Tell Me If You Think This Is Weird:

My friend, a part-time office intern at a prominent university, begins his work day at 9 a.m.

The other day, when he walked in about 10 minutes early, he opened his Outlook. An alert came up, saying his supervisor had scheduled a meeting with him that morning from 8:45 to 9:15 a.m. So he thought he was either a mistake or ridiculous, seeing as he *starts* at 9 and shouldn’t even be there at 8:45.

She came out: “Did you get my alert?”

Him: “Yes, but I was confused since I don’t start until 9.”

Boss: “Oh.” {walks back into office}

Right on the dot at 9 a.m., Friend went to scheduled meeting. Boss said he’d been unprofessional and she couldn’t believe his response. He should’ve come in early, she said. But he didn’t know about the meeting until that morning.

Weird? Not weird? Have you experienced any weird business interactions like this?

When Do You Deserve a Raise?

I’m curious: when/how often do you get pay increases at your job? Annually, every six months, something else? Doing some research online today, I came across this article at the Workcoach blog.

What caught my attention were the comments, like this one:

It’s a question of economics, not ethics. Is the woman who has worked for 10 years at a position making widgets worth more than a woman who has worked there for 1 month, yet produces the same amount of widgets? I hope you see my point. Raises, at least in my opinion, are not worthy to be “asked for,” but should be earned when you take on more responsibilities or increase production, etc.”

This is on my mind for a couple reasons, the largest being the three-month reviews I did this week. They were late, as Corporate had put them off during the company-wide salary freeze, which, now it turns out, is still ongoing. I can think of few things that are less fun that sitting down with people and telling them they can’t have more money. I’ve been thinking about it all week.

But the thing is, even if there hadn’t been a company pay freeze, I couldn’t prove these particular people deserved raises, at least not based on anything tangible. I’m still double-checking their work and reminding them to read their e-mails. That’s why I get what the commenter above is saying. We live in a results society: show me your value, and prove to me your worth.

My boss met with me last week and told me he’s proud of me. He gave me glowing reviews and praise, but no raise. I didn’t ask for any increase, either–not because I don’t want one, but because I’m convinced I’ll get one when I prove I’ve earned it. Instead, I argued for the promised bump-up for one of my other employees (who hasn’t brought it up), even despite the pay freeze, and he gave it to me.

As for my own raise, right now, I’m building my case with monthly productivity reports, regular feedback/updates to him and new ideas whenever I can think of them. I’m focusing on giving him my best because that’s the employee I should be.

And the way I see it, when my one-year review comes up, I can lay these things before him, tangibly, and ask for more money. He’s fair, so I’m sure he’ll say yes. But if he didn’t, I’d have a long list of skills/qualifications to add to my resume and to make me more attractive for my next job.

What do you think?

Potluck Thursdays!

Here’s a frugal foodie idea, if there ever were one: work potlucks just because. A couple coworkers and I have taken to ordering lunch in once in a while, in the interest of departmental bonding and fun. It’s fantastic because there are tons of choices, and it’s such a nice way to break up the day. It’s also horrible because it so quickly depletes my restaurant budget.

So we’ve come up with a solution: Potluck Days! One person is bringing crock-pot soup, I’m baking challah and another is bringing a dessert. Just as fun (or more?) and way less money.

The Upside of Stressful Days

I love my job because it’s challenging. The pace is fast. The workload is heavy. The demands are high.

But it’s not boring.

Most days, I feel like my time disappears from me. I go to work, and it’s time to leave again. Lately, it seems the time’s been disappearing faster, with so much to do and so little time. I’m sneaking in extra time in the morning, putzing with work stuff (by choice) on lunch, thinking about ways to improve my department while I sit in my pajamas at night. There have been a lot of frazzled moments, and, since I can be honest, I’m exhausted.

Today our shared network went down, and, without going into too many specifics, let me just say that it was not good. On top of needing to get a lot done, we had no way of recording our work in a shared location. I started using post-it notes, and some other people just gave up keeping track. There were several moments where I put my head in my hands, if you catch my drift. It’s just one example of the little glitches that make things … interesting.

It really does make things interesting, I remind myself on days like these. I mean, I’ve done the whole sit-quietly-at-a-desk-and-read-all-day thing. I’ve done boredom and clock-ticking slowness. This, if nothing else, is never that. I can count on my job to throw curve balls at me, whether it’s a complaint, a mistake or a computer malfunction. And I can count on it to keep my attention and make the time fly.

(Photo borrowed from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Sciences)

Here’s my Plan for This Week.

FOOD PLAN: I did some research this weekend on new lunch ideas and am eager to try a few interesting recipes. I have all the supplies I need for the entire week, and I’m armed with ideas of what to do so I don’t face the whole ah-maybe-I-should-just-buy-lunch crisis again. Just to help myself stick with the can-do attitude, I’ll be posting this week’s lunches in this entry, throughout the week.

MONDAY: roast beef sandwich, chips, two clementines, homemade macaroons.
TUESDAY: leftover orange chicken/rice (thanks, Mom!), cheese & crackers, two clementines, homemade macaroons.
WEDNESDAY: chicken corn chowder soup–in my new thermos, chips, a clementine, homemade macaroons, green grapes.
THURSDAY: roast beef sandwich, chips, two clementines, lemon wafers.
FRIDAY: second half of Potbelly meatball sandwich (from dinner Thursday, before my new class), chips, two clementines.

