One of my new duties as Executive Assistant is to plan the all-staff In-Service. That means getting food, space and training for 150 people.
It doesn't go flawlessly.
It barely even functions.
But with less than two weeks until In-Service, good enough will have to do.
Perfectionists don't survive long in this world.
8.17.2009
Here is the thing about my new job
Kate asked me today if I loved my new job.
I said no.
She asked me if I hated my new job.
I said no. How can you hate anything you don't know.
I don't know what I am doing. I daily hope I don't eff up mad enough to embarrass myself.
I said no.
She asked me if I hated my new job.
I said no. How can you hate anything you don't know.
I don't know what I am doing. I daily hope I don't eff up mad enough to embarrass myself.
8.11.2009
Day 2 of the Real World
Still sucks but let me explain....
The girl who had my job before me was also named Nikki...that is niKKi not niKi...so now i am either new niki or niki with one k.
My laptop's default date is 1988.
My air conditioner is broken. It is hot out.
My closet...I mean office is a "challenging" space
Organization was not a priority of "old nikki" neither was dusting, labeled folders or a stocked desk.
The girl who had my job before me was also named Nikki...that is niKKi not niKi...so now i am either new niki or niki with one k.
My laptop's default date is 1988.
My air conditioner is broken. It is hot out.
My closet...I mean office is a "challenging" space
Organization was not a priority of "old nikki" neither was dusting, labeled folders or a stocked desk.
8.10.2009
8.07.2009
Postponing real life so I can turn 24 in style
My new boss wanted me to start on Monday the 3rd....which happens to be right before my birthday.
I decided BMO really needed me another week; i was a valuable member of their team that could not just be snatched away from them without a weeks' notice; I was intricate in the training of new temps (how else would they know how to get around BMO's firewall); And I need a good solid week of goodbyes, we love you, we will miss you, please remember us in corporate hell when you are floating in nonprofit heaven.
So i took a week, tied up loose ends, ate out at all those loop lunch places i never got around to going to, and then my birthday rolled around....And then 3 a.m. at Sidetrack smacked me in the face and i was typing in sick around 6 a.m.
I swear I have never called in drun...sick before. Call it one last romp of irresponsible bliss. From now on it is the 9-5 for me.
But let me tell you all, 8 bottle of wine, artichoke dip and 1 dollar drinks on Halsted are never a bad way to celebrate a new year, a new job and the start of the future.
7.31.2009
Who says the Blog Gods aren't listening?
There I was, on July 15th, thinking i was just typing my mournful words of despair away into the vast ether of the blogosphere. But as I realized today i was actually making a powerful prayer to the computer gods, and they were listening.
Two weeks after making my sorry recession speech, I went back in to Christopher House to meet with the CEO. I thought I was going in for yet another round of interviews. Maybe there were a few communications/skills/talents tests from the 50's they wanted to run me through. Maybe they would like to hear my thoughts on Russian literature, South African apartheid, the third wave of feminism or the boy band phenomenon of the nineties. Or maybe they just wanted to hear more about what type of fruit/tree/animal I would be if i could be any fruit/tree/animal I wanted. (pine, lemon, mermaid).
Or they wanted to offer me a job!!!!!
Yes that is right after 6 months of BMO, countless frustrated phone calls home, a few random curses to the heavens and 100's of cover letters constructed, mail merged and emailed....I, Niki Fritz, am employed as an executive assistant at Christopher House.
I don't even care about all the details (like benefits including dental, paid vacation days, and my own sweet office), all i care about is i will finally begin my working career; I feel like I can finally start life.
(If anyone is actually more interested in who I will be working for check them out at: www.christopherhouse.org...they are over 100 years old and do this nonprofit stuff real good)
Two weeks after making my sorry recession speech, I went back in to Christopher House to meet with the CEO. I thought I was going in for yet another round of interviews. Maybe there were a few communications/skills/talents tests from the 50's they wanted to run me through. Maybe they would like to hear my thoughts on Russian literature, South African apartheid, the third wave of feminism or the boy band phenomenon of the nineties. Or maybe they just wanted to hear more about what type of fruit/tree/animal I would be if i could be any fruit/tree/animal I wanted. (pine, lemon, mermaid).
Or they wanted to offer me a job!!!!!
Yes that is right after 6 months of BMO, countless frustrated phone calls home, a few random curses to the heavens and 100's of cover letters constructed, mail merged and emailed....I, Niki Fritz, am employed as an executive assistant at Christopher House.
I don't even care about all the details (like benefits including dental, paid vacation days, and my own sweet office), all i care about is i will finally begin my working career; I feel like I can finally start life.
(If anyone is actually more interested in who I will be working for check them out at: www.christopherhouse.org...they are over 100 years old and do this nonprofit stuff real good)
7.15.2009
Let me show you my recession
The recession is 9% unemployment, 60% loss in savings and thousands of foreclosed homes. This is the recession:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/business/economy/15leonhardt.html?_r=1&ref=us
The recession looks painful and brutal, like a raw open wound.
But my recession is a more like a purple bruise, deeply felt but mainly superficial, not life-threatening just pride threatening.
My recession includes two jobs getting caught up and swept away in the mudslide of corporate investing. First there was the U of Chi gig cut after job freezes swept the frozen campus in February. Now there is the assistant job at the Christopher House, stalled with the IL State budget. Without government funding, nonprofits cease to run and I am left without my career path of choice. So I am surviving, I have a rented apartment, a somewhat steady limited weekly income and no reliance on savings or government aid (but some reliance still on my parents).
I survive but I do not thrive.
While others scrape by trying to salvage bits of a former life, I am readjusting my expectations of my future life. I am putting away fantasies of cross-continental trips abroad. I am shelving the idea of grad school at an East Coast school. I am forgetting about the possibility of a freelancing career. I am adjusting expectation not just for the next six months but for the rest of my life.
While the rest of the nation might have a pretty nasty scar after this all mighty recession, they will heal and live to tell grandchildren stories of foreclosures and lost 401K’s.
But I fear that I will heal with no visible sign of hurt, I will be left with no scar only the fear of a bigger bruise in the future. I am afraid that this recession has taught me to settle before I had time to rise up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/business/economy/15leonhardt.html?_r=1&ref=us
The recession looks painful and brutal, like a raw open wound.
But my recession is a more like a purple bruise, deeply felt but mainly superficial, not life-threatening just pride threatening.
My recession includes two jobs getting caught up and swept away in the mudslide of corporate investing. First there was the U of Chi gig cut after job freezes swept the frozen campus in February. Now there is the assistant job at the Christopher House, stalled with the IL State budget. Without government funding, nonprofits cease to run and I am left without my career path of choice. So I am surviving, I have a rented apartment, a somewhat steady limited weekly income and no reliance on savings or government aid (but some reliance still on my parents).
I survive but I do not thrive.
While others scrape by trying to salvage bits of a former life, I am readjusting my expectations of my future life. I am putting away fantasies of cross-continental trips abroad. I am shelving the idea of grad school at an East Coast school. I am forgetting about the possibility of a freelancing career. I am adjusting expectation not just for the next six months but for the rest of my life.
While the rest of the nation might have a pretty nasty scar after this all mighty recession, they will heal and live to tell grandchildren stories of foreclosures and lost 401K’s.
But I fear that I will heal with no visible sign of hurt, I will be left with no scar only the fear of a bigger bruise in the future. I am afraid that this recession has taught me to settle before I had time to rise up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
