The boss's boss's boss gets a promotion...

Is it so wrong to be sick? I never take a sick day and I had to take two last week. Of course, when you’re out sick it just means your phone rings and rings. One of my co-workers who recently joined the company decided that even though I was out sick she would call me in the middle of the afternoon to announce that a project I was leaving until Monday needed to get done and she was just “scrambling” to do it. My response. “Sweetheart”, yes I used the “S” word, “there’s no need to scramble honey…I can do it on Monday. No rush.” Hint: If someone is really bothering you at work and just getting under your skin Honey, Sweetheart, and Sugar are the worst things you could ever call them. Remember this, I reserve this for rare occasions but when I pull out these guns they never fail to ignite the reaction I was hoping for.

Anyway, it’s Monday. Again. However, today is different. At approximately 3:15 pm (eastern standard time, of course) I was told that the one person who keeps me sane, the one man who I truly respect in my company has decided to accept an offer as the General Manager of a major television channel. While everyone was floating on cloud 9 for having worked with him, I wanted to burst out in tears!!! He was my sanity. The boss’s boss’s boss. The door I knocked on to reveal all. And now he was leaving. The questions flooded my mind. Will the boss’s boss be promoted? What happens to the boss? My brief moment of potential salvation of having the boss possibly restructured was killed when she strolled by my desk, plopped down and said “Do you have any worries about him leaving? You shouldn’t. I’ll always make sure you work for me.” Great. The chicken soup for my soul. Exactly what I needed.

MTV Layoffs

I found out by reading the trades this morning and by noon I was bombarded with aims from friends at Viacom. If you ever asked me what scares me I would probably say nothing. But the truth is an article like this freaks the shit out of me. Why? Because in entertainment what’s in one day is out the next.


MTV Nets terminating 250 staffers

The wannabe MTV...

I should have known that this interview was going to be disastrous. I mean the first interview they said would be four hours long. It's not like I'm interviewing in the finance industry where they try to break you. I mean it's entertainment and events, not brain surgery. I should have turned it down then. Unfortunately, the theory I live by is interview, interview, interview even if you don't want to because you get to meet important people you may otherwise not have met this way. So I sucked it up, called in sick, and went. That was my first mistake

Interview Person 1 - 45 mins:

The first woman I met with never finished a complete sentence or train of thought. I didn't know if she knew the lingo or not but she just kept nodding and her comments made no sense. She was the head of the department and she jumped from thought to thought staring at me or to right or left of me...I couldn't tell if she couldn't focus or was drifting off to sleep (hello, anyone there)...I couldn't help but picture her weekly team meetings...everyone drinking a coffee chatting about their weekends and her sitting there picking her nose. The thought I had as I walked to the next person's office was: Drugs?

Interview Person 2 - 45 mins:

There was no question, this woman was on drugs for sure. But at least she was cool. Completely into what she did, loved her responsibilities, but I could tell that she was somewhere much cooler before this company and she missed it. I mean seriously, she was going on and on about how cool it was to meet Hulk Hogan. Honey, you used to work with superstars and now you're raving about Hulk Hogan. Next.

Interview Person 3 - 1 hour of torture, no I don't want to see what you did last month, no I don't want to ooh and aah over the the December powerpoint, kill me now:

She could have been my little sister and I'm supposed to report into her. Next.

The HR interview - 1 hour:

By far the coolest woman of the 4 and the most informative. No, they don't have a tuition reimbursement policy. No, they don't have bonuses. oh, yeah, this one is the best. No, they don't have a set vacation policy. We trust our employees. After this interview, I totally understood why everyone was on drugs.

The headhunter

Would you say it’s a sign when a headhunter knocks on your door? I’m going with yes. A week or so ago I received an email from a headhunter who received my contact info from a friend of mine. She didn’t know if I was looking but she wanted to meet up and see what my interests surrounded. Well little did she know my interests were surrounding a new job!

Headhunters are interesting people. They get commission from the company for every person they place and for them it’s all about relationships. It isn’t like a staffing agency where people tend to flow in and out of companies. It’s about placement that works because their reputation is on the line. I wasn’t really sure what a headhunter should look like. I guess I imagined someone who wore all black, read the trades targeting people who were the subject of various articles, oh and I guess I thought they could appear and vanish in the blink of an eye. I mean you hear about headhunters all the time, but you never really know who they are and where they work/live.

