Co-Workers vs. Friends

by Lawyer Working Girl


My company recently hired a new employee. Since the new hire was a woman and since she was new to the area, I was sure to introduce myself to her. We started talking and she asked if I wanted to have lunch one day soon so she could pick my brain about work and the city. Absolutely! After all, as much as I move, I'm usually the "new kid on the block" and I always welcome insight from others, so this was my chance to help someone else.


So we had lunch and it was cool. I didn't really think too much about it or the new hire after that until the following weekend when she sent me a text asking if I wanted to have lunch. It was a busy day for me so I told her that I couldn't, but maybe some other time. To be honest, I said it in the same manner that we say to people, "We'll have to get together soon" or "I'll call you" but you don't really mean it. It just somehow slips out of your mouth before you can stop yourself from saying it.


That next work week she asked if I wanted to have lunch again and inquired about my New Year's Eve plans. At this point it hit me. She wants to be friends. She's new to the city and doesn't know anyone outside of work and she wants to be my friend.


For me, if I'm going to be friends with someone I work with it just has to happen naturally, like with any friends I make. I don't force friendships to happen. I'm friends with about three people at work (actually, I should probably downgrade one person, but that is a post for another day), meaning that I hang out with them outside of work (that's a key part in me calling someone I work with a friend), but none of these friendships were forced. We got to know each other by working together and talking at work, and then it eventually led to "hey, let's all grab a bite to eat after work" or "You want to have lunch?" After a while, we started hanging out away from work. We didn't go from "Hi, it's nice to meet you" to "Let's hang out this weekend." I don't do instant friendships.


I feel bad that I don't want to hang out with her outside of work...yet. I mean, I still don't really know her. We had lunch, I shared a little about work and the city, and we learned a little bit about each other. Cool. I'm just not trying to hang out regularly, until I get to know someone and determine that they are someone I would be friends with. Does that sound harsh? Do you get what I'm saying? I don't know her personality yet, I don't know what she likes to do, I don't know...well, I just don't know her.


Working Girls, are you friends with any of your co-workers? Did your friendships just happen naturally? How do you handle a co-worker wanting to be your BFF?

Let's Be Friends.

Hello readers! First and foremost, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm now the new social media working girl around this part of the blogosphere and will be writing to you every Thursday from here on out.

To give you a little preview of how I got to where I am today... In 2007, I graduated with a journalism degree and got a job working in PR. After about a year, my job transitioned into a full-time magazine career in which I am now the senior associate editor of an international trade publication.

Shortly after, the company needed someone to "man the social media ship" and of course, I jumped at the opportunity. It's been a tremendous learning experience and one I'm truly grateful for. The vast amount of information available at the click of a button ceases to amaze me and my passion for technology and the Web continues to expand by the second.

From my grandmother on Facebook to my obsession with tweeting, you'll hear firsthand how social media influences my life--from both a personal and professional perspective.

Despite my 8-to-5 day job, I'm also a 20-something writer, blogger, AP style fan, friend, daughter, girlfriend, sister, shopper, mama to the cutest miniature schnauzer in town, wannabe foodie and OCD Post-it lover. I thrive on organization and list making, and my life wouldn't be complete without a good steak and cheap wine.

Oh, and I love all things Mac.

I'm uber excited to join the lovely ladies of this blog and hope that you find my content and ramblings both engaging and entertaining. After all, social media is honest and real, and I'll do my best to bring that to all of you--with of course the occasional hilarious story thrown in the mix for comic relief.

Thanks for welcoming me to this community. Let's be friends.

Left Behind

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that I've been living in Chicago now for a year and a half, which also means that I've been at my current job for a year and a half as well. In that small time frame, I have had three bosses, three titles, and I have moved desks four times. When I moved to my current desk I found something unexpected and that was three best friends who really feel more like sisters.

At my old job in New York City, I had a lot of friends my age (and some not so close to my age) and we hung out a lot...but always at work. We were "at work" friends and we joked about this a lot. We didn't hang out outside of work and there wasn't any real reason for this. It was most likely just because we had other groups of friends and our time to hang out was at lunch during the week, not at brunch on the weekends.

When I first started my job here in Chicago, I found that things were similar. I had friends but they were purely "at work" friends and we didn't cross the boundary. And then I moved desks for the first time and I found myself sitting in a cubicle next to tons of young people. And slowly but surely we found ourselves hanging out. At first it was a lot of going away dinners or happy hours celebrating good news. And then that evolved into dinners out and happy hours for no reason.

