multislacking.

as of late, boss lady has developed a new habit: reading her mail during meetings. mid-issue, mid-idea, mid-collective discussion, she will pick up a pile of snail mail, rest it on her lap or table space and sift through it, opening envelopes and occassionally holding something up for a closer look. now, it should be duly noted that this is a substantial breakthrough from her previous behavior: sitting at her desk reading emails while pretending to listen as the meeting carried on without her, in her office.

i suppose the idea that we are sitting in her office with the physical presence of her somewhat human form somehow assures her that she too is a contributing team member. or if not, at least it attempts to feed her incessant curiosity of what exactly we all "do." regeardless, she has gone from one level of ineffectiveness to a truly impressive upper tier of nonfunctionality.

there was an article in the huffington post this summer about a study at stanford university exposing the futility of multitasking. it stated that "multitaskers are more easily distracted and less able to ignore irrelevant information than people who do less multitasking." irrelevant information, eh? "they couldn't ignore stuff that doesn't matter. they love stuff that doesn't matter." i see.

i actually read a similar article on an arts blog about a year ago and consequently tried to quash my own multitasking tendencies. i had to employ my left hand to extract my right wrist from the mouse when people appeared at my desk with a question. i also tried to turn my entire head including my eyeballs away from the monitor when i replied. this lasted about a week. but i still think about it and try to limit my nonfunctional multitasking urges.

unfortunately, i don't think boss lady will ever attempt the same self-discipline. i am pretty sure she combs her hair once a month.

business casual.

i don't have to dress up for work. dress up is taking it to the extreme. i barely have to wear shoes to work. my entire office is comprised of dancers and everyone does dance shit all day so half the time people are on their computers wearing sweats with tape on their feet. i do however dress in real clothes when we have events at work - which is pretty often. but enough about me. let's talk about our leadership. recently she asked me to choose between two $5.99 tops for her to wear to an important meeting, while standing in "suit separates" pants with a 3" hole along the side. now, i am by no means wealthy. i get paid in chocolate coins. and yet, i still manage to wear clothing that is adequately affixed. it's one thing to wear cheap clothes. it's a whole other situation when your clothes are so shabby they are showing skin the likes of which your staff should never have to see. and you wonder why we never have any money and can't seem to convince wealthy people to support the starving arts organziations. um, perhaps because management looks like they just rolled out of bed in time to solicit your major gift. christ.

victory!

i have successfully avoided the boss all day.