The Septimus Notes

Thursday, May 29, 2008

|And that's why you keep waiting for the express train.|

I have been an SA in my firm's bureau parisien for over 2 weeks now. And in these first 12 work days where I should have worked at least 84 hours assuming an 8hr day less 1 hour for lunch, I would guess that I've "worked" about 12 hours. Assuming you don't count planning my academic schedule for next year, cleaning out my school email's inbox, knitting a sweater for a friend, watching "Seinfeld" and "NewsRadio" on YouTube, reading the NYT and Le Monde, updating this blog and shopping for vintage chairs as work.

And all through those distractions I felt guilty. Inappropriately so, since it was not as if: 1) I hadn't asked multiple people for work, 2) I hadn't made the fact that I had no work to do known or 3) I was avoiding work that I had been given.

Still, I didn't get to where I am the way that I did by being someone who likes to remain idle for too long.

So two nights ago I decided to take matters into my own hands. If they weren't going to give me work, I was going to free myself from the shackle of my desk. I'm in a marvelous city that is aching to be explored. So the next morning (yesterday), I didn't get into the office until about 10.30. The next two hours I sat with my officemates talking about the place and nature of latina women in societies today (both are girls -- one is Cuban-American, the other is Franco-Colombian), particularly as seen in contemporary literature. At 12.30 an officemate (who has some work, but not too much -- not a legal stagiaire or SA) and I took a nearly 3hr lunch at La Duree. For dessert I had, of course, a macaron. At 16.30, I was literally arranging my bag to go home (well, not home -- I was going to go knit in the jardin du Luxembourg). At 16.32 I received a call from my partner mentor (who I have not seen since the first day I arrived where he poked his head into the office to say that he had to cancel lunch [I don't blame him -- he's extremely busy and I think, hierarchically speaking, the most important person in this office]). At 17.02 I had 250+ pages of technical documents to read and summarize for a client to present to its board of directors next week.

And that's why you always carry an umbrella.

And that's why you don't teach lessons to your kids.

promulgated by SWS2.1 at 05:08.
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