm. So Much For Updates

Sorry for not updating. I've been slowly getting sick due to diving back into the 40 hour work week.

My graduation from a month of training at my call center job is tomorrow and I'm very excited but nervous out of my mind.

It's such a comforting feeling to be in training. There's always someone around to answer your question, if you make a mistake, it's ok! You're in training! But starting on Monday, I'm pretty much on my own to figure out my own questions. I'll be dealing with irate customers without much backup.

Needless to say, I'm terrified.

More updates to come. It's ridiculous, but I'm actually going to bed. Its 8:22 pm. I am just so damn tired.

Sigh.

I miss college.

The Intern (Part Two)

So, I found my blog entry about interns to be longer than I’m sure you, poor reader, felt like reading. (need a refresher? Part One) Hence, The Intern - Part Two ... wait, I have an intern?

It feels out of sorts for me to have an intern as the 22-year-old assistant / coordinator. Long before I started here as the assistant, I was Mrs. Boss’ intern. Psycho intern who worked 60 hour weeks preparing for a national conference that went off without a hitch! But now, a year later, I have interns of my own.

It’s weird since our interns are only a year or two younger than me - if not the same age. Yet somehow, I’m supposed to know more than them, to teach them. It started to make me question - do I really need interns?

Then, I looked at the stack of inventory I have to do, or the 44 hours of transcribing that has been on my desk for months, and I remember what interns are for. While I’d like to be the place that has the “totally awesome internship” and while I’d like to stay true to the words I uttered as an intern, “when I’m in charge I’ll never make my intern ...” that isn’t what interns are for.

Interns make copies. They get coffee. They run errands and they file. I know so many interns are probably wondering “Why can’t I do something MEANINGFUL? Something that will be worthwhile and make a difference for this company?”

I realize that the copies and coffee don’t seem worthwhile. But what those copies & coffees allow is. When my intern is running to pick up lunch for the office, I’m on a conference call with our designers before they fly out to meet with a client tomorrow. While my intern is plugging material into the inventory, I’m running the agenda for tomorrows meeting in office.

So yes, what the interns are doing may seem tedious and pointless. But by taking the tedious and pointless away from people who have “worthwhile” things to do - their work is worthwhile after all.

Of course, after I read this entry I sit back and laugh. I think I just explained my job a little bit as well.

The Intern (Part One)

It’s February and the spring semester is upon us! There was one point where that meant I was already knee deep in Honors reading that I had ignored over interterm but this year it means something completely new:

The interns are here!

Our office has been without an intern for a semester, but with my promotion a couple months ago we’ve been in dire need of one since early November. However, I had absolutely no clue where to start when hiring an intern - a strange feeling, being that I myself have been an intern dozens of times before!

Suddenly, I found myself on the other side of the table asking myself serious questions like “What kind of qualities do you need in an intern?” and “How do you politely ask ‘Hey - can you go on another Starbucks run?’ ”

Posting on facebook brought a lot of well meaning but essentially helpless advice. “Someone hard working” “Willing to do anything” “Someone dedicated.” Like I said - all great suggestions. But lets face it - every resume and cover letter looks alike. Everyone wants you to know that they are “hardworking, dedicated and intelligent.” Everyone wants to impress you with the laundry list of student films they worked on.

Like I said - Everyone is the same.

But ultimately, personality is what I want. You’re an intern - I’m not planning on handing you any monumental tasks that will require the height of your film school knowledge. I’m going to ask you to file. So as long as you can promise me that you’ll show up on time and not complain, I get the whole hard working picture - now tell me something else. If I’m going to be sitting across the office from you 16-hours a week, I want to know you have something interesting to offer.

So, in the hopes of saving numerous assistants from enduring the same resume monotony that I went through, here’s my list of things to do (and not to do) on your Internship Resume:

1. Tell me what makes you unique! Did you just self - finance your own short film? Or are you fresh off finishing the LA marathon? Maybe you just got back from feeding orphans in Africa? Tell me something that makes you different from the rest - and what you’ve learned from it to bring to our team. It shows you have personality and gives me something to remember you by - 10 resumes later I’ll probably still remember the marathon guy vs. the guy with that one GPA.
   
