The grass is not always greener on the other side
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Sunday, April 20, 2008 1:46 PM PDT
Maybe you like your job, maybe not. Perhaps you throw back the blankets each morning, imagining the wonderful things that will happen at work. Or maybe you slither, grumbling, out of bed and into the shower, wishing you could win the lottery and tell the boss “adios.”
Most weeks, it’s a combination of the two. But still, you wonder what it would be like to work as a … (fill in the blank).
In the new book “Water Cooler Diaries” by Joni B. Cole and B.K. Rakhra, you’ll get a peek into the life of dozens of women, and you’ll learn about the kind of day they can have at work.
In her introduction, Joni Cole says she was feeling sorry for herself one morning when she was caring for a sick toddler, experiencing a slump in her freelancing business and just generally having a bad day. Surely other women in other careers have it better, right? So she asked women from all walks of life and paths of career to record a 24-hour period of their lives.
This book reflects their experiences on March 27, 2007.
From an executive assistant who relaxes with a new hobby and a plan: if she can sell her product, she’ll earn money to furnish her soldier-son the best body armor money can buy. “I’ve managed to raise a decent human being,” she says. “It would be unbearably awful for the world if Tristan were to die because there was a better body armor out there that he wasn’t wearing.”
From a school custodian: “Kids are so disrespectful these days… I have heard the principal yell at them through closed doors. Still, they don’t care.”
From the owner of an Avon Beauty Center: “My feet might hurt, but my heart is happy!”
A social worker who cares for her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother says, “Most of the time she knows I’m family, but couldn’t tell you my name or our relationship. Tonight she doesn’t even know that.”
A paint tester notes about her temporary gig: “I need a third job because my first two are poorly paid.”
Still think your job could be better? Check out the 21-hour day of an orthopedic trauma surgeon or the unimaginably long day of a stay-at-home-mom with a 4-year-old and infant twins.
Wow.
“Water Cooler Diaries” is one of those books that you start reading and can’t stop. Each of the diaries is short; most are just a few pages. They’re not candy-coated, but they’re not filled with “I hate my job” cries, either. Some are funny. Others will break your heart. You can jump around and read them in any order you want. This paperback book is perfect for tucking in your purse or briefcase so you have something to read on the commute or on your lunchbreak at work.
Walk in another woman’s (steel-toed) shoes for a day by picking up this un-put-downable book. “Water Cooler Diaries” proves that life is definitely not greener on the other side of the cubicle wall.
Terri Schlichenmeyer is a freelance book reviewer. She can be contacted at bookwormsez@yahoo.com.
