mscleanslate

It was a weird day at work because I screwed something up but it was something there was no way I could have known how to do it right and no way I could have known it was wrong. It seemed ok to me, I had done it the way I’d done it last month (it’s a monthly task) and had been told that I’d done it correctly last month (it was wrong last month, too… sigh…)

Corrections will have to be made and now I know how to do it right and there shouldn’t be any issues going forward and it’s not the part of my job that is my strong point so while I do feel bad that there will have to be corrections made, I am not beating myself up about it too much because, like I said, I had no way of knowing that what I was doing wasn’t correct.

Still, I am a perfectionist and having to admit to clients that I screwed up won’t be easy and it’s not as if I can actually say to clients that I had no way of knowing it was wrong…

Once we get into second quarter, things should be better. And by then I’ll have a better handle on things. At least, that’s what I am hoping. I feel like my inbox is always overflowing and my out box doesn’t see much completed work…

And I somehow managed to both receive and lose my copy of “The Art of War” today.

Today’s mission at work was to find a restaurant that could accommodate a party of 16 on a Saturday night. You would think that in a large metropolitan area, this would be easy and I would say to you “nay, nay dear reader”… Indeed, the metropolitan area is large but apparently a party of 16 is a humongous undertaking. Oddly enough, when I lived in a smallish rural area and had a group of 30 people to accommodate, there was no problem at all. SEVERAL venues didn’t even blink at the request and there was no shoving me off on the “private dining” overlord who started talking about 3 course dinners with 3 choices… nope, 30 people were seated in a main dining area and ordered off of the regular menu. Sure, I DID call ahead and let them know the party would be coming but they didn’t require a deposit or anything as the party of 16 did ($500 deposit… holy cats!)

I did finally find a restaurant that was suitably “upscale” that could work with a party of 16 on a Saturday night at 6PM. The deposit is holding the reservation. The cool part of this is that I am actually invited to this soiree and will get to go to a restaurant that I could not normally even DREAM of affording (which is no reflection on the salary I am paid, this is just one of those ultra-pricey venues).

So, I hope that the experience is a good one and that the server doesn’t implode or something serving this HUGE party. You know, for a city that hosts huge conventions, I am a little stunned that a relatively small party of 16 seems to be such a huge undertaking.

I’ll let you know how it goes after it’s over (in a couple of weeks).

It always amazes me that I can be so organized at my job and my home can be so chaotic. I TRY to keep things organized at home but time and time again, things just spiral completely out of control. What’s the most frustrating, though, is that I haven’t quite been able to put my finger on what is so different at home that I can’t seem to get a handle on things and keep them from being chaotic.

There are probably several factors that lead home to be chaos….

– No well-defined “work” space
– Not enough storage space
– No audits or overseers to make sure things are in order
– Trying to relax at home

And, I suppose that you could successfully argue that any/all of those things are just excuses. And you would, perhaps, be correct… at least to some extent.

So, I will be spending at least part of the weekend organizing the chaos that is my home/home life. Wish me luck!

It came up again today in conversation… should women over 30 cut their hair short? (The reasoning being that long hair is more a “young person” thing and as an older, more mature professional, long hair is just unseemly).

I’ve heard similar discussion about whether overweight women should keep their hair short (I’m a tich more vague as to what the actual reasoning is here…)

My own stance on this is that one of the few actual “perks” of being a grown up is that no one can dictate to you how you should wear your hair. If you’re 40 and want to rock braids, more power to you. Fifty and want to die your hair neon green? As long as you won’t get fired for it, what the hell? Does anyone remember Granny from the Tweety & Sylvester cartoons? Her hair was always in a bun. And you can’t very well make a bun from short hair.

As long as it is clean and styled nicely, a “professional woman” should be allowed to have hair of any length she wants and not be considered less of a professional. Hell, most of the over 40 IT dudes I know have ponytails (we won’t talk about their lack of hair on top of their heads).

Another nightmare for professional women is going gray… while gray hair allegedly makes men look “more distinguished” it can work against a woman. For the most part older women are generally viewed as less attractive and less productive than their younger colleagues. I’ve noticed in interviews that I am often the oldest person in the room by 15-20 years. I have noticed in “cattle call” type interview situations where a bunch of people show up for the interview equivalent of speed dating, that women who LOOK older (either evidenced by gray or salt-and-pepper hair or perhaps more than just a few facial wrinkles) always seem quickly eliminated. While it is certainly possible that they didn’t have the qualifications, it is more likely that they weren’t the “image” the employer was looking for (young, vital, perhaps “eye candy”?)

To sum up.. the colour and length of one’s hair should be a matter of personal preference. We should be looking beyond what is on the outside and focusing on what skills people bring to the table. Which may be solely my opinion… and that’s the long and the short of it.