My most recent desk change came with the biggest difference. I was moved into an office with the other two Project Managers at the office both of whom I was already friends with prior to the office move. Our office literally looks like a dorm room and if you added bunk beds we'd be all set to go back to college. A guy at work jokes and calls it our "sorority house". The three of us quickly became inseperable. We worked together, talked about everything together, went to meetings together, and were even hanging out sometimes on the weekends.

E & L (names omitted to protect the innocent) are two of my very best friends. And they are leaving me behind for new adventures. Commence sad, pouty face.

L just recently had a baby who E and I are obsessed with. We visited her in the hospital, took her a meal last week to catch up, and she calls us Aunties. And honestly I do feel really close to her and her baby - E & I were there for the whole pregnancy and that baby is like a part of our little sorority. L has been on maternity leave now for about a month and she won't be coming back until September and while she thinks she wants to come back to work for the camraderie and to have a routine, I have a feeling that coming back to work will take a back seat to her new baby boy.

As we speak, E is in Ohio interviewing for a new job because after three years in Chicago she wants to move back to her hometown.

I have to admit that it's been really hard to be supportive as I watch my two closest friends at work (and outside work as well) move on with their lives and on to new, exciting adventures without me. I've considered my own new adventure, but I know in my heart that I'm not ready for a next step. I'm content where I am and in the job that I am doing.

But I can't shake the feeling that it's hard being left behind. And it's incredibly hard letting these girls go even though I know I have to.

Let's Face It, Meeting Friends Outside of College Sucks

In college, I made most of my friends within the first week of being on campus. Whether it was through orientation, classes, or clubs, most the friends I still talk to on a daily/weekly basis I met fairly quickly and we became fast friends. Since most of my senior class moved to NYC after graduation, I had a built in social network. Parties, dinner dates, drinks after work were all with friends from college.

And then I moved to Chicago and while I had my family and friends from high school to keep me company, I found that I had less of a network that I had become accustomed to in NYC. I mean, there are only so many times you can go to dinner with your dad and my high school friends had their own networks to hang out with so some weekends I would be holed up in my apartment watching reruns of Roswell (don't judge). This is when I set about making more friends. And I quickly realized that making friends in a post-collegiate "real world" is hard work. It takes a lot of time and effort and it doesn't happy over night. Below are some tips that helped me make new friends and this works for people who have been relocated by a job, have recently moved to be closer to a boyfriend, or just people looking for a new group of friends in their hometown.

Social Networks
I have found that some of the girls I have become myself becoming closer and closer to are girls I met through blogging or Twitter. I got invited to my first blogger party by Jess. It was there that I met a slew of amazing bloggers (and Twitters) including Jamie, Jenn, and Allie. After only a few short months Jamie and I became close buds who went to cupcake shops together, saw movies about vampires together, and obsessing over awesome TV shows together. I realized that I loved meeting girls who loved the same things as me (like champagne and trying new restaurants!) so I even ended up hosting a party (with Jamie) for some bloggers and then even attended Bloggers in Sin City this past spring, which made my relationship with some of my new friends even stronger! Starting your own blog or connecting with people via Twitter is a great way to meet like-minded people.

Volunteer
My mom was always very much into being involved in the community. She was always involved at my grade school and high school by being on committees and doing volunteer work for women's boards. This of course instilled in me a want to do this as I got older so when I moved to Chicago I looked around for Junior Boards to be involved in which are not only a great way to meet friends, but also to network. I'm currently on a hospital junior board where I've met a few girls that I have drinks with now and then. It's easy to find a board to get involved in especially if you already have a cause that you are passionate about, but if you don't and you just want to help out the community do some research for junior boards in your area. Trust me, there will be a ton and I know Chicago even has a service night (almost like a trade show) where you can walk booth to booth and learn more about charities/boards in your area. Note: this is also a really great way to meet nice guys!

Join, join, join!
The best way to meet new friends is to be a joiner, which I kind of touched upon above. I personally think this is so important. When I first moved to Chicago, I started a book club with my friends (something I had always wanted to do!) and had them invite their friends and their friends and eventually our book club had 15 people in it and I only knew a handful of them. This was a great way to meet new people and a lot of the girls have become my friends through the book club. Other fun clubs to join are dinner clubs, cooking clubs, knitting clubs, church youth groups - and a lot of these are available through public libraries, YMCAs, park districts, etc. Don't be scared to go to a club solo either - the worst thing that can happen is that you don't meet someone!

