Heated...Over Mac & Cheese

Last week, my co-workers and I stalked The Southern's mac & cheese food truck because we had heard the their mac & cheese was all sorts of fantastic.

{via Passport Delicious}

this is the mac & cheese with hot dogs (which is also awesome!)

And let me tell you...that mac & cheese was all sorts of amazing. I got 2 types - the asparagus, ramps & gouda and then a buffalo chicken & blue cheese. Both were great, but I decided to save half of the buffalo chicken and almost all of the asparagus for dinner and then lunch for the next week (truth be told, I was also a little hungover and my eyes were more ambitious than my stomach - whoops!).

Fast forward a few hours, and I decide I have too many errands to do after work so I'm not going to take the mac & cheese home after all. But I see a sign on the fridge - it's fridge cleaning day! So you must label your foods with your name and the word SAVE in large letters. Easy enough. Done and done.

I come back on Tuesday and my mac & cheese - all $18 worth of it - is goneeeeeeeeee. No where to be found. I even looked in the front kitchen just in case. Nope. Gone.

And that's when I got heated about mac & cheese. And the money I spent on the mac & cheese. And how processes at work just don't work!!!! My name and the words "SAVE" were on that bag in very large letters!!! Cue freak out.

To which my one co-worker told me to take a chill pill (so '90's) and just buy McDonald's. Since it's Thursday and I'm still talking about it, I think you can tell I'm not over it.

Burnt To a Crisp

I feel like this is a complete and total cop-out post so I completely and totally apologize in advance. I am, unfortunately, burnt out. Despite my lovely and relaxing weekend at the shore (thanks Andrea!), I am still tired and at a loss of something substantial to write about so instead of my usual wit and humor I am going to regale you all with a short update on my working life. 

1) I am burnt out because my company has a big event coming up tomorrow which means I've been coming in early and leaving late. I even stayed late on Friday to finish printing name tags. I know yuck yuck yuck. Thankfully it will all be over tomorrow and I can go on to plan our next event in November without putting in the long hours. 

2) The New Kid is still killing me. After all your comments on how I should give him a chance I thought, "Ok, maybe I am being too harsh on this guy." It's been two weeks and let me tell you, he has not let up. My biggest pet peeve of the New Kid's is how he loses e-mails. I have sent him numerous e-mails and he somehow can't locate them when I ask to see his work re. that e-mail I sent two hours ago. Oh, and he loves to invite himself to lunch with me and my work friends. Not okay. 

3) My new roommate Natalie is still doing her boss. 'Nuff said. 

4) I still have not heard a word from my Chicago interviews which is highly, highly frustrating and nerve-racking. Unfortunately the economy is not helping my search for the perfect job in the city I yearn to be in. On the bright side Thanksgiving is right around the corner so I am going to get to plan a trip home soon (woohoo!). 

5) I am currently watching One Tree Hill and I just noticed how many work-related topics are in this show! But seriously their professions are so far-fetched. Brooke owns her own clothing line (well not really anymore), Lucas is a writer, and Peyton is starting her own record label. I don't know about you guys but I don't have any recent grad friends who own their own businesses or are making anything close to a number that would let them buy their own houses. Do you think Brooke would hire me? I'm a really super assistant. 

Again sorry for this cop-out post. I promise to bring my normal blogging back on Wednesday once this event is finito. 

Exhausted by the Whole Thing

This time last week I told you I was drained. Too drained to write a post. One of my roommate's token phrases as of late is "I'm just so exhausted by the whole thing." Last night, as I tried to determine what I should write about, she asked if that's how I was feeling about Working Girl. I realized, I'm just so exhausted by the whole work thing and therefore exhausted by Working Girl. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything crazy and quit the blog or something. 

I'm still drained and exhausted and frustrated but it's about time I just sucked it up and gave you an update about what's going on a work that's draining me then hopefully my creative juices will start flowing again. I typically don't like to talk about things that are bothering me; I haven't even really explained to WG2 what's been going on. 

Three weeks ago our special events manager quit. Not only was she one of my good work friends, she was also my mentor. I've mentioned before that I am interested in working in events and she was helping me learn the business and gave me the opportunity to get more involved in our event planning for the magazine. I was upset that she was leaving but I also realized that perhaps this could mean something good for my career. I got her blessing and she helped me script a conversation with my boss to ask to be considered for her job. Now, as an assistant, going to manager is a big job and it's not one that happens often.

I spoke to my (female) boss. I told her that my interest is in events, that I'd like to be considered for this position even though I'm just an assistant. My biggest argument is that I've been doing coordinator work from day one and that I know for a fact that I've helped improve our department. We're a big magazine but at the end of the day, we just don't have that many events. I could handle it. She told me that my title would be changing to coordinator soon and that once they post the events position as open, we can discuss further.

Last week I met with both of my bosses for my newly implemented weekly meeting with them. They told me what a great job I have been doing and they said that they want to keep me at the magazine and keep me happy. Then they told me they were changing my title to marketing coordinator. They said this was a step in the direction I want to go and they are right. I was happy about this until I realized I want more. 

First, it would have been nice to also get a raise. Second, I want the events job. Third, I'm so over the work I've been doing. I manage monthly programs which was fun when I started because they were mine and I could see the finished product and be proud. Then they became a challenge (in a good way) to improve and master. Now, they are repetitive and boring. 

