RSSThe Virtual Attendance Bell
Oct 26
Society and Culture Comments Off
Lately, I’ve been daydreaming of not working. It’s not exactly a unique thing to dream about being unhinged from the day to day drag of a work schedule, especially if your workday looks anything like mine. My alarm goes off at 8 am. Some days, I beat my alarm by an hour or so. I already have the coffee brewed, the eggs on the skillet and I’m sitting in front of my television watching Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN 2 waiting for the inevitable Peter Gammons cameo.
Other days, my alarm beats me to the punch. This morning, it is a virtual tie, but man I am dragging. I somehow manage to sleepwalk through my entire morning routine, shower, shave, coffee, eggs and all. I stopped putting on a tie months ago. It takes too much concentration to make everything match. I leave my house at the time I should be pulling into the parking garage. I limp into the office, feeling out of it. My clothes feel too tight today, it is too hot in my office, I am sure I have a sore throat. I feel like someone crumpled me up into a ball and tossed me into the waste basket. And I potentially have four more days of this before the weekend.
I sit down at my desk and listen to the hum of my computer as it warms up. An inevitable message from Microsoft tells me vaguely that something is wrong, that I should be worried but gives me absolutely no information with which to diagnose the problem. I click “ignore” and make a short list of my work priorities for the day which I write on the back side of a budget printout that I will never file. Then I go hunting for the first document, double click on the icon and start working.
Days without meetings run like a slow dripping faucet with a break for lunch to bust up the monotony. Days with meetings tend feel less regimented but I get less done.
Sometime between the 3pm and 6pm, I get the itch to pack up and leave. I am not on a timeclock (probably one of the better perks of being a so-called professional) but if there is work to do, I will stay to finish it. When I’m focused and energetic, I usually stay later. If I’m half asleep and drooling, I leave on the early side, or at least on time when the virtual bell rings at 5pm. And this repeats on and on and on.
I happen to like what I do. I find the work challenging and engaging, except perhaps in the repetition of it day after day. I know I should be dreaming about my next vacation instead of pretending I’m going to leave and never come back. I could probably live for six months on the money I have, but what happens after that?
It’s all rhetorical really. A daydream and nothing more substantial. The thing about working is that it serves a better purpose than just helping someone else’s business run. It provides a sense of accomplishment, helps us mature and employ whatever skills we have. It is occupation but it is also more than an occupation. It frees us to do other things in the off hours and appreciate the time we have when we aren’t at work. And that, more than anything, is why every day we drag ourselves back to reality and get to work.