Acquaintances
One thing I definitely recommend is reconnecting with old acquaitances or old friends that you know live in your area. It's easy to find these things out by consulting Facebook. While I was living in New York, I got a few emails from girls I went to high school with who had just moved to town and wanted to meet up. One of those girls was one of my bff's from grade school and we ended up reconnecting and becoming close again. So you never know - put the invitation out there and you could end up meeting your new best friend! If you don't know someone who lives in the area already, asking your friends to set you up on blind friend dates is a good idea.

Think outside the box
Sometimes it's the least likely place where you meet a friend, so think outside the box! Attending lectures, college alumni meet-ups, seeking out local political events, networking events or going to book readings are great ways to meet people who will like the same things as you. I once went to a public Daily Candy event in NYC with WG1 and while waiting in line to get inside we got to talking with two girls behind us and while we didn't end up hanging out with them ever again, if we had put the effort in I think we could have left with two new friends.

Become a regular
I found this idea on a message board once and it struck me as a great idea. Find a bar, restaurant, or gym and become a regular. You can easily become friends with the staff just by being there. A bonus is becoming friends with a bartender or waiter who can sneak you free drinks or snacks.

Say yes!
The #1 rule when trying to make friends post-college is putting yourself out there. If a coworker invites you to a happy hour, GO! It never hurts to go to something you were invited to because like I said before, the worst thing is that you don't meet anyone or you feel awkward (and then you leave). So saying yes is imperative when trying to find new girl friends.

Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and say yes to new experiences because you never know where they might lead you or who they will introduce you to!

Every Working Girl Needs a Girls Night Out

Every Working Girl knows that after a really stressful day at the office, you need a de-stress plan. One of our favorite ways to wind down is time with good friends and a glass of wine (yes, I admit, stole that one from LeAn Rimes).

And we have a giveaway for our Chicago & New York City readers that just might help you and a girlfriend unwind after a long day!

Shecky's, an online destination to find what is new and undiscovered in beauty, fashion and fun, has put together an event for you and your girlfriends that will make that bad day just melt away. Shecky's Girls Night Out where women can congregate to sample delish cocktails, try new beauty products and shop till you drop.

WG1 and I went to Shecky's Girls Night Out the summer we both interned in NYC (and lived in Chinatown...ick) and we both walked away with tons of goodies. WG1 still uses this adorable black clutch she picked up at the event (obviously, I am jealous I didn't buy it). Not only does the event have tons of shopping from cool indie designers and hot new boutiques across the US, but you also walk away with a goodie bag stuffed with fab products worth $100!

Enough with the chatter, here's the giveaway deets!

We will be giving out 2 tickets for one winner in Chicago and one winner in New York City to go to the Shecky's Girls Night Out event in their respective cities! The winners will be able to choose which day they would like to attend - Chicago's event runs from Sept. 15th - 17th and New York's event runs from Oct. 19th - 23rd.

To enter, you can leave a comment on this post by Thursday, September 10th at noon eastern time. To gain an additional entry, just tweet about our giveaway on Twitter by mentioning either @workinggirlone or @workinggirltwo and our Shecky's Girls Night Out Giveaway! And in your first entry make sure it tell us which city you would need a pass from!

And if you just can't wait to see if you won, tickets (with a goodie bag) are only $15. So click here to purchase your own tickets today.

Get commenting Working Girls!

I Have Work Friends. When Did That Happen?

Today was my first day back at work after a week and half off of vacation. (Sidenote: If I could move to Europe right now, I would. My trip was fantastical. I love the Mediterranean. Everyone go there now.)

The first day back is always the worst. No matter what stress is involved. I spent two hours checking emails on Saturday and I still didn't get all caught up until 5PM today. The first day back almost always involves a lot of meetings, eating lunch at your desk, popping multiple Excedrin, and being "invisible" on Gchat so that you're not bombarded by all your friends wanting to know how your vacay was.

Today was not just a day of stress for me however. Today was a day of realizations. And that realization was that I have work friends.

I've been saying for a while now that I don't have many work friends. I actually moan about it a lot on this blog (and to WG1) and that's mainly because at my last job in NYC I felt like I had a lot of friends to commiserate with. I had people to eat lunch with, talk about reality TV with, and just generally chat with. And after a long vacation (or even just a day off), I would spend hours catching up with my NYC coworkers.

So I felt a little sad this morning when I got to work and I didn't have my NYC coworkers to dish with. Of course my new cube mates (I switched desks recently so I have new cubicle neighbors) asked me how my trip was, but they didn't ask me about any details.

Later in the day, I went to hang out with one of my work friends in her office. As I was complaining about all the work I have to do in the next few weeks, she responded with, "Yea you might want to get on that since you've spent the last hour making the rounds chatting up all your work buds. Have you done any work today other than socialize?"

