1. We need someone to replace me here at work.
2. We've done 4-5 1st round interviews and 3 second round.
3. The woman we've all been waiting for came through the doors yesterday.
4. She's waiting to hear from another job so she can 'decide'. What? Why would you pick a semi-organized University where you could do grad school for free and maybe have a dental plan over total chaos and RyGuy doing imitations of Diane Rhem?
5. I feel like a junior high girl at my first dance. Lingering on the sidelines, desperately thinking, "pick me!" The sad truth is, it's not because I want someone to replace me here at work. I want someone to replace me so I don't have to deal with stupid phone calls for the next month (or three). Also, I'm involved and feel responsible--which means I want to invest in training someone else and not leaving my bosses hanging.
6. The middle-ground solution is a designer who sub-leases space here. The woman who is S...L...O...W. When I tell her a keyboard shortcut to use she has to stop and write it down. Then write down why she might use it, how she might use it, and when she might use it. It took THREE hours yesterday to show her how my files are organized and how to pull art from the archive.
7. Yet I can't be evil to her. Her brother is dying of cancer. She broke down today in the middle of discussing the client's work. We talked. I listened. My boss came in (the nice one) and offered 'comforting' platitudes and a big hug. I can tell that BossOne fears sadness and death. When she left I said, "The thing is, this sucks. There's nothing that makes it feel better." She nodded and teared up again. I listened some more. In the end, I told her to give me the file and get out of here.
8. I learned how to deal with sadness in others (and in myself) from my husband. When Mom died, he never tried to make me feel better or 'fix' me. He held me when I cried, listened when I wanted to tell stories, read each thing I wrote, and made me dinners when I could barely function. Before that lesson I was a fixer. I still tend in that direction. But today, I knew how to be a companion. Thank you, Jrex, for helping me know how to do that.
3 comments:
That is a valuable skill, knowing how to just be there for someone who is mourning. I always struggle for the right words. And of course there are no right words.
You are a wonderful person, a great listener and wow who wouldn't want to work with you!
good luck with all that stuff and I will keep your fellow workers brother in my thoughts.
The world needs more people like you.
Fingers crossed that the work situation works itself out, so to speak.
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