What's wonderfully normal that I wouldn't necessarily expect is how FABULOUS stereotypical office life is! Most jobs I've had through college and beyond have been with start-ups and underfunded companies with unconventional standards in the jungle of San Francisco. Desk chairs were exercise balls, meetings took place in a concrete basement below a pharmacy, or the freeway rumbling the building on the regular.
Now I have all the following with this "real person / stereotypically office-y," nine-to-five jobness:
- A slice of the cube farm. I've got my own private CUBE, people. It's shoved in a corner against big windows, plenty of counter space to litter with decorations and office supplies out the wazoo (I'm seriously obsessed with this POP collection), and it's all mine! And enough privacy where people walk by and nobody can see me unless I stand (a foot over the wall, I go) or poke their head around my tiny entryway. Safely, securely, privately CUBED and lovin' it.
- Routine-ing it up! It sounds dull, but I'm a sucker for all things routine no matter how mundane. My day starts with a cup of coco (since coffee is the devil) that keeps me toasty against the icy vent above my chair, and satisfies the social norm of drinking hot liquids in the morning. I've got a lunch break I set for myself at the exact time every afternoon where I munch away in my glorious cube to people watch through the window, unwind with my favorite radio show (check 'em out), and doodle around the interwebs between real work. I've got a theme to represent each day that dictates my clothing options: Fancy Mondays (usually dressy), Purple Wednesdays (because on Wednesdays I do not wear pink), and Casual Fridays (self explanatory). The other two days are "I'm going to the gym after work so wear whatever the f*** you want" days, so basically averagely fancy yet comfy and conservative-ish. Hail Routine!
- The location / building is top knotch, yo. I'm talking full-glass elevator in the center of the building that glides me up to my forth floor sanctuary (yeah I love my cube too much), plenty of parking literally next door to a massive football stadium (*cough* SQUEE! *cough*), and a view of miles of Silicon Valley tech-ness, hills in the distance for once, a bit of highway, and a little place called GREAT FREAKIN' AMERICA. I had no clue that my first visit there four-ish years ago would be a daily sight in my future.
- The organizing life's a hard knock one. BUT I LOVE IT. My job is basically a "content nagger" so I'm constantly emailing, copy editing, and generally fancy-ing up content for the company which gives me a 110% chance of disaster if I'm not with my A-game in keeping my sh*t together. My emails: immaculate. Desk: spotless. Calender: slightly disastrous, but nothing's perfect. I even do a weekly clean sweep on slower Friday's because... why not!
- Tolerable commute. I used to either ride clogged trains or bike my sweaty self to work when I had a workplace. As a Lyft driver who solely drove for six months straight, this commute is a dream! It's perfectly timed to previous day's audio files of said radio show, so this drive is better than terrible almost always.
- Everybody's amazing. Most expect one or two sour apples in an office setting especially at this company's scale of employees, but with my tight-knit group around me on the daily they're all seemingly delightful thus far (they've got time to turn on me, though... it's only been a month... hehe). I'm treated like an equal by all departments even though I'm youngest and probably ditsiest (let's be honest). My Aussie boss has his "Rock 'n roll!" catch phrase when things get done and motivates me to work harder. The break room sometimes has breakfast goodies brought by an unknown saint (whoever you are THANK YOU for the donuts the other day). Meetings aren't stuffy and boring as I expected a "billion dollar cloud computing company" to be. There's even a guy with tons of Star Wars stuff in his office (cardboard cut-out of Luke and all).
That sounds AMAZING! Nothing is more fun than your own desk to decorate! I have my pony collection on my desk! I would love to see a photo tour or something of how you decked it out!!!
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