And it was then I realized that I had work friends. Without even realizing it I had wandered aimlessly around the office for an hour stopping to chat with coworkers about my trip and their weekends (turns out one of my coworkers was born in Turkey! Who knew!). An hour! Spent talking to coworkers! And I thought I had no work friends.

Turns out I have nothing to moan about after all. After eight months at my new company, I have work friends. And that's a pretty nice realization to start a week off with.

Busy and Out of Touch

As a Working Girl, I often find it difficult to keep up with and stay in touch with my friends.

When I was younger, I moved a few times. I'm not talking the next town over, I'm talking halfway across the country. Twice. Since then, I've never been all that great in keeping touch. I've developed a pattern, after losing touch with many friends, of staying close with the people who are close by.

But lately, even with my friends who live in Manhattan, I feel like I'm losing touch. Sometimes I have no idea what's going on in their lives. We are all on different schedules and doing different things on the weekends. My local college friends and I are finally getting together for dinner this week.

With my friends who are further away, I always have good intentions. To-do lists and post-its crowd my dresser with notes: "call so-and-so" or "send friend a birthday card." I even go so far as to purchasing the card but it never gets mailed. You should see the box of cards I have.

Email doesn't make it any easier. After sitting at a computer all day at work, and sometimes all evening to work on this lovely little blog you're reading, the last thing I want to do is type up an email. I've tried taking time if I'm eating lunch at my desk for a few personal emails but I usually get distracted by an email popping up on my screen or a coworker popping up at my desk.

Sometimes I'm even this way with my family. I go far too long between phone calls to my granny and I could certainly call my mom and dad more often to check in.

I should mention that I'm not a phone person. Not at all.

Staying in touch is something at which I'd like to get better. Much better. How do you Working Girls keep in touch with friends and family? My first change: starting this weekend, I'm going to set aside some time on the weekends to make my (few) phone calls and send my emails. Instead of spending my Saturday morning perusing Facebook, I'll actually get in contact with people.

Take Me Out Tonight?

These days, there are some weekends that I don't even go out one night. In college, I'd go out four nights a week. Now, sometimes it's rare that I go out once. It's not that I don't like people anymore or that I don't like spending time with my friends. It's that going out almost always involves drinking and my body has officially raised a white flag when it comes to recovering from a night of drinking.

Tonight, I found myself torn. I went to the Mets game with some friends and enjoyed a hot dog and a few beers. I stopped myself there. My friends wanted to go out once we got back to Manhattan. Usually, I'm all about it. I like to go with the flow and have fun with my friends. But, although tomorrow is Friday and it's usually a slower and more quiet day in the office, I still have a lot to get done and I'd like to be at 100% for that. Thankfully, my body is still processing three beers for me. (I did go to the bar, nursed a beer and enjoyed the company of my friends.)

There have been several times in the past that I haven't controlled myself so well and a couple of drinks turned to many and that turned into a hangover. A little part of me, two years later, is still in college mode. That part is saying "have another drink, have fun; you'll be fine tomorrow." Sometimes I give in because it is fun. But when I wake up the next morning and have to go to work or get up on a weekend and be productive (whether it's running errands or visiting family), it's not so fun.

I've turned into more of a homebody because of this internal dilemma and while I love a quiet and relaxing night in, a few to many of those can cause me to feel lonely. I need to find a way to make my socializing work for me. I want to have fun, keep a nice social calendar and not have it hold me back in any aspect of my life.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

For the past year, there has been a solid group of assistants at work. There have been four working girls (including myself) and two working boys who have held our office together. The boys are great but the four of us girls have developed a great friendship. One that goes beyond the day to day work conversation.

We've eaten lunch together almost every work day for the past 52-weeks, had dozens of happy hours and celebrated special occasions together. These working girls are the only ones who truly know how bad a bad day is for me or how I feel about certain co-workers and why.

Mom Boss and Promo Girl have both told me that there's nothing like the bond that you have with the people that were assistants with you. Being an assistant is a roller coaster of an experience and many people, in different industries, do it. But they were right, the only people who will really understand the experience are the people at your company who did it with you.

Friday marks the day the first one of our little group of four is leaving. Not only is she leaving the company, she's leaving Manhattan. We begged and bribed our working girl to stay but her home state is calling her back.

A new girl started training today and she's sweet, but she's not the same. She's the first of the next generation. Soon there will be two new assistants; one replacing her and one replacing me.

I've moved to a different position, one working girl is leaving and it's only a matter of time before the other two move on to bigger and better things. I'm used to a lot of change in my life but I don't know if I'm ready for this. We've had a fun and comfortable friendship for the past year and it's all about to change.

