banner1
Join Associated Content http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carine_Nadel

Friday, February 29, 2008

 

Hurry Up and Wait

I hate waiting. I’m not good at it. Patience is not what I would call one of my greatest “virtues”.

However, I must admit, with age, I’ve actually somewhat improved this particular weakness. But calling myself patient? Well, not really. Okay, not at all.

This is probably the reason I gave birth to two premature children. “What? 40 weeks to have a baby? Are you nuts-I’m willing to be pregnant, but not for more that 35 weeks tops!”

The fact that my daughter made it to weeks 36-1/2 and 39-well no wonder I was beside myself with worry!

I’m mentioning this because I find myself having to wait and have patience at what I lovingly refer to as “the day job”. For whatever their reason, the owners don’t want to make me a key, so I have to wait until my co-workers (who do have one) arrive at our location.

The problem? I am one of the perpetually early people and they are NOT! There I sit in my little PT Cruiser, waiting. Columns and articles get written, books are read and reviewed, crosswords are solved, phone calls made, etc…I’m not twiddling my thumbs! But really, this waiting is hard work.

One of my office mates and I exchanged cell phone numbers for “in case” purposes.

“In case” means: stuck in traffic, with the boss at the main store or had insomnia again and fell asleep just as the alarm went off, having trouble getting up.

Believe me, I appreciate the heads up. It means I can walk to the restroom or grab another cup of coffee at the café.

My office mates get paid a salary-so showing up 15-20 minutes late, means nothing to them. But, for some reason, I’m hourly. Even though I’m on time, I still wind up losing an hour or so of pay per week. And then there’s the lunch issue-they don’t have to clock out, while I’m expected to take at least 30 minutes at my expense. Sorry no can afford to do. Besides, we have no lunch room. I eat at my desk, while doing work!

And yes, I know the labor laws. But why should I suffer because of a $2 key?

You’d think after 2-1/2 years I would leave later and the other two would get up earlier-or the owners would figure I am trustworthy enough to be given a way in since I’m the eager beaver. We’d all benefit. Okay, at least impatient me would be better off.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?