Staving Off Inefficiency
My feeble attempt to have a productive workday failed at precisely 8:26am when I realized that a) learning a new remote control is hard and b) none of the other VCRs in the office seemed to be in working order. I sent a message to my boss saying that I was returning home, then packed it up and drove back to my home office. The house remained relatively quiet in the face of my frustration, but I realize that I need to come up with a solution to my noise problem before this long weekend is over and done. I need to move the office to another location, but ideas are limited because of space.
My father suggested that I move my office downstairs to the living room. I had to scoff (scoff!) at the idea because a) it’s still a public place and b) my grandmother is visiting, and all she does is watch TV downstairs. The noise level would not decrease in that case–it would increase.
I am now thinking that I need to go through my own room and trash anything unnecessary (as an extra-added bonus, I’ll be getting rid of anything extraneous well before any projected move date, so when the time does roll around, I won’t be left scrambling). Moving a few key items and forbidding the use of the treadmill during the hours of 8am to 4pm might do the trick–I need to get away from major noise sources and produce my own kind of noise, and it’ll help me reclaim a space that should’ve been mine but still remains partly public. I’ll have to move a few pieces of furniture and disavow a desk, but it could work. All other rooms are hopelessly crowded or much too public.
Sleeping where I work will probably depress me even further, but it’s a chance I’m willing to take given that my production levels dropped drastically this week. I finished my scan at precisely 4:02pm today, about four hours too late. The report itself will not be late; as always, it will be on time. However, I am not satisfied with that at all. Given the ease of the scan, I should have finished at noon or even at the end of the business day yesterday. The report should’ve gone to proof today and made it through at least two rounds. My client will receive it on the same day he was scheduled to in my projections, but the fact is I’m still behind. It’s unacceptable and should not have happened. I am exacting when it comes to deadlines and to the goals I set for myself on any given day. I hope this quality gives me a boost and brings job-hunting to a close soon enough, but in the meantime, I still have a job to do. Like I said yesterday, it’s not the most important job in the world, but someone needs to do it. And that someone happens to be me in this case.
I sound like such a tight-assed perfectionist, don’t I? I can’t help it–when I do something, I want to do it right, I want to do it efficiently. I don’t want hindrances coming from any direction, and that happened this week.
When I was a supervisor, I demanded a high-level of quality from my employees–it would be hypocritical not to expect it of myself. Oh sure, I piss and moan about my working conditions and the level of indifference I experience, I bitch constantly about the way the company is run, but I do realize I have clients who depend on me. I don’t want to let them down. One client told me the other day, quite cheerfully, that I always have the answers for them. Good, that’s what I want. And I don’t want that level of satisfaction compromised by the noisy environment.
See? All of the above would make me an asset to anyone. I don’t bullshit when it comes to jobs. I’ll bitch, just like everyone else does, but in the end I’ll get everything done well ahead of time and to the client’s satisfaction. I always try to exceed expectations because that can lead to other opportunities.
Off I go to survey the room. I can’t move things around today given my 11-miler tomorrow, but I can envision and plan.