Make New Friends But Keep the Old

This past weekend I jetted off to NYC to celebrate WG1 and our friend Catherine's birthdays. But before I got outrageously drunk off large margaritas at Maracas Bar & Grill and sang along to Bon Jovi's "Bed of Roses" at Iggy's Karaoke Bar, I had a lunch date with some old co-workers at our favorite sushi joint. 

A few faces weren't able to make it (including Red and Small Fry), but I did get to hang out with most of my old friends while munching on chicken teriyaki. We gossiped, told stories, talked about the recent lay-offs, and the more recent hires. And after lunch I followed everyone back to my old office and chatted with The Boss, visited with The President, and even joked around with The CEO. 

I think I spent a total of two hours catching up with everyone (which seriously cut into my shopping time). And while I know I don't miss my old job, I do miss the people. Sitting around making fun of each other - I miss those moments.

At my new job, I am pretty much friendless. The cast of characters is slim and include a former New Yorker def. over 50 HR manager who sits behind me and makes me laugh constantly, the executive assistant to the CEO who is in her 40's and loves The Bachelor, the IT guy with millions of tats who loves country music, and a married 30-year-old girl who was definitely the cool girl in high school and intimidates me even though I know she wants to be my friend. 

At my old job, the cast of characters was much more vast and there were different people to talk to with all my different issues (work-related and non work-related). 

I miss the camraderie and the longer than an hour lunches and throwing paper planes at each other over our cubicles. I have always had a teeny tiny fear that I won't get to that place with my new co-workers, and seeing my old co-workers this weekend made that fear a little bit wider. 

Delurkers Unite!

This is what happens when you go away to Atlanta for a week - you come back home with your Google Reader overflowing (280 posts!?!? really guys?!?!) and realize that it's Delurking Day/Week. And we at Working Girl practically missed it all.

I have confessed many a time that I am a huge lurker. I'm not a good commentor (one of my New Year's resolutions!), so this is the perfect week for me to start. And it's the perfect time for you to start too!

WG1 and I read our Google Analytics. We know there are a lot of you out there lurking and we'd love to meet you! So leave us a comment or e-mail us.

You know you want to!

So Long, Farewell

Don't get too excited about my blog post title, I did not snag a job in Chicago and saying 'farewell' to my current job. Which means I'm going to be blogging from NYC for a little while yet while some of my recent opportunities play out.

My post title is in reference to the fact that one of my best work friends got a new job today. Her official last day will be Halloween. And I could not be more bummed.

I should probably back up a little, because I don't really talk a lot about my work friends. I do talk about my work bff/gay husband, but besides him I do hang out with a little group of people, a clique if you will. There are four of us and we go to lunch every day together, call each other incessantly, send each other inapproriate e-mails, and in general are good work friends.

We each work in different departments, love to complain about our company, our benefits, how much we don't get paid, hot office gossip, and of course things like girlfriends or boyfriends or annoying roommate situations.

Of all three of my work friends, Small Fry is my best friend at work. She used to work in my department as the Marketing Manager and at first we really didn't get along. In fact, I hated her. And I'm pretty sure she thought I was an idiot. In fact, she confirmed this a few months ago when she brought up an old Excel sheet I did when I first started at my job that was sub-par. She gave me two months until I quit. In my defense, I think I might have still been drunk from Senior Week festitivies because I had graduated three days before. My voicemail message that I recorded on my first day sounds like I swallowed marbles because I barely had a voice. Well jokes on her, because I'm still here.

Anyway, after Small Fry and I worked on a huge event together almost a year ago (read: we worked long, long hours together), we became bff. I introduced her to Forever 21, she made me obsessed with $5 foot-longs at Subway. We have inside jokes. She tells me secrets before she tells her best friends and I tell her things that I never thought I would share with a co-worker. I can truthfully say that she and I have gone beyond the work friends barrier.

Small Fry is one of my best friends and not just at work. I will miss her more than I can say - because the one great thing about my job is the people. I like coming to work and knowing that if I need to bitch about The Boss that Small Fry will be there to listen to me. Or knowing that if I want skip that horrible looking Lean Cuisine I brought for lunch that someone will go and grab Hale & Hearty with me.

So today I am just sad.

And tomorrow I will start planning a kick-ass going away party for her.

I'll Give Myself an A- For Effort

About a month ago, I admitted that I'm not much of a weekday party animal (unlike my new roommate Natalie).

After I posted I got really motivated to make plans and be more proactive about living life on the weekdays and not letting my weekdays bring me down and subsequentially leave me a couch potato in front of shows like 90210 and Top Design (I don't even like them!).