   
2. Tell me what you know about my company I specifically work in a company focusing in a very niche market - not just anyone can do what we do, so I hired my interns with those questions in mind. But it works the same with any company - tell them that you’d like to intern with the company that produced movies XY and Z or managed star AB and C. It shows we’re not just another name on the list.
   
   
3. Tell me what you want to do at my company You’re an intern. No matter what you’re going to make coffee and copies. However when the occasion arises, some interns get to do some pretty cool stuff. But if you’re an editor who suddenly ends up doing research for The Boss’ new screenplay, it doesn’t seem as cool. Even if you probably won’t get to edit our next brilliant commercial, it never hurts to say “I’m a pro at coffee and copies - but what I really like to do is cut!”
   
   
4. Ditch the “I ams” I get it. All the soon to be college grads want their employers to know that their dedicated and smart and bla bla bla. Let me repeat: ALL. Those words start to become pretty pointless when they’re on every resume you see. Tell me the WHYs or HOWs behind those adjectives (see tip #1) or else skip the “I ams” completely


5. Give me your contact info! I realize these are the days of emailed resumes. Thank You technology! However, don’t forget to leave your contact info on both your resume and your cover letter. Yes, I realize you emailed me from your email address - so I should already have it. But chances are, I’m printing out your cover letter & resume and then dropping the email into some deep dark folder with only the hope of “search” to bring it back to life. So give me your contact info up front - and you’re already making life much easier for me.

You Better Shape Up ...

One of my favorite profs in college once told me that it would take 10-years in the work force before I REALLY began to use the skills I learned in college.

So I couldn't help but laugh when I Stumbled upon this on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal the other day:

The 10-Year-Plan

I had a new ream of business cards printed about a month ago, but today was the first day I broke the seal and passed along my newly minted card - with my not so newly minted title.

Almost three-months ago now, I got a promotion at work. It’s was kinda a shock to me, being that I had only been at the company for six-months, but I loved the new responsibilities and change of pace.

Only, it came with a catch.

The Boss has had a bit of a history with assistants lately, managing to go through quite a number in the last couple years. When I first started the job I was told by more than one of The Boss’ friends and colleagues that my best title was “The Boss’ CURRENT Assistant.” Yea, that’s a good way to scare the new girl.

Luckily, The Boss and I hit it off great and not only did he keep me around - he promoted me! But in fact, he wanted to do both. My title switched to Client Coordinator - I now handle all the communication between our clients and the company, as well as (!) Coordinating all the shoots we do out in LA. But my pay remained the same, and my job responsibilities didn’t change - they doubled.

So now, I’m juggling both the assistant job and the coordinator gig, for the one low price of an assistant. The money woes are frustrating (that’s another blog entirely) but I’m ecstatic to add Coordinator to my title - it’s one GIANT step closer to where I want to be long-term. (Which actually IS as a Coordinator - only in a much larger role.)

Of course, the assistant gig continues. I’m still on hold with Hertz and managing The Boss’ appointments, and there are days where 5:30 hits and I still have a stack a mile high teetering on my desk. There’s points where it gets overwhelming, but I love my new title.

Originally, I had very short-term goals for this job. I figured I’d hold the assistant job for a year or two and then try for bigger and better things. But now the slightly bigger and slightly better things have found me, which again throws a huge spin on Twixter One’s set-in-stone life plan. Suddenly, I find myself working in a place I never thought I’d want to work (small office in a very niche market) but working on the first step towards my dream job - a step that should have taken at least a couple years post-grad to reach.

Throughout high school and college, my profs emphasized the need to have a “life plan.” The 5-year-plan / 10-year-plan assignment came up on more than one semester. Now, when I’m only 1-year out in that 10-year plan, nothing has gone the way I planned. It’s not better - not worse - but different entirely. My dreams change every year, my goals change every year, and my circumstances change by the month.

So what was the point of my 10-year-plan again?