The initial meeting with this woman was quite interesting. It took place at a random Starbucks in a random part of the city on a random night. Needless to say our conversation was sooo random. She was short and round with a laugh that shook our table and spilled my coffee every few minutes. Most of the night we spoke about her pet puppy. This was actually kind of sad. Her puppy has diabetes. I won’t bombard you with the gory details as she did for me, but the whole conversation was kind of awkward. I walked away thinking, what could this woman really do for me?

Well, I have an interview today because of her with a film based company. Cross your fingers.

The Big Boss...

I decided I couldn't take it anymore. Today, I went to the big boss. The boss's boss's boss. Everyday for the past few months I've been looking at the clock. I've never left before 8 or 9 pm at night but the last few months I've been leaving by 6:30- at the latest! Usually by 6pm I've already mentally checked out. You see, this is what happens with you have a bad boss. The lady boss has been awful. Needless to say her indecision and inability to understand process has taken its toll on me. I was scared to death, but I realized that it was time to talk to the boss's boss's boss - the "big" boss.

See the big boss is probably the person I respect most in the company. He's intelligent, quick, and most importantly he's a visionary with the necessary skills to execute (plus I know he has a soft spot for me). He's usually in his corner office guarded by his assistant. She purposely stares over her glass desk one eye on the computer the other on his door so she can intercept anyone who may try to sneak past her. The assistant is probably the nosiest person in the company and when I set-up the meeting last week to meet with him today she was insistent. What for? Can I help you? I need a subject for the meeting request? Is 15 minutes okay? Seriously! You would think this guy was the American President.

Well my fifteen minutes was this morning. I knocked on his door and very logically went over my points/problems. I was scared shitless but it went really well. He insisted that if I started looking for another job I should tell him. He doesn't want to lose me and would move me to a different department. A born leader, he said. Commands attention when I walk into a room. Probably the biggest compliment I've ever received but the truth is my company is fairly small and my lady boss would still find a way to make my life miserable. know he's going to do everything in his power to keep me, but what else can they do? They've given me more money, they've given me a title bump. And the truth is I would give both back not to have to work with/for her. So it may be time to start looking. Don't get me wrong, I love my job...but if it's about FIT maybe it's just not right anymore.

Eeerrr, this is going to suck...

Today was a good day...

...Today was dessert day. What is dessert day? Dessert day is when the company caters a variety of desserts to all the employees just because. This happens once a year. I look forward to it all year and somehow I forgot that today was dessert day!!!!! How could I?!

I got the email in the morning and all day I asked people what they wanted for dessert? Were they skipping lunch for dessert? (you get the idea) I even blocked off the half hour on my calendar so I wouldn't forget when they would arrive (thank goodness for Outlook reminders). The past few weeks have been pretty harsh but for some reason - dessert - I was on cloud 9!

Of course, when the dessert actually gets here there's a line down and around the hall. I work for a small company but when it comes to "special" HR activities that involve food everyone seems to turn out and when it means there's more than a dozen people between me and my dessert, watch out.

Of course the on-air editors and the print designers are in the front of the line...they wear jeans and flip flops to work, stroll in around 10:30 and have the excuse of "creative brainstorming" for the hours they spend out of the office coincidentally around lunch time. Despite all this I do love them and if it weren't for their creative minds my party invitations would fall flat...so I'm willing to let them slip ahead in line. It's the accountants that bother me. These are the 9-5 hard core junkies...they don't seem to care about getting my checks to me on time to pay my party vendors but when it comes to leaving work at 5 o'clock they already have their coats on. These are the people ahead of me that annoy the hell out of me. It's 4 o'clock, don't they have a check to cut before they leave?

The bobble head...

Dwight has a bobble head of himself in the show the Office…I often wonder what it would cost to have a bobble head made of my boss. See she sits in meetings all day bobbing her head at whatever anyone is saying even if she has no idea what it means or what it takes to get what they’re asking for done. So what do I do? I sit there shaking my head as I jot down the list of items that need to get done. Then I somehow make my way back to my desk, fall into my chair, and rewrite my “to do” list.