WG1 had also expressed interest in doing more (because at this point in time she was still living with her dad and had no life - sorry WG1 but you know it's true). Anyway, WG1 suggested we attend a DailyCandy soiree after work one night. The party seemed promising. It was a summer "white party" with summery cocktails, light appetizers, and the first 50 guests were promised a new snazzy electric toothbrush (thrilling I know).

So WG1 and I decided since the party didn't start until 7 that we'd grab drinks beforehand at a bar down the street. But when we turned the corner we realized that the line was already at least 100 people deep. So we got in line. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. I think we waited an hour and half and when we finally entered the coveted DailyCandy party, we made a beeline for the bar.

"We'll have two of these special cocktails," I said pointing at the bar menu.

"Oh, we're all out."

"Out of alcohol?" WG1 asked in pure shock.

"Yep, sorry girls." The bartender then scuttled away from our angry eyes. I'm really good at angry eyes btw.

We both took one look at one another and without words exited the bar. So our big night out ended up being a bust. On a lighter note, we ended up finding a really cute little restaurant nearby where we enjoyed some really great artichoke dip and of course wine to wash it down with. We also made some new friends in line while waiting so we officially felt social and had a great meal to boot.

Moral of the story. I don't really have one. I think I just wanted to prove that I'm not always lame and do manage to get out after work.

And that do be a good Working Girl, you have to let off some steam every once in a while. And I'm trying my darndest to get out there more. For example, WG1 and I had drinks with our friend Hannah a few weeks ago, we had a amazing meal at Buddakan last week (where we saw Dale from Top Chef!), and next week my gay bff from work promised to take me on a date to bar Porkies where 12-Pack from I Love NY bartends once a week (I kid you not).

So I think I'm doing pretty well. I'm no party animal. But I'm no couch potato either.

When Co-Workers Become Roommates

Two weeks ago, I moved in with my co-worker Natalie. 

I know, I feel like it came out of left field too. So let me back it up and reverse it and explain how I went from living with WG1 to living with a co-worker I barely know. 

Back during those winter months that never seemed to end, I started getting restless. I knew marketing isn't what I wanted to do with my life, but all the interviews and the resumes I had sent out weren't getting me any closer to my dream job in journalism. So I thought about possible solutions and the solution I ended up pursuing was applying to graduate school. Then I had to break the news to WG1 that once our lease was up in July that I most likely wouldn't be able to renew our lease (or rather move out of our shit hole apartment). 

I remember when we had been discussing my moving out that she had been so concerned about our reader's reactions. Yes, you heard me right. Her first concern wasn't that we wouldn't see each other's bright smiling faces every day before and after work, instead she was worried that our reader's would freak out because we weren't living together anymore. As I expected, you all didn't seem too concerned. I kid. I'm sure you all shed a tear for the two of us. 

So, WG1 decided to move back home to the suburbs and I frantically began searching for a sublet in Hoboken. I had a lot of luck finding creepers and a lot of dead ends on Craig's List. Then I thought I had found a winner when I met a group of frat guys looking for a new roomie (they had a kegerator and Wii!). But that little gem fell through the cracks and I was back at square one. 

After I got back from London I had all of a week to find a place to live. My co-workers Small Fry and Red suggested I talk to Natalie who they said had a free room starting August 1st. And as luck would have it here I am sitting my new apartment (which has air conditioning - I know, I'm bragging now). 

So far this has been working perfectly. The apartment is immaculately clean, nicely decorated and completely renovated. The apartment even has a washer/dryer!!! And yes, that amenity deserves multiple exclamation marks. I don't think anyone can understand what a horrible apartment we were living in. To name just a few things that made our apartment a shit hole: our ceiling fell in, we had no hot water for days on end, and I had no door on my room. Yea, we still don't know why we thought it was a good place to rent. 

Luckily, I have the same commute at my new palace and Natalie and I get along pretty well. She works in a completely different department than me so we see each other only at the apartment, which means it's hard to get sick of each other when you only see each other three-four hours a day. 

I got really, really lucky. Unfortunately, this little set-up I got going is just temporary until I find out about grad school. But for now, I'm loving living the plush life. 

WG2 Gets Awkward in the Kitchen

It is no secret that I can be one of the most awkward people you have ever met. Most of the time I like to think I'm not too bad, but place me in certain situations and I turn into a babbling, incoherent, awkward teenage girl. Case in point, my embarrassing London story included the best man, the dance floor, too much champagne, and then having to see him the next day at another wedding event. I will divulge no other details. It was embarrassing enough to have to live through.

