Hipster Union

Productivity versus morale.  The great question of every friday before a holiday weekend.  Do you stay open to get work done or do you let out early to increase morale.

For hard-ass jobs, it’s not really a question.  Choose productivity.  However, for this approach, you need consistency.  In this age of intraoffice e-mail, it is Outlook Express that is watched, not the clock.  Now, if you never let people out early for a holiday weekend, no one will have any reason to watch for the little envelope icon because they will know that the e-mail reprieve is not coming.  It’s like Jeffrey Dahmer waiting for a call from the governor.

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Tomorrow’s forecast: 88 degrees, 60% humidity, no clouds, and abundant sunshine. As it turns out, I have an office day. Polo, khakis, and boat shoes. And those suckers across the street at L&J will be in suits.

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Another beautiful day spent in my cube.  At least I don’t have a window to stare out of, which would no doubt just endlessly irk me.  I’ve calmed down after my morning outrage involving the toothpaste.  And in this little work-lull, I realize one of the things I miss about L&J.  Office Jackassery.

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Uggh. It’s like 70-perfect degrees outside and I’m inside. The only windows my office has are made by Microsoft and I’ve reported on all the cases I can report on and moved on all the cases I can move on. I’m damn near done with my iced coffee from Starfucks and still have over an hour to go before quittin’ time. What to do? What to do?

I’m done reading the intarweb and am sorely tempted to start reading my Al Gore book. Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that every attorney’s ‘puter screen is showing ESPN or the New York Times or some other non-work related trifle, I think that popping open a book would be frowned upon. Not that I’m complaining.

My boss told me that the firm evidently has passes for both the Metropolitan Athletic Club and the New York Highlanders. When asked which organization has my loyalty, I politely demurred comment. I believe my boss is a Mets man anyway. Look, I tried being a Mets fan. It did not work. I’m a Redskins fan, which is all the heartbreak that I can take in any given year. The Mets are the Mets, which means that as amazin’ as they are, they’ll shut down in August, finishing a respectable second in the division and narrowly miss the Wild Card by two games.

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Someone remind me - is it apt to say “when it rains, it pours” when getting job interview offers after you’ve been hired. Because that’s what has happened a couple of times in the past week. Never mind that my boss likes me (for now), that my secretary doesn’t dislike me (in spite of the endless supply of dictation I’m giving her) and my co-workers aren’t hazing me (yet).

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So I find myself back at the New York Public Library. If I come here again tomorrow, I’ll check out the Russia exhibit they have. I might make a museum day tomorrow. The interview went fine. It looks like I’ll be gainfully employed on Monday, making more money than before, hopefully with less pressure. In the meantime, I’ve got odds ‘n’ ends to finish around the house such as tacking down the speaker wire.

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For those of you who haven’t heard, I didn’t make it past my probationary period. For the first time in my life, I’ve been let go. It wasn’t overly traumatic. Nevertheless, I could have lived without the trauma. So now I’m registering with temp agencies to do document review which leaves me with a whole helluva lot of time on my hands.

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I’m doing a complete reboot in honor of the 1 year anniversary and in hopes of improving my posting habits.  First things first.  The title of this post.

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