Today is no different. See, I’m planning a major event in another city. Every time I propose a budget it gets approved but as we sit in meetings and people start brainstorming ideas for additional items, the boss lady nods her head, says great idea, and worst of all finishes with “we’ll do it”. Of course “we’ll” do it. Of course the budget doesn’t get any bigger. And though it’s always my best intention to not have my girls sitting in the office at midnight placing stickers on water bottles or sealing envelopes with wax, it seems that because of all these new “ideas” we’re constantly scrambling to get things done in a smaller budget. While I don’t mind the scramble, what I hate is when she laughs and shakes her head as she walks out the door at 6 o’clock and says “why don’t you hire a freelancer to do that”. Well I would, really I would, but somehow I don’t have enough money in my budget to hire additional staff even when I purposely put in a request for $5k or $10k for pre-event help.

So what do you think I’m doing today. Yes, you guessed it…this thing that we have so conveniently termed as “stickering”. I’m stickering boxes with my girls to send out these gifts that we have coincidentally also had to sticker to executives who will probably never see the gift and if they do they’ll just toss them in the corner or give it to their assistants. So my stickering will then be peeled off (because really, who wants something that’s branded with a company logo anyway) and the gift will be given to some secretary’s niece or nephew.

Maybe the thing I need is a bobble head of myself, so that when boss lady is bobbing and looks at me like I’m the black plague because I’m shaking my head, I can just turn back to my computer as she screams and hit my little bobble head, bobble, bobble, bobble…

The Birthday...

Make a wish…you only get to do this once a year. It’s when you close your eyes and blow out your birthday candles. Some ages are in theory “bigger” than others – 16, 18, 21, 30. But what about 25? I remember what I used to think I would be and be doing by the time I turned twenty-five. Engaged, with an amazing apartment, visiting are galleries and trendy new lounges, and living the Sex in the city dream. Well, I’m not engaged but I do have an amazing apartment and do have to say that when I think about it – I am living the Sex in the city dream…going to art galleries, hitting up some hot parties, painting on weekends, and meeting some very interesting people…so what about this year is so different? Why does it feel like I’m not where I should be?

I think it’s because I’m thinking too much about the future. When I’m supposed to get engaged, when I’m supposed to open my own company, when I’m supposed to be sending my parents an luxurious vacations. I’m thinking too much about the amount of time between here and there instead of thinking about the now. It’s like planning a big after party and you’re all caught up in the details and before you know it, it’s all over. You miss the late night laughs together in the office, the crazy coffee runs at 5:30 in the morning, and the sense of power you have by turning people away from the door. Suddenly everything becomes a blurry memory and you’re body is an automatic because you’re mind has checked out. I guess I’m in a weird place right now. I’m not being. I just need to figure out why so that I can again, take pleasure in the small things again like sending my intern out to find the perfect size box that I know doesn’t exist just to see how hard she’ll try.

I know birthday candles don’t really mean anything and a wish is just that – a wish. But this year I want my birthday wish to be a forecast, a promise, a statement for where I am instead of a wish for where I want to be.

A New Year...

There’s a moment I hate. It’s the moment when you exit your apartment and when you look up your standing in the elevator about to exit on your office floor. That’s the moment I hate. It means that you’ve been at your company long enough so the morning commute there is like second nature. It’s the moment when you realize that it’s just another day at work. Just another day. I hate that moment. It’s been a while since I’ve written. Do I have an explanation? Of course. But I’m not going to go into all the details. You’ll learn about it over the next few weeks, but for today it’s just another day.

A New Year mean’s new resolutions. What is a resolution anyway? I asked my girlfriend what her resolution was and she said to try harder. I liked that. Try harder at everything. Try harder at work. Try harder at love. Try harder at life. So I started thinking about my New Year’s resolution. The typical work out more often (yes, I joined a new gym), eat healthier, floss more (I actually think I can do this one)…I had them all. But now I think I’m changing it. Yes, I’m stealing her “try harder” but I’m also adding “balance”. Balance my work time & play. Balance my bitch & sweetheart personality at work. Balance ambition with reality.

Life for me has been all about work and it isn’t changing anytime soon. Since I was 19 I’ve been on the fast track in entertainment. Now that I’m settling into management roles, I need to evaluate what else I want to do. Keep obsessing about work, but yes go to the gym more. Yes, choose days that I do nothing at. And Yes, most importantly choose when to say No to a company. This year’s going to be interesting. The situation with the boss lady has only gotten worst. And to think I was giving her the benefit of the doubt. I think it’s time for me to have one last conversation with her.