A Day In The Life In The Real Working World
I spent the day in the office today.
That may not seem such an unusual statement, unless you know me. I’ve not worked in an office – a real office – for several years. My office has been in hotel rooms, press boxes and press rows, kitchen counters and living rooms of friends’ houses, on boats, even atop a tiki bar that’s in my apartment.
So when I scored a Public Relations gig from a local agency to supplement the PubClub.com revenue and part of it included spending two days in the office, well, one had to do what one has to do, right.
And after the first day, it was actually kind of nice. First of all, the office is a short commute. So short, I rode my bike to it.
Secondly, there’s usually only the owner PR firm in there and even though we’ve just started together, it was obvious we feed off each other’s knowledge and experience.
Third, it was cool to have someone to chat with on occasion, to say “hey I pitched this person” and “hey, looks like we’re going to get a big hit for our client.” That kind of thing.
There were, tho, a few adjustments which I’ll list here (the one-room office is in a small complex, by the way):
Going Out For Lunch Is Expensive
This was the real shocker to me. I usually eat sandwiches I make which cost almost nothing, but I went out to eat. I picked a Mexican stand with what I thought was pretty cheap, but the cheapest thing on the menu wound up costing me 10 bucks. Think I’ll start taking a sandwich and finding a park or something to eat it.
I Didn’t Drink Nearly As Much Iced Tea As I Envisioned
At home and on the road, I normally drink volumes of iced tea a day. Going into the day, I was kind of wondering how I would manage this in an office, but I barely touched the tea I took with me.
Using The Bathroom
This is a private moment yet you’re doing it in a, well, kind of public way. Let’s say you need to spend a little bit of time in there. It can be kind of embarrassing walking back into the one room if you’ve been gone for several minutes.
Leaving At The End Of The Day
This can be kind of awkward. I’m on contract, getting paid a day rate, so as the day was drawing to a close, I was wondering how I would make my exit. I didn’t want to say “well, there’s my 8 hours, see ya later.” Then again, I didn’t want him to pull at Lt. Columbo on me and say “oh, there’s one more thing.” Fortunately, he told me we’ve accomplished all we needed to do for the day and I could leave, which made for a nice way to end what was a good day at the office.
Cheers!
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