Despite what many people think, “tax time” begins way before April 15th. Especially when you own/work for a small business. At the end of the year, beginning of a new year, there are reconciliations to do, documents to gather and files to audit. All of which I am working on at my new job.

I have to say, the new job keeps me very busy. Which I like. It also makes me worn out by the end of the day and I have to say my housework hasn’t been done in AGES because I am just way too exhausted by the workday.

Still, I enjoy the job, so I am not complaining. It’s probably a good thing I’m not married because my husband would probably be pretty ticked off right about now… (then again, if he was married to me, he’d be used to cooking his own dinner and washing his own clothes so maybe it wouldn’t be an issue… or maybe I’d find a man who thought maid service was a good idea (and if I were married, there would be no “servicing” of the maid by my husband!

But, I’m not married so there is no ticked off husband AND no maid service. Such is life in the world of MsCleanslate.

I suppose I should head to bed so I can be productive tomorrow. No rest for the wicked and all that!

I am not an accountant. I’ve performed accounting functions over the years, but I am not by trade nor practice an accountant. My new job has many accounting functions. I am picking up on doing what needs to be done but there are times when things just aren’t balancing or I pour over a statement again and again and it won’t come out right and I admit I get frustrated.

So… one of the things I need to do over the next few months is read up on accounting stuff and learn what I should be doing and how I should be doing it. It’s hard coming in at the end of a year and trying to make order of chaos when you don’t know what the person who created the chaos had in mind whilst they were doing it.

The boss wants to discuss year-end and how things will progress going forward. I have some ideas of how we can get some consistency and things/procedures that can be changed to make things easier for everyone. I know that it’s going to be VERY hard to sort things out/make sense of things for year-end and things are really just way more disorganized than I would like. I have a plan for this week and I know it will not go as smoothly as I would like because it never does but this whole working in the midst of chaos thing needs to get straightened out.

I also need to catch up on some things at home so I have time to get other things done. I had a four day weekend last weekend and accomplished NOTHING. UGH.

I figure I need to do something about upgrading my professional image a bit. Yes, where I work is casual but I feel like I should look a shade more professional (because the women who work at the other office on my floor all wear full makeup, heels and the latest fashions every day and it gives me a complex to have them being all judge-y when I walk into the ladies room).

It’s 8:45PM… can someone please tell me when I got old enough that 9PM seems “awfully late” to be up on a work night?

Guess what?

Starting on MONDAY I will no longer be a ‘temp’ where I am working. I will be a ‘regular’ employee.

I am SO excited!

So, what have I learned from all of this? That I am probably better off working at a small company than trying to be a good little sheep in a big corporation. That finding a job where there are people close to my own age seems to be a key to success. And I reaffirmed that I am indeed capable of learning new skills and being impressive AND I am capable of being LIKED. Trust me, after the job I had before this one, I was beginning to get a complex and wondered if I was just plain not likable.

I am hoping that now I will be able to actually write something worth reading about the Resume of Career Catastrophes. Maybe something marketable. Fear not, though… I am sure I will still have stories about people I interact with on the job.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season everyone!

So, three weeks into the new gig and I’m still diggin’ it. The only thing is that it is really unsettling being a contractor because it is very impermanent. I mean, I know that even having a “real” job in this day and age isn’t a guarantee but I hate the nagging fear that comes with being a contractor. Especially on days like today where I didn’t really accomplish everything I had hoped to/needed to accomplish.

I have a lot on my mind right now. I really don’t need the stress of worrying about whether a job is going to last. Is it wrong for me to just try to forget that every day could be my last day there? I finally feel like I have found a place I can be happy. I just wish I felt more secure about it all.

I am sorry I didn’t get here to reset the clock earlier, but I started the new job on Monday and have been out of the loop for the week.

So far, I really like it.

It’s another contract position but it’s not for a set time and there’s hope I may actually become an employee at some point (at least that is MY hope).

Am running out again tonight but I’ll be back and write more soon!

I had an interview this morning. First interview in 2 weeks. I want this job. I am absolutely terrified that I am not going to get this job and if you cannot get a job that SCREAMS “good fit” then what do you do?

It’s an industry I haven’t worked in before. You know what? The industry (which I won’t name here) is so specific that there just aren’t going to be a lot of people who are not scientists who HAVE worked in the industry. In the past decade I have learned legal and medical terminology, I taught myself HTML and some CSS, I learned 3 new (to me) software packages and was doing front-line phone support for them in a WEEK. I am not some idiot who just fell off a turnip truck and I can do this job.

I am supposed to hear something about this job today. It’s 3PM and I’ve not heard anything. As the clock ticks toward 5, I become more and more anxious.

I want to reset the counter. It’s getting close to 90 days. And November is coming, which means businesses are going to stop hiring until after the 1st of the year.

The waiting… is the hardest part.