Despite drinking and morning after situations, there is another location where I become awkward and that is the office kitchen.

My office actually has a nice kitchen - all new appliances, a nice island that seats four, all the green tea you could ever want, and a huge fridge for storing food. But I rarely venture in the kitchen because it usually results in me having to engage in conversation with people I don't know very well or want to avoid.

Example, a few weeks ago, I was heating up one of my tasty Lean Cuisine (sarcasm noted) when another co-worker of mine whom I had never met waltzed in. He was in obvious need of the microwave as well, so he patiently waited and waited as those 4 four minutes dragged out for eternity. And therein lies my problem. While those 4 minutes seemed to pass so slowly, I tried to make conversation. Yes, I realize this is the polite thing to do when in a co-worker-to-co-worker situation, but I was as awkward as awkward can get.

I brought up all sorts of topic convos - where are you from, how long is your commute, oh you have kids how nice. Then the microwave beeped and I checked on my Lean Cuisine and of course it was still frozen and still looked really unappetizing. So I began a new string of conversation about Wii. As many of you might know, my office just recently got Wii and all of the employees are supposed to make Mii characters. So I asked if he had made one. Can I just mention that this particular co-worker is probably over 50, has children, little knowledge of the English language, and apparently no interest in playing Wii at work. He looked at me blankly and we watched as the minutes on the microwave excruciatingly passed by.

It wouldn't be too bad if this didn't happen to me on a regular basis. Meaning me putting my foot in my mouth. Thankfully many of my co-workers find this endearing so I'm in pretty good shape. But my awkwardness has led me to avoid the office kitchen.

I walk in, grab my water, and walk out trying to avoid eye contact with anyone who might be heating up a bagel or peeling an orange.

Does anyone know where I can take classes on being less awkward in the office kitchen? Because I am need of those. STAT.

Wii While You Work

WG1 and I would like to apologize. We know. We've been delinquent bloggers. We blame this on a few things: the summer weather, our love of the Jersey Shore, and the fact that we're moving at the end of the month and are soon to be homeless (and just an fyi if you live in the Hoboken area and need a mattress, couch, dresser, etc. let us know as we are selling all our shiznit). So in short we apologize. 

Now back to our regular scheduled programming. 

A few weeks ago, I opened Outlook to find an e-mail that had been sent to the entire company announcing that The CEO had bought Wii (yes, I repeat Wii). Originally our new Wii was to be used exclusively that Friday when the e-mail had been sent out. However, after much persuasion, The CEO has decided to let our new Wii system live in the large conference room to be available for after-hours, break times, and as a stress reliever. 

I have heard rumors of companies that will do things like this for their employees - like a lot of movie production companies have Guitar Hero or ping pong tables so waiting clients have something to do while waiting for their materials and I've heard that Google has a skating ramp so employees can take their scooters and skateboards for a joy ride when stressed. I guess I just never thought my company (one that barely lets us expense cab rides) would man up and purchase something totally and completely fun that had absolutely nada to do with anything corporate related. 

I have to admit that the Wii has already started to bring us co-workers closer. For instance, last Friday I played a quick game of tennis with some of the new tech guys. And while I'm sure they probably won't ask me for another game in the near future (let's just say I have yet to master the Wii backhand or forehand for that matter), I do know that I've made some new friends all because of our new entertainment system. And I now know that our Senior VP is super competitive (aka do not engage in a game of bowling with him...ever). 

And Wii is pretty great with stress relieving. One round of baseball after a bad conference call last week and I was good to go for my next grueling meeting. 

Despite all of Wii's positives, my next order of business is bugging The CEO into getting Rock Band for the office. Because my guitar solos are insanely spectacular and I sure would love to hear The Boss rock out to "Roxanne".  

The IT Hook-Up

On my first day of work at my current company, I was worried about a lot of things. For example, did my boss really care if a I took a whole hour lunch break? Could I go on Facebook without getting caught? Could IT read all my g-chat conversations? But my main concern during those first few days of being the newbie was if I was ever going to make any friends.

In my past work experiences, I hadn't found it that difficult to make friends. I'm not trying to brag here but it seemed my co-workers and I all had one thing to bond over and that was what we hated about work. As a camp counselor, we had all complained about not being able to play Hangman in front of the kids (I didn't know children these days were so sensitive). At my job as a hostess, it was the long hours for practically no pay. At my internship, it was my boss who we swore was a clone of the Devil Wears Prada.

