Work

No stitching updates yet, but I'm hoping I'll get some tonight...I'm heading home before the sun goes down, so I'm hoping to take some good pictures with natural light.

Today I wanted to talk a little about work, and what I do, and also how an office environment can totally change the way you work. Right now, I have two Graduate Assistantships. They are both in fields that I'm somewhat interested in, which is nice, but I think that the comparisons stop there. One is a job I started again today...it's a graduate admissions office on campus, only 5 full time staff, and all women. I worked for them last year, and when their other Grad Assistant didn't work out last semester, they asked me if I would like to come back for a day a week. I really enjoyed the people that I was working with while here, and I jumped at the chance to come back and work with them.

My other position is in an undergraduate advising office on campus, and the office is completely different from the admissions office. It also has an all female staff, only 4, but the attitude is completely different. My position there is really somewhat unecessary, there's a second GA who gets asked to do all of the things in the office, even the stuff where I have more experience, and I spend 7 hours a day cooped up in a little office with nothing to do. They do pay well though, 18 an hour, which is really nice, but I sometimes wonder if it's worth it. The office is not well run, the director doesn't know what she wants, and isn't clear about communicating the ideas she does have. She is rarely in the office, so we usually have to tell students that they have to wait for her...and more than once she has stood both me, and other, more important, people up for appointments. The women in the office are all somewhat blah, and it is a very sterile (not in a good way) place. Everyone has their own office, and any communication that needs to be done is through email...no one chats about work, etc. Staff meetings are regularly ignored or forgotten about, and there's really no cohesion in the office. While I enjoy the pay, working there really does drain me of some spirit, and each day that I stay, I question my decision to work in student affairs.

My other office is completely different. They know my talents, and that's why they asked me to come back in the first place! Coming back and seeing them was amazing...they asked questions, and I felt like they really cared about the answers. They all wanted to see my wedding pictures, and were excited to see me. The office has 3 offices...one each for the director and assistant director, and then one big room for everyone else, where we all have cubicles. We talk to each other throughout the day, about work, about funny things in life, and about odd things we find on the internet. There's so much more companionship in this office, and I'm looking forward to coming back next week so much! I wish that this were the job I was working 3 days a week, and the other was the 1 day a week job. But, looking on the bright side, at least I have a place like this, that I enjoy coming to. I know so many people have work situations that they don't enjoy (I lived through that before), and I'm grateful that I do...even if it is just one day a week.