homeward bound

All my thoughts come back to me in shades of mediocrity.


I should have realized when he asked, repeatedly, if I was smart – if I could pick things up quickly.
"Are you a fast learner?" he pressed.
"I have no patience for slow learners," he added. Or something to that effect.

I assured him that I was the brightest, sharpest crayon in the box. I was a month and a half into an extremely dry job hunt, and I was far beyond my natural reticent reaction to questions of this sort.

"Well, I have a stack of resumes, many of them have law office experience," he glanced at his computer. "But I'm going to stick with you."

And I was hired. None of the usual, "We'll get back to you in a few weeks after interviewing other prospects," crap. No stalling, no hesitance. He took me at my word.

Turns out he forgot to ask if I was magic. Turns out the answer to that question would have been "no." Because, no, I couldn't read the unfinished questions in his mind. And, no, I couldn't memorize the entire filing cabinet after one glance. And, no, I can't locate the unlisted phone number of a person with only a name.

I'm reluctant to compare myself to the girl in "Devil wears Prada" because you'd have to read the book to really understand what I mean, and the comparison is a stretch. But that's the analogy that clung to my thoughts throughout my work at the law office.

To be fair, I wasn't only expected to do magical tasks. Some of his requests were perfectly mundane, facile, and only slightly brain dead. Heating up his lunch, filling his water bottle fetching cokes and coffees, constantly dialing phone numbers and sending them through. The list goes on.

The previous were examples of why I didn't enjoy working there, and had a huge factor in my decision to leave. As I told a co-worker, "This isn't fun-time for Siobhan." Let's be clear. I'm not overly idealistic: I know that no job is perfect, and I'll probably have problems with every craft I put my hand to. BUT, I also know that I've worked for people who I have respected and admired. I studied for four years so that I would options available to me; options in fields that are important to me.

So even though I have no money, and decidedly dubious prospects, I'm glad I quit. It was a negative environment and I didn't want to get caught up in questionable activities in a climate of disrespect.

All that to say I'm unemployed again, and I'll have loads of time to look up useless information for this blog.

Quote of the Day: "Most people want security in this world, not liberty"
~H.L. Mencken, Minority Report, 1956

Not me. I wanted my freedom. :) But the idea that most people prefer security is really scary. So many people work solely for a paycheck, because money = stability and normalcy. But your job consumes the majority of your time and cannot help but shape you...there's so much more to it than a paycheck.