At my new job though, no one complained. This was the real world. This wasn't an internship or a summer job cleaning tables or wiping mud off kid's knees. No, this was reality where you had to find common ground with your co-workers that didn't involve your hatred for your job because telling the wrong person could get you fired.

This left me friend-less for a few months until The Boss's computer started acting up and I met my IT hook-up. And not hook-up like you're all thinking. No hanky-panky was involved whatsoever. Get your minds out of the gutter! No, when The Boss's computer went whack-o on her and I was ordered to get it fixed while she was in her 2 p.m. meeting, I called IT. In walked my first work friend who I refer to as Buffalo Soldier.

Buffalo Soldier turned out to be Jamaican and as WG1 and I have mentioned before we are big fans of the island of Jamaica since we spent our senior Spring Break on the beautiful isle. So Buffalo Soldier and I already had common ground, which led us to a great IT relationship. He and I aren't the kind of friends that eat lunch together or grab drinks after work. Our friendship is strictly work-related but that common ground has led me to some great benefits. 

Which leads me to my great realization, making friends with the IT department is an absolute must. When you start a new job, don't try to make friends with people in your department the first day. Sure this is important for day two and three, but IT is where the hook-up is and therefore priority numero uno. 

Buffalo Soldier knows that The Boss is no friend of technology, so whenever she has a melt-down and needs me to fix something ASAP, I call Buffalo Soldier and he comes running. When the printer doesn't work, my IT buddy will deal with my whining until the machine is fixed. When I couldn't figure out how to use Microsoft 2007, Buffalo Soldier was there with a tutorial. And my latest IT hook-up? Last week all of upper management got new faster, cooler looking computers. When they had a leftover in the bunch? Yep, you guessed it. All mine.

Heed my advice. Make friends with IT first - they can make your life oh so sweet or oh so horrific. 

Friends Forever (Or At Least During the Week)

Making friends in the workplace is a long and painful process. In college, making friends is simple. Knock back three shots of vodka on a Saturday night with your freshman roommate, roam the halls searching for parties, and I can pretty much guarantee that that girl who offers you one of her Mike’s Hard Lemonades will be your new cafeteria buddy, or that girl from your French class will recognize you as you stagger out of the communal bathrooms and ask you if you’ll join her for a beer out of her mini-fridge (good Lord, do I miss those days!).

Work friends are a different story. For one thing, unlike college, no one is starting on a level playing field. Your employees have already made their friends and are going to be wary to let you into their clique (and, oh boy, do office cliques exist). Also, not everyone is the same age so starting a conversation with the 45-year-old in the cubicle next to you about your latest obsession with Chace Crawford might not be the best conversation starter. Work friends may be hard to attain, but there are some ways to try and find yourself a new lunch buddy. Plus, according to Rath’s Gallup Organization research, people with at least three friends at work were 46% more likely to be satisfied with their job. So get out there and make a friend and you just might find that work ain’t so bad after all.

Put yourself out there.
Sitting at your cubicle day in and day out not speaking to anyone will assure you lunches spent alone reading the latest best-selling novel at the deli next your office. I speak from experience here. For the first few months at my first job, I avoided eating lunch in the office to avoid conversations with my fellow co-workers. I blame it on my shy demeanor and my bitterness at not landing an editorial job right out of college. But being bitter is no way to start a friendship. Nor is being too shy to make eye contact with people while grabbing coffee in the kitchen in the morning.

Flattery will get you everywhere.
I truly believe compliments were the key to me securing work friendships. “Oh, is that a new dress?” and “Where did you get cute bracelet from?” are my favorite words to put together while at work. Not only do people think you are truly interested in what they are wearing and saying, but it also takes up at least ten minutes of your boring day to hear about how that dress is actually two years old (and just looks new because your co-worker is great at taking things to the cleaners) and how J.Crew is having a sale on jewelry.

Look enthralled.
Asking follow-up questions and appearing to be interested in your co-worker’s new low-sodium diet is, yes, I realize, very, very hard. Because you could really care less if she can only season her vegetables and chicken with lemon despite her love of soy sauce and table salt. But, feigning interest will in fact be beneficial to you and earn you work friends. And someday the new girl will have to listen to you rattle on about your eating habits.

Never be afraid to ask for help.
Odd as this may seem, a lot of my close work friends are either in my department or sit near the office machinery, meaning the copy machine, fax machine, you get the picture. Don’t be scared to ask those around you for help when scanning a document for your boss or making 20 copies of your meeting’s agenda. Helping hands will be eager to assist, and you might even get a new friend out of the deal.

And remember, a work friend means someone you can gossip with and let’s face it, gossip is the best cure to a boring day at the office.