I awake, shower, dress and head out. I take the elevator down to the 20th floor. I walk across the building to another set of elevators. I take this elevator down to the first floor. It only goes down to the first floor so that is where I take it. I take an escalator up to the second floor. I walk across the bridge to the next building. I take the elevator down to the first floor. I buy a large coffee and a Fruit and Yogurt Parfait from MacDonald’s. I take the elevator up to the floor my company is located. I am at my desk when my early shift arrives.
My lunch lasts 20 minutes. I go to a small cafe and order a bowl of soup, corn bread muffin, and a bottle of water. At one time I would get it to go and eat it at my desk. Now I sit at a table by myself and eat.
People start leaving around 4:00. Everyone but the late shift leaves at 5:00. Unless I am feeling terribly tired or hungry, I stay until my late shift leaves.
I take the elevator to the 2nd floor. I walk across the bridge to my hotel. I take the escalator down to the first floor. I take an elevator up to the 20th floor. I get off and walk to the next set of elevators and take it up to my room.
In my room, I drop my briefcase and purse on the floor and immediately call room service. Normally I order a bowl of chili and a side salad. Sometimes I will order a chicken Caesar salad or a Cobb salad. If I am feeling really naughty, I will get the skirt steak with sweet potato fries, although that is rare. As I eat, I will do the USAToday crossword puzzle. Once finished I turn on the TV. Very rarely will I find anything interesting to watch so without fail I will take out the laptop that I spent all day staring at and stare at it some more.
My eyes start to hurt so I wash my face and get into my pajamas. I climb into bed and put on the clock radio which I keep tuned to Oldies 104.3 WJMK. Dick Biondi spins the disks that put me to sleep. Paul Perry wakes me up.
My day starts all over.
Okay, don’t take this the wrong way. I know you are a successful professional. I mean, hell, your company has an extreme amount of faith and stock in you to send you back and forth … BUT, aside from a lot of walking, elevator riding, and muffin-eating, what do you DO?
Or is it best not to get into details in this public forum – not because you might work for the mob, but for other legal reasons, you know – copyright stuff, personal privacy stuff? I’ve been reading about this “horrid” job now for some time, and am truly curious. Could you at least name an industry? Are you in food additives and preservatives like Clark Griswold, or do you oversee huge manitee imports into our nation’s SeaWorlds?
Donna … what the heck do you do? In general terms, if need be.
ps: Please, still have a nice weekend.
N.
I am a corporate pawn
Ain’t corporate America wonderful? I dropped out
of that rat race about 4 years ago…haven’t missed it at all.
You’re a “valuable resource” until someone figures out that your job can be
done cheaper by someone else (like, for instance,
a person in a third-world country). Do you have skills that are easily transferrable? Can somebody else
log on in Bangalore, India and do the same job as you? Welcome to the Walmartization of America,
where every job is sold to the lowest bidder.
You are being very smart by not mentioning what line of work you are in. Did you hear about the
flight attendant in Austin, TX who was fired
because of the content of her homepage? She never
mentioned the name of her employer, but it didn’t matter….her employer said her homepage was
“unbecoming and unprofessional”, and they sacked her arse.
Ah, corporate America…don’t you just love it?
I said before i was feeling sorry for you,but some corporate pawns make alot of money. I knew a guy he also said he was a corporate pawn.He turned out to be a spy hunter! Donna “spy hunter “has a nice ring to it.
Pawn?
I don’t know. With all of your lineaer back-and-forth movement from Chicago to Philly-area, I’d say you’re more like a rook. Hey, at least you’re on the gameboard.
Something will come along soon enough.
N.
Yep, I know the feeling. Being a engineer for a little over 10 years I realized a few years back that WE are the resource that the company uses to balance the books. In the red, let some engineers go, in the black, well lets just keep them around and cheap them out of a good raise again. LOL! Oh well, at least I get to add more tricks to my book. I’m going for my PHD and so I will know more and more about less and less! š
Take it easy and like I said, Chicago has a wonderful ballroom dance scene. Give it a shot, I’m sure you will not be disappointed.
-Jason
Damn!