Culinary Dreams

A few years back, I got this crazy idea in my head that I wanted to drop out of college and go to Culinary School. I even went to visit 3 different culinary schools in my area of southern California. I was smitten. I wanted to wear a chef coat and create amazing scallops on a big plate with green and orange garnish sauce underneath and vegetables stacked perfectly on top.

I've always loved baking and cooking my entire life. It's my sort of zen. If I'm stressed, I usually bake or cook something. I even had the measurements of 1/8 of a batch of chocolate chip cookies memorized. It makes about 4 cookies. I started to put 2 and 2 together, realized I could potentially cook for a living. Would that be so bad? I ultimately decided finishing my undergrad would be a smart back up plan. (This was before I decided to change my major. Idiot).

So I've started researching culinary school again this past week, with 1 semester left of my undergrad. I just found out that the Cordon Bleu in Vegas costs $40,000 for the culinary and $25,000 for baking. W.T.F.?

My private school for 5 years of education will not cost me as much as the Cordon Bleu program.

Now I've chatted with several people that now tell me you don't HAVE to attend the CB and many other schools are regarded just as highly and are significantly less expensive.

But then I researched what life is like for an aspiring chef. It's long, strange hours for the next 10-15 years of my life. Strange hours meaning, 4 pm to 2 am including holidays. Is this the type of life I want? Not really. I want kids. I want to be able to come home and hang out with my husband. I want to be able to go out with friends.

I've heard that culinary is like the film/television industry, in the fact that if you can picture yourself doing something else, you should do the something else. I've magically found myself interested in 2 very niche passion industries.

Can I picture myself working 12 hour days in a kitchen? Yes.
Can I picture myself working on a set for 14 hour days? Yes.
Can I picture myself doing something else? Yes.

Well, damn it. Now what?

Post Grad

I just finished Post Grad, the new film starting Alexis Bledel of Gilmore Girls fame. Usually I wouldn’t admit to the fact that I actually enjoyed that film, but I’m in a new stage of life where I’m willing to own up to the fact that I thoroughly enjoy cheesy girly chick flicks; they’re my favorites. Plus, how could I not love the poster after my last blog:



Okay, that subject is neither here nor there, so anyways.

Post Grad is not necessarily a unique chick flick. It’s the typical boy loves girl, girl is oblivious until it’s too late - or is it? I won’t ruin the ending for you, but come on - it’s predictable. Nevertheless, the film SCREAMS Twixter generation. Rydel (how cute is that name?) graduates from college and is stuck living at home with her parents - no job, no car, no idea what to do. Of course, unlike some in our generation she HAS tried to move out of her High School bedroom - only to be denied by our current crappy economy.

If someone ever made a film about my life so far, this would be it. It’s like the plot line was stolen directly from the last year of my life - right down to the horrific car accident the same week as graduation!

In high school I had a plan all laid out - a golden brick road of sorts, except for this one was paved with straight A’s. But somewhere along the way, reality set in. I was lucky enough to avoid the embarrassing move back to my parents house, but I was astonished after the first few resumes submitted that I hadn’t gotten a job yet. What we’re these people thinking - I was a college graduate! Magna Cum Laude at that!

Eventually the little stumbles in life brought me to the job I have today, but the six months I spent wandering taught me a lot. Finding a job - starting your career - is a two-way game. No one is going to hand it to you - you have to be smart, work hard, and persevere. And yet, all the hard work in the world isn’t going to get you anywhere unless someone else tells you yes. You need that golden opportunity.

Of course, the other half of the film is the love story. Rydel works so hard that she misses the love of her life that is right in front of her. If anything, this subject has consumed my thoughts lately. I’m independent, a feminist, a girl who has dreams for her career a mile high - and at this time in my life all I want to do is find the ladder and start climbing. Yet, so many women who are older and wiser than me have cautioned me that without someone by my side, the top of that ladder is lonely and disappointing.

Im lucky enough that The Boy isn’t threatening to run off to New York, and the hour drive between us can be conquered. But with both of us climbing up our own ladders, sometimes things get shaky. It’s hard when neither are on solid ground. That’s the part the chick flick always manages to leave out - what happens after the boy gets the girl, and they’re left to figure out how?

