Loving the office slavery

Three and a half weeks in, I can report that I am loving being a slave for the money.

Little E is, as far as I can gather, having a brilliant time running her grandparents ragged. As far as I can gather, they don't mind too much. I can report, somewhat guiltily, that I don't think about her much at work, but that I am very glad to see her when I get home. I enthusiastically dispense dinner and bath and stories, and look forward to the next day spent at home with her (the at home Monday, work Tuesday, at home Wednesday, work Thursday, at home Friday formula is a winner). I put more effort into Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Hanging out in the park, doing multiple loads of laundry and acquiring groceries, interspersed with story and sandpit time, all of a sudden seem to involve much less effort.

The work side of it is good, too. I'm learning new stuff. Because I'm not managing my own files I don't get constantly interrupted like I used to. I get hours at a stretch where I can work on one task. The ultimate responsibility is not mine. When I don't know stuff, it's ok. No one goes to jail (although they do wind up paying extremely large amounts of money to each other). I go to the gym on Tuesdays.* My boss is not nearly as annoying as I thought he might be; in fact he is positively pleasant to work for.

Thank you, grandparents, for making this possible.

* It is yet to be established whether this is a good thing. Last week I went to my first Pump class in more than two years, wobbled down the stairs afterwards and hobbled my way through the next five days. Because I am a sucker for punishment, I went to another one today.

Hi-ho, hi-ho

... it's off to work I go (tomorrow). And very pleased about it I am too.

Having moaned at length here (and to anyone who would listen) about how I wished I could find some sort of suitable work in my field, I've lowered my expectations a bit and taken a leap sideways. I'm returning to my old firm two days per week, but to work primarily on my boss' personal injury files rather than managing my own criminal ones. I might do the odd criminal appeal but that will be all.

I forsee good and bad things about this: the good - it's work! It will get me out of the house every Tuesday and Thursday, dressed in something other than jeans, to talk to adults and think about things other than how to persuade a toddler to eat, and when I should try to make her sleep, and which book we've read less than a dozen times in the last twenty four hours. It's also pretty good money - not essential but it will be nice to be able to have a few luxuries we would have otherwise delayed. The bulk of the work I will be doing is discrete tasks on files managed by someone else. I've only ever managed my own files, which is good in some ways, but is also a big responsibility. I'm looking forward to the chance to use existing skills in a new way, and to do so in a relatively low stress environment.

The bad - I suspect my boss is going to be a frustrating person to work directly under. Previously I chatted to him every now and then about how my files were going, and occasionally asked for help, but that was it. Whole days could pass where we didn't do more than say hello in the kitchen. All the people who I saw try to work directly under him had a hard time. That being said, they were all a lot more junior than me and were struggling to learn basic skills at the same time as work for someone who's impatient, doesn't suffer fools, and has very high standards. I'm arrogant enough to think that I can manage better than others have.


I'm not really feeling sad or worried about leaving E, I think because I know she's going to be in such good hands (my Mum on Tuesdays and David's parents on Thursdays). That being said, we'll see how I feel tomorrow!