Don't ask me how life works. I went in this morning shaky and anxious, convinced I would lose my job any hour. Then I proceeded to have an absolutely wonderful day.
Maybe it was because I'd only had three hours sleep. Or soaked up wisdom from a heady psycho-Buddhist self-help book I read instead of sleeping. Or gotten excited about my trip to NY tomorrow. Or maybe it was because I had just stopped caring so damn much.
It didn't hurt, of course, that I got a call and email from a recruiter from Adobe for an editorial management position. No, that didn't hurt a bit.
There's something of a relief when bad things actually happen. Like, people don't all like me. (Oh No!) The reality is not nearly as bad as the fear of having people actively dislike you.
It reminds me of the first time I rode a motorbike. It was in Thailand, and traffic was hairy, and I was convinced I would be killed because, you know, poeple get killed on motorbikes all the time. Then I laid it down on a gravel-strewn hairpin turn. And it really wasn't that bad. It wasn't nice -- I had a nasty road rash. But the lady at the roadside shop fixed me right up with bandages and antibacterial. Evidently it's a popular place to wipe our.
Here's my day in a nutshell. 1: The marketing dept went to an All Hands meeting in San Rafael, except new people like me who figured they could call in, which we couldn't (oops) 2: no one came back from the meeting because it's Friday 3: My archnemisis held a meeting, ostensibly to tell us about things they way they really are and should be on the web site, according to her 4: she made the mistake of inviting impartial outsiders, who were interested in my ideas about packaging and handling content and creating pathways with a strategy behind them
5: I had way more fun than my archnemisis did, because all her friends were gone and mine were around, fun, friendly, and loud (HA!) 6: the archnemisis caved. It was a little sad. She talked about how she didn't like working in a stressful environment, with tension. Can't we just get along sort of stuff.
My cohort thinks perhaps the archnemisis is not behind the smear campaign. I'm not convinced.
Well, here's life in corporate politics/court intrigue. I'm sure next week it will change. For now, I'm going to stick with not caring so much and see where the cards fall. Toodles!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
corporate road kill
I wish I could say my new job was going well. Alas, it is not.
If marketing writing were a profession like, say, acting, than corporate Web work would be in the vein of television work. The money's good, the work is steady, and you work with a team that all aspired to be somewhere else and aren't. Journalism, or freelancing, is closer to film acting: you go from project to project, so the financial risks are higher, but so are the potential rewards. You could write an exceptional article, or land a lucrative contract, and reap the benefits of self-determination and creative license. Writers with literary ambition are like Broadway actors -- the odds of success are long and the pay is terrible, but there's the potential for recognition of your innate brilliance, social prestige, and the chance to work with truly gifted people.
In this scheme of things, to stretch a simile to the breaking point, my current gig is something like a sit com with bad ratings and a cash-strapped network. The gist is that the person who created our little Web editorial team was fired, and now management seems confused about why we exist. We occupy territory uncomfortably -- several on our immediate team also wish we were not around. And now we hear that the viewers are not excited about our show, either. It's hard to see a happy ending for this story. For now, I'm taking the money and running.
Quite literally. In two days I am off to New York, where I will work remotely and call into meetings. I am hoping this time will give me some distance from the brutal political warfare that I have blundered into. Needless to say, as a new employee with a couple powerful enemies, I am not guessing I will be on the winning side of this equation.
Which is too bad because, to paraphrase a colleague, I like my job. The location is great. The people, except for those offended by my ongoing presence, are friendly, smart, and competent. And the company's makes interesting products for a wide range of users. It's cool.
What's happened? Today I found out that my entire team of 3 has been branded as "difficult to work with." There has been an attack, and it has stuck with our management. Which makes ya wonder if it was unanimous. Ideas like these make it hard to go into work without a lot of paranoid thoughts. We'll see how I do tomorrow!
I hope you're life is going better than mine. At least the weather is gorgeous!
If marketing writing were a profession like, say, acting, than corporate Web work would be in the vein of television work. The money's good, the work is steady, and you work with a team that all aspired to be somewhere else and aren't. Journalism, or freelancing, is closer to film acting: you go from project to project, so the financial risks are higher, but so are the potential rewards. You could write an exceptional article, or land a lucrative contract, and reap the benefits of self-determination and creative license. Writers with literary ambition are like Broadway actors -- the odds of success are long and the pay is terrible, but there's the potential for recognition of your innate brilliance, social prestige, and the chance to work with truly gifted people.
In this scheme of things, to stretch a simile to the breaking point, my current gig is something like a sit com with bad ratings and a cash-strapped network. The gist is that the person who created our little Web editorial team was fired, and now management seems confused about why we exist. We occupy territory uncomfortably -- several on our immediate team also wish we were not around. And now we hear that the viewers are not excited about our show, either. It's hard to see a happy ending for this story. For now, I'm taking the money and running.
Quite literally. In two days I am off to New York, where I will work remotely and call into meetings. I am hoping this time will give me some distance from the brutal political warfare that I have blundered into. Needless to say, as a new employee with a couple powerful enemies, I am not guessing I will be on the winning side of this equation.
Which is too bad because, to paraphrase a colleague, I like my job. The location is great. The people, except for those offended by my ongoing presence, are friendly, smart, and competent. And the company's makes interesting products for a wide range of users. It's cool.
What's happened? Today I found out that my entire team of 3 has been branded as "difficult to work with." There has been an attack, and it has stuck with our management. Which makes ya wonder if it was unanimous. Ideas like these make it hard to go into work without a lot of paranoid thoughts. We'll see how I do tomorrow!
I hope you're life is going better than mine. At least the weather is gorgeous!
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