Live and Let Di

I call this work?

Before I retired, I worked for a fresh produce sales company...for my husband. I love my husband. The people who work for my husband usually love him. I don't love working for him. But while I was there, I worked closely with his sales force, one of whom is Kevin. Kevin went out on his own about three years ago and is doing great. The company is called Farmer's Friend...since he works with farmers to get their produce sold to people who need it. Over the past few months, he's been thinking of hiring someone and has mentioned to Hurley that he would love to have me work for him. I pondered it, but wasn't ready to make the leap.

Then a couple weeks ago, I called him on a Monday. We talked about the business and what I could do to help. The conversation ended with, "When can you start?" I said, "Tomorrow!"

Our office is basically an apartment over a free-standing detached garage at his home. And in the garage? Our corporate gym! Yes, he has a stairmaster and all kinds of weights so employees can work out during the workday. I guess my title is Sales Assistant, but sometimes I tell people I'm VP of everything Kevin doesn't want to do. So I'm making it up as I go along. Initially it's a lot of computer set-up, looking at the current systems and seeing if they need to be changed, QuickBooks stuff, etc.

All in all, it's a great working environment. I'm pretty much overdressed if I wear jeans and a sweatshirt. Make-up is absolutely optional. Kevin is glad to have me on board and willing to work around the flexibility that I need. Plus his daughter Lily (5) has fallen in love with me and comes up to the office regularly and gives me hugs.

I'll probably end up working 30 or so hours a week, which is fine for me. Here are some pictures of my workplace:

 

This is my desk. Yes, that's a plasma TV behind my chair. So far we haven't had the TV on, but it's an option.

 

This is the view from my desk. On the right is Kevin's desk area and on the left is the corporate kitchen. Kevin regularly supplies yogurt which is really nice.

 

Opposite my desk is a couch and behind that the stairs that lead to the exit and to the corporate gym.

 

And how about this? The corporate nap room? Yes, there is a bedroom off the office, so conceivably, if I got really tired I could lay down for a quick nap. But since I don't know how to take a nap of less than two hours, I don't think I'm going to chance using it.

Di

Working Girl

About 6 years ago, my husband and I decided it was time for me to quit my job. I called it "retiring" but that sounded kind of silly since I wasn't quite 40 at the time. Silly or not, I still called it "retiring."

Recently, a chain of events led to my reconsideration of retirement. It was a combination of things. In this economy, I don't think you can take anything for granted, so a second income is a good idea. Plus, I have always taken great pride in my work and get incredible personal satisfaction from it. I have also enjoyed the positive reinforcement from my employers. In the past 6 years where my job was stay-at-home Mom, I've noticed a certain lack in both the personal satisfaction and the positive reinforcement.

It's just hard to summon up personal satisfaction for repetitive work that is actually never completed...like laundry, cleaning up the kitchen, making beds, etc. And the older my kids get, the less positive reinforcement I get from them. I know that's not their job. They shouldn't be expected to say, "Wow Mom, you got four loads of laundry done in one day!" or "It is so cool that our lights and phones stay on because of the amazing work you do paying bills!" I do get some satisfaction when they say, "Good dinner Mom!" But more often than not, I hear, "I'm not hungry" or "I don't like this."

So, I decided it was time to become a:

Well, without the big hair, Jersey accent and "bod for sin."

Tune in tomorrow for more on this story...the hows, whens and whats!

Di