Another friend of mine told me about her quitting her part time job in West Oakland, back in the day. This was when she was in her twenties, ahead-of-her-time progressive, and worked in a well-lit, educational, safe and friendly Sex Shoppe in the late 1990s/early 2000s. This shop sold sex toys, porn videos, how-to advice […]
I’m calling this the I Quit Series: Story after story after story… A friend of mine started a new job a few months back, and was stoked to be feeling so welcomed. She swore she would stay long enough this time to get the gold watch, so to speak. She had job-hopped pretty strategically over […]
Back in late 1998 and early 99, I was a research assistant to small business columnist Rhonda Abrams, who, at the time, was working on a non-fiction book called Wear Clean Underwear – Business Wisdom from Mom. The structure of the book was great: each of the chapters was a saying from Mom, ‘the ultimate […]
It’s been a while since I’ve had that feeling, you know the one. When you finish a project that was much needed; where the impact – the results – the manifestation of your efforts is clear and indisputable. Maybe it’s as plain as taking the squeegee down the glass without a streak, maybe it’s more […]
The euphemism is thrown around a lot during someone’s first week/month/quarter at a new workplace. When a veteran at the startup asks a newbie, “How’s it going? You picking up what we putting down? Or as Anna Weiner’s crew in Uncanny Valley says, “You down for the cause?” A typical newbie response, if they’re savvy […]
The other day I interviewed a friend of mine who is a personal trainer, just for this blog. She agreed because I promised her anonymity, and because I always want to know the seedy, dirty, gross parts of any job. She happily complied, drawing on fifteen years of experience both working at name brand gyms […]
What a relief this morning to come across this HBR article about Burnout. For at least four and a half years, I’ve been going to therapy once or twice a week to talk through some of my issues around anxiety and burnout. Finally, there is some evidence and academic research to show – hey, it’s […]
Being succinct is a skill I’ve been honing since I was about seven years old. It means that not only can I deliver a bit of news without burying the lead, but that I can cut right to the chase of complicated and tangled situations. When our parents would ask about how school was that […]
When I was seven, my favorite joke went like this: Two guys sitting on a fence, Pete + Repeat. Pete falls off. Who’s left?Repeat.Two guys sitting on a fence, Pete + Repeat. Pete falls off. Who’s left? Repeat For a seven year old, this was a joyous loop of giggling. For my friends and family, […]
There used to be something noble about taking a low paying job, especially if it was in pursuit of the betterment of others. In my parent’s generation, there was a certain charitable nature to it, at least the way it was taught to me: You’ve been given so much, you should dedicate your life to […]