So what about you? Are you pushing your way through, climbing the ladder to the top? or still waiting on that golden opportunity? or maybe you’ve been swept away, by the guy or gal of your dreams like Twixter Two, and figuring it all out together?

Let us know in the comments below!

A Pair of Big Girl Heels

My wardrobe in college consisted purely of jeans, v-neck T-Shirts, a baggy university sweatshirt and converses. I was lucky enough to live a 5-minute walk from campus, which meant my morning routine consisted of tossing my hair in a ponytail and running out the door with a cup of tea in hand.

I’ve never been the dress up kind of girl. While a small part inside of me loves dressing up fancy, finding that perfect little black dress or curling my hair just right, a bigger part of me loves sleep. I can’t imagine spending an hour on my hair in the morning when I could be using that hour for something much better. Like sleep.

I was frightened about entering the work world and having to slip on heels every morning before I headed to the office. My first day at my new job I agonized over my wardrobe and finally decided on a black collared shirt, grey dress pants, and a brand new pair of Two-Inch “Big Girl” heels.

Can I repeat? TWO-INCH HEELS!

I’m pretty sure those heels have only been worn once since then. I walked into the office on my first day and met my coworkers – who were all wearing flip-flops and jeans. I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief and the next day switched out my heels for a much more comfortable pair of flats.

There are moments when I cherish my companies casual dress policy. (Like today, Friday, when the boss is gone and all I wanted to do was stay in bed in my PJs). Yet, sometimes I wish there was a little bit more push to dress up for work each day. Because if I know it’s fine for me to come into work in converses and a v-neck, I will. There’s no motivation to dress otherwise.

So, I loved Work Chic’s blog about how to have Profession Style in a Casual Office.

A lot of the suggestions on both the site and the blog are a little expensive for a post-collegiate like me, but my favorite go-to substitution (Target) has a lot of options that could work. For someone whose idea of “changing things up” is to wear a zip-up instead of a hoodie, I liked the suggestion of finding “trouser style denim” and using accessories to brighten things up. Maybe it’s time I get out of the college slump and (gasp) freecycle some of those old T’s and jeans and go on a bit of a shopping spree.

Of course, what I liked the most about the article is that neither outfit mentioned any kind of killer heels. Even if I’m tiptoeing into the world of professional dress, I’ll can still tiptoe in a pair of comfy flats.

The Assistant

Has anyone seen “Up in the Air”?

The Boy and I went to see it in theaters and loved it, so I was overly excited when The Actress got a screener DVD in the mail this week. (Best perk of living with a SAG member, indeed.)

It’s a great movie that really hits at the heart of where our country is today. It’s filled with economic woes and tears and pain, and yet somehow leaves you walking out of the theatre with a new sense of purpose. Quite a feat for a film all about firing people.

If you’ve seen it, you probably don’t even remember my favorite scene. I couldn’t even find it on YouTube.

As Ryan (George Clooney’s character) races through the airport, he calls in to his assistant. (His name is Kevin, but you wouldn’t know that – I had to IMDB it.) Ryan’s calling to check in – and confirm the details on his Hertz rental car.

Without missing a beat Kevin informs him that yes, he has talked to Hertz, reminded them of his “super-duper high executive platinum Hertz Gold Club membership,” and that they’ll do anything possible to make sure he gets his blue Sebring. Oh, and his sister called but don’t worry – he told her that even Kevin didn’t know where Ryan was. Psh, like that would ever happen.

Welcome to my life.

My job is Kevin’s job. In fact, almost every twenty-something dipping their toes into the working world for the first time starts out as an assistant. To the outside world you don’t have a name, don’t have a face – just a cell phone and an email address accessible to The Boss 24-7. You book travel, mail Christmas cards, keep secrets and happily sit on hold for hours with Hertz Gold Club. You do the jobs The Boss doesn’t even remember need to be done. This is my world.

So I can empathize with “Kevin,” and chuckled about their exchange even after the movie had ended. Just today I received such a call, and before The Boss had time to hang up the phone I was already connected to American’s Executive Platinum desk, switching The Boss’s flight and firmly requesting his upgrade be transferred.

He was resting comfortably in first class before I even broke for lunch.