Working Girl

Patience, it seems, has it's own rewards.

I've been with my current employer for almost nine years.  The business is located in the basement of the Port of Lewiston administration building (yes, Idaho has a seaport).  When I started in early 1996, my desk was in the reception area, out front.  Any visitor to the office must have mistook me for someone who got paid to just sit at a desk and entertain them, because no matter what I was doing, people who were waiting for another staff member always had to strike up a conversation with me.  No, I wasn't the receptionist, and I don't want to sound unfriendly, but it always seemed to happen when I was on a tight deadline to get a project done.  And I can't just ignore someone who is talking to me...but then, that does depend on the tone of the conversation.  Thing is, I'm the accountant, CFO, or my "official" title, Fiscal Officer (no saluting, please...I've seen it a million times already).  Anyways, when you are dealing with numbers, constant interruptions are just not conducive to productivity or accuracy.  Whether I was working on payroll, or a detailed reconciliation, the visitor didn't seem to understand that I really needed to concentrate on my task. 

Fortunately in 2002, after six years of "being there" in the reception area, I got moved to an office in the back of the building.  Wow, what a difference that made!  I shared that office with my boss, which wasn't too bad really.  It was a major improvement from the reception area.  But, this past September my boss posed a question to me.  Would I be interested in moving into a vacant office in the Port of Lewiston upstairs?  I had to think about it over the weekend.  Hmmm, do I stay or move?     Duh!  Move!

So, today was moving day for me.  To give you some idea of how significant this change is, it was like going from working in a submarine to working in the penthouse suite!  Yes, I'm moving on up!  To the east side!  The office is in the east corner of the building, has two windows, and is painted in a beautiful two tone seafoam green with a nicely done paisley border (wainscoting treatment).  I spent the entire day, running up and down the stairs, packing all my stuff out of the old, and into the new.  Okay, so most of the running was in the morning, by the afternoon my right knee was about to give (an old softball injury sustained in 1980).  But, I got everything moved.  Yea!  And tomorrow I need to get it better organized.  I feel a little bit like Melanie Griffith's character at the end of 'Working Girl.'

There is one caveat.  It's on a trial basis.  If the Port Manager doesn't like the arrangement after six months, I'll have to go back downstairs.  So, I plan to be on my very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very bestest behavior (guess I'll have to leave my Evanescence and Def Leppard CD's in the car).