My "promotion" hasn't been announced and that's frustrating me too. Can a Working Girl get a little recognition? But the most frustrating thing about it is that nothing but my title is changing. My job description is the same as it was when I started; I don't even have new projects to get excited about. I'm ready for something new and I'm not getting that. I thought, for a few days, that I was just in a funk. Unfortunately, I can't chalk this up to a funk and hope to wake up feel better about the situation tomorrow. I'm truly frustrated, drained, bored and I don't know what to do about it...

Drama, Drama, Drama

Today was one of those days. You know what I mean. The day when before you even walk in the front door you have a feeling that you should turn around and never come back. Yea, one of those. 

Turns out I was right. I spent my entire day burning DVD's with photos from our past event in Aspen for all our sponsors, exhibitors, and partners. This project required me to turn off all my other programs (aka I could not check my fave blogs or chat on Gmail). Leading me to a boring and also unproductive day. 

All together this week has been pretty insane. I got back from a glorious Labor Day weekend and found out two of my co-workers had gotten engaged over the weekend. Now the crazy part of this story isn't that two people got engaged. It's that one of the girls who got engaged over the holiday has only been dating her boyfriend (now fiancee) for four months. Yes, you heard me right. And her rock is ginormous (I can't even use a real adjective to describe this ring because it's that large). And get this...they met on Facebook. I don't even have a comment for this. 

The drama only begins there. Then today I find out that one of the managers at work is leaving the company. Amy is the Vice President of Online Marketing and also my idol. She is in her late 30s, successful, has a graduate degree from Stanford, and has worked at some major awesome companies (aka eBay). She also is from the Midwest, loves rare meat, and is huge into traveling. In short, we're alike and I love her. And I'm super, super, super upset that she is leaving. 

Now on to the big juice. My new roommate Natalie had confided in me when I first moved in that she was dating Drew. Drew just happens to be her boss. He also happens just to have gotten a separation from his wife. And his now ex-wife is also best friends with The CEO's daughter. Talk about drama. This secret has been so hard for me to keep. It's juicy and I want to scream it from the mountaintops. But Natalie asked me to keep it mum. So I haven't said anything. But I think my co-worker Small Fry is catching on, which makes me a Nervous Nelly. I would rather be left out of the drama surrounding my roommate's scandalous love affair. 

The Boss has also been a huge pain in my ass lately. Our marketing department keeps taking on more and more projects. Have I mentioned that our marketing department is 2 people? Yep. Just me and the VP of Marketing. So it's been a challenge. We have another event coming up in October that is sure to be a disaster. And it has just involved so much planning and I feel like I don't have enough time in the day to get it all done. But The Boss thinks I could use a few more projects to keep me busy. Thanks. Once again, I am feeling under-appreciated and under-paid. 

My big personal news of the week. I found out that I got wait-listed for the grad school of my dreams. And while I'm still a tiny bit hopeful that I'll make it through, I'm not banking on it. So I have a new plan in the works. 

All these changes in the atmosphere at work are making me think it's time for a move. More updates on my new job search are to come. 

Cause I Had a Bad Day

Today I feel like complaining. Today was a bad day. It wasn't the worst day I've had at work. I didn't cry in the bathroom, but I wanted to. 

This morning it took me a half an hour to get dressed. It usually takes me a while; I stand in front of my armoire and stare at my clothes. I put on one outfit and then take it off. I put on another outfit and then take it off. And another. And another. I usually end up with a combination of outfit number one and outfit number three. For one reason or another it took much longer today and that frustrated me. 

I didn't get a window seat on the bus.

I forgot to have coffee this morning which caused me to have a headache. 

I had it in my head that when I got to work this morning I would be able to send promotional listings to clients for approval right away. Long story short: I stayed in the office until 7 p.m. sending e-mails to clients because I didn't have the listings earlier than 5:30 p.m.

Today my guy boss (I have two new bosses: a girl boss and a guy boss) had to approve the layout of a mircosite that I was responsible for. Of course I didn't look over the copy beforehand because I was just showing him the layout. But he looked at everything and there were mistakes in the copy. It didn't help that he has once before told me to look over everything I show him (it was okay then because it was the first time I messed up) and it didn't help that I had no idea I was responsible for this project until Tuesday. He said to me "Working Girl One, you have to look over this. I can't be the one editing it." He didn't talk down to me and he wasn't mean but there was something about how he said that made me feel like shit leaving his office. Every day since I started this position, it seems that I have done one thing wrong and this boss has noticed.  One day, I just want to do everything right. 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today in New York. It was one of those days that made everyone want to eat lunch in the park. I went to the cafeteria and brought my lunch to my desk. I didn't have time to leave the office. And the sandwich guy forgot to put red onion on my tuna sandwich. 

I had to work late. I know, I already mentioned that but it sucked enough to be mentioned twice.

After work I thought I'd enjoy the weather by walking to Port Authority rather than walking. I stubbed my toe. Twice. 

Today was one of those days. The only word to describe it is draining. Working Girl Two and I just watched The Office (look out for her recap tomorrow) which made me feel better about my work life. In twenty minutes Lost is on and a great episode would make my bad day not seem so bad. At least let me see Jack or Sawyer without his shirt.