CLOTHES PLAN: I took a 3 X 5 card and wrote the days of the week on it. Then I went through my closet and systematically figured out what to wear each day. This morning, I was ready 15 minutes faster and had time to enjoy my breakfast. As an added bonus, I won’t have to wonder “Did I wear this last week?” when prepping next week!

Financial Surprises I Hate, and Don’t Hate

There will be no Frugal Foodie Thursday post today, I’m sad to say. Instead, all I have to offer is a series of random, money-related thoughts from lately:

1) I have a glorified HMO insurance policy. SURPRISE! Or, at least it was a big surprise to me, today, when I spent 20 minutes calling my doctor, then the insurance carrier, then my benefits administrator. I have a POS, the most expensive insurance policy offered through my company. I pay $170ish per month and have a $50 copay for prescriptions.

The similarity to PPOs (read: the reason I got confused) is that you can go to out-of-network doctors. However, these doctors (here comes the surprise part again) may or may not be covered. You must ask for a list of in-network physicians.

End Result: An extra $65 to pay my doctor, for an ankle checkup in October. Fun times.

2) Tomorrow is Food Friday! No lunch-making! This, if I’m honest, is why there’s no frugal foodie post today. I’m tired, friends. Tired and lazy and barely getting food to my mouth some days, much less making something delicious. I. resolve. to. change.

End result for tomorrow: A plan to share Takeout Taxi with two coworkers. We order from cool restaurants and have it delivered for a surcharge of $5, which we will split. So I’ll spend around $12 tomorrow; it’s in the budget, so I’ll allow it.

3) Failure to plan is planning to fail. Cheesy!? It’s true, though, in a lot of life: Picking out outfits in the morning can waste an extra 10-15 minutes of time.  Finding something—anything—to eat for breakfast wastes another 10-15. When I don’t think ahead, I always end up regretting it. Must. change. this. too.

End result: This week, I would not let myself buy coffee, even though I left my only travel mug at work two days in a row and couldn’t bring home-brewed with me. I have wasted at least an hour in total in my morning routine.

Looking forward to the weekend: to rest, to regroup, to plan. More later.

healthy addiction

A long time ago, I read that making your bed improves your room’s look by 70%. So I started doing it, kept doing it and it stuck. Now, every morning, I roll out of the covers and, before putting in my contacts or brushing my teeth, I make the bed.  It’s routine, habitual, without much thought. So it is with my daily lunches: basically every night, I get home and eat dinner. Then, before I do anything else, I pull out my folded brown bag and make my lunch with leftovers or PB&J or whatever I can find right away. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s habit.

It works for me.

What are some frugal habits you’ve developed, and how did you do it?

Creativity: Make a List

It’s easy for daily tasks to become routine: our jobs, our families, our way of life in general. With my job especially I’m sensitive to this, as accepting in-the-box, routine ways of doing things greatly hinders creativity. When I just let myself keep doing the same thing all the time, I get stagnant. I don’t look for new ways, new ideas, some kind of change. And that means I’m losing my edge and not growing forward.

That’s why I really like a recent post at this site (look for “tackle any issue with a list of 100″) that I came across: it gives a specific, tangible way to get your mind thinking creatively. Take a topic–any topic–and make yourself write 100 ways, things, ideas that are related. My pastor’s big on the 100 Things to Be Thankful for List. At my company, I want 100 Ways to Make the Department Better or 100 Ways to Write More Creatively or 100 Ideas for Catching my Editing Mistakes.

What about you? Have you tried this? I’m in the midst of one, and it’s a great exercise. When you start, you think you’ll have all these great ideas… and around 40 or so, you hit a wall. What’s so cool is breaking through that wall and discovering *new* and creative possibilities. Try it!

5 Ways to Impress Your Boss

1. Take Initiative: Understand what your boss’s overall goals are for the department, and look for ways to make them happen. Without overstepping your boundaries and in a “hey, what do you think?” manner, suggest ideas/resources/projects that will make the department run better.

2. Show What You Do: Send your boss monthly progress updates that detail what you’ve accomplished. This is particularly effective if you’re a manager, and you can explain what the department has done. Give tangible, specific data. Your boss will appreciate the info and will recognize what you’re doing.

3.  Never Be Late: As in never, ever, short of a genuine emergency. Whatever you do, don’t call in late/sick when you’re not; if your boss finds out, you look like an idiot. Don’t believe me? Well then at least don’t make your Facebook profile public and disprove your alibi. I know what I’m talking about; someone really did this.

4. Remember What You’re Told: Keep a list, send yourself reminders, write down every new bit of instruction–do whatever you have to to remember your guidelines. Your boss will love if you do everything right the first time, and it will put you way ahead of the pack.

5. Be Flexible: When someone else calls in sick, be the employee who’s willing to work that day instead. If you’re not able to take exactly/all the vacation days you wanted because other people will be out or because the work load is too heavy, accept that. Show your employer that you are committed to your position, even above convenience. Again, this will make you stand out, and your boss will notice.

I’m thankful for my job.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may remember my job search, along with its stress, the questions, the uncertainties. I spent many an anxious afternoon wondering where’d I’d be over the next few months, job-wise. When I look back on that time now, I think how blessed I am to now have a job I really do love, a job I don’t dread going to, a job I don’t want to leave any time soon.

Specifically, I like my job because:

1. It’s a short commute.
2. It allows me to do what I always dreamed of doing: write.
3. It’s a career-building opportunity.
4. It’s more money than I expected.
5. I work with nice people.
6. I get to be creative.
7. I have a window view.
8. I got a raise 3 months into it.
9. My boss doesn’t micromanage.
10. It’s a specific, direct answer to prayer.