Nothing I hate more than nothing

Thursday in working-bee parlance means, one more day to Friday and Shangri-La or, at least, margari-ta. Being back in an office for nine hours a day has made me face how much my perspective has changed toward work. I spend six hours a day writing in my kitchen without any human interaction and feel more alive than in these past ten days at my temp job. I am grateful for the money. Money buys me a large, airy, comfortable apartment.  Money buys me time to write. 


During my time at the office, I read at work, news sources mainly, but I have also been reading more about what's happening in the philanthropic world, artist retreats around Oregon and Washington, and Sen. Paul Ryan's "The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America's Promise." Which I bring up not to complain, but to comment that my presence is not exactly profitable for this managed health care company, which grates on me. The non-profit hired a temporary administrative assistant to answer the phone that hardly ever rings or ask a lot of questions that create a lot of circuitous emails, and take notes at meetings mainly focused on improving their productivity and effectiveness within this managed health care operation.  If I do next to nothing all day, they are to blame, not me. I am a worker-bee who shows up on time, is pleasant, capable, conscientious, and respectful. Yet, it drives me crazy that the department who hired me does not have the capacity to train me, nor the guts to go back to the temp agency and demand a temp with experience in health care, not some middle-manager who used to fundraise for the arts.  So, I go to work ready for nothing really to happen and nothing really does. I leave feeling as though I got next to nothing out of the actual work and neither did my department. Now, imagine if you worked for a major corporation and you felt this way? I know people who do. How utterly futile! 


Senator Ryan's aim at fiscal responsibility in Washington is to "restore America's promise." I say, budget cuts alone will not restore what worker-bees in this country need more than anything else - a sense of accomplishment.  What American workers need is a sense that what they are doing is SOMEthing. And, I believe, workers should not be punished for accepting less in an existential reward from their job in exchange for the safety and security of health benefits, cost of living increases, and a pension. There is an inherent assumption in Senator Ryan's premise of America's Promise, which is that all men are created equal, but not all men's choices are equal. 


I choose (I am fortunate. No sarcasm intended. At. All.) to go to my desk job today. I will probably read more about what is happening in Libya, Japan, and on Capitol HIll.  Maybe I'll do something really useful, something that will contribute to the increase productivity of my department today. So, here's to the promise of something!