Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Reach For The Skies


Ah, gentle readers, your MatchGirl is remiss.  It’s been days upon days since she’s last shared any of her life in this little tome.  To be fair, she has been busy.  There is work. There is the planning of the next Work It Brooklyn. And there is play, catching up with friends, old and new, whose lives are taking them on adventures and to places that your MatchGirl can only imagine.

That said, I am drafting this post en route (and, but en route, I mean literally from the plane) to Bogota, Colombia, where I am headed for four days of work and play combined.

My new job (I say new, though I have been here since April), has a big office and a ton of staff in Bogota, the hometown of one of our founders, and your MatchGirl, a coworker and a lucky prize winner are all going to Bogota for the first time – to meet the staff of the office, to immerse ourselves in company culture, to take pictures, to eat great food and to find out what it is that makes our partnership such a special one.

While I’m in Bogota, I will be Tweeting and blogging for work, as well as posting my personal thoughts, images and videos on my own Twitter feed and Facebook page (sorry, no link to that – you know where it is if you’re my IRL friend!).

This is a journey that I could not have imagined a year ago.  Heck.  This, dear ones, is a journey that I could not have imagined six months ago.

I know that many of you are still unemployed and underemployed, just looking for something – that right fit.  That job that you not only don’t mind getting up for in the morning, but that more times than not, you want to get up for.  I know that you cannot imagine that six months from now – four months from now – even next week – you could have that job in your hands.

I want to remind you of the possibilities.

So many people that your MatchGirl has been fortunate enough to meet, in real life and simply via the web/blogosphere since I started jotting my thoughts down in this space, have found themselves employed.  And well employed.  So many people that put their heads down and just kept working on what they love have found themselves doing just that.  Have made opportunities where they never imagined opportunities could be.  Have been discovered for doing thing that were, to them, simply works of passion.

So, while many of you struggle still, please, do not abandon hope.

There’s no advice in this post, dear readers, just a glimmer that better days are on the horizon.  Whether it’s according to plan or something entirely unexpected.

Best of luck to you, gentle ones.  I can’t wait to hear the adventures that you find.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Take This Job And Shove It?

Most of you, gentle readers, are unemployed or underemployed.  You started reading this little blog because your MatchGirl was writing about the same (or similar) experiences you were having and the same (or similar) things you were thinking.  And, while I may no longer be unemployed, I am still keeping an eye out for news that effects the unemployed and underemployed amongst us.

When I see a news story about a man like Steven Slater quitting his Jet Blue gig by sliding down the emergency slide, beer in hand, or when I see a hoax like "Whiteboard Girl" - it gives me pause. Both of these are amazing.  I'm not going to lie.  I laughed when I read about both of them.

But they touch a finer point.

People are frustrated.  Working, though ultimately better than not working, the way the economy is right now, is hard.

Please don't take my point the wrong way.  I am so happy to have a job.  And I am lucky to have a job where the people are cool, I am learning a lot, and my boss seems to notice when I am working hard.  I am one of the fortunate ones.  So many people out there - people who were unemployed for a long time and people who are terrified of losing their jobs (for whatever reason) - feel like they cannot speak up.  And they are treated like crap.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of employers are taking full advantage of the fact that the economy is staying in the toilet - and it doesn't look like it's going to get better any time soon.

So, while you may be among the un and underemployed, dear readers, I know you still have that fantasy about saying "take this job and shove it" to your tyrannical boss.  If you could pull a Steven Slater or a "Whiteboard Girl" to quit your job - what would you do?

Leave your comments below!