Work In Progress

How the president’s job is just like ours

In all the hoopla surrounding the election of our next president, it occurs to me that what Barack Obama won is a job. The world’s most powerful job, yes. But it’s a job like yours and mine. He’ll wake up in the morning (even after a 3 a.m. call on a red phone), get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to work. Just like you and me.

He’ll get …

Even Vatican workers have to clock in

From the Italian news service ANSA:

The tiny state on the Tiber has issued new cards to all employees from the lowest office staff to the grandest heads of departments – even if they are priests or bishops.

The swipe cards have reportedly been received without complaint by the lay staff but some older clerics have been heard

They’re doing yoga in the office

Sounds like a perfectly nice idea, right? We’re all too busy to exercise, too stressed to function, desperately in need of a sun salutation. So why not a yoga class right here in the office?

Me, I’m still on maternity leave, so I don’t have to respond to the friendly e-mails inviting one and all to join in. But I’ll be frank. I don’t …

The layoffs have begun

I voted this morning. By sometime tonight, if democracy functions, we should have a new president-elect. And none too soon. The economy’s in the Dumpster, and our employers need to know someone out there has a plan to fish us out.

I write this as I hear from a dear friend that she’s been laid off. Time Inc. announced impending changes …

If kids could vote…

…apparently, they would. A lot. For Obama. Check out Time for Kids‘ election webtravaganza. Here’s what I learned on the Electionary:

Ballot initiative (n)
A proposed law or policy that is voted on directly by the public. It is also sometimes called a referendum, proposition, or ballot measure. Ballot initiatives are different in each

“Sunlighting”: the new work trend

Heard of moonlighting? Yeah. Now you get the picture.

Iconoculture says it’s the new trend (they call it “daylighting,” but I thought my term was cleverer…I’m trademarking). Iconoculture says:

Consumers who have gotten used to a certain lifestyle may take drastic measures to maintain that lifestyle, even when the economy tanks. It’s

Getting ready to be sandwiched

My recently widowed Dad moves in this Friday. We’ve prepared the house: Chris has put in safety bars in the bathrooms and a bannister on the stoop. Right now he’s installing a new sink with an easy-to-use faucet. We’ve cleared out the downstairs playroom and moved in a bed, a comfy reading chair, a smoke alarm. We’re stocked up on …

The case of the sabotaging colleague

It was a dark and stormy day at Employer Inc.

Walking to the window, Mark gritted his teeth and scratched his face, which felt itchy and hot. He surveyed the crepuscular lights of London, as if the missing file might be hiding among them. Monday’s presentation would be his first in front of CliffBank’s senior management team. He’d

Who’s afraid of unemployment?

The news is scaring the sleep outta me. Unemployment numbers are soaring (here from the Wall Street Journal) :

…while the unemployment rate is at a five-year high at 6.1%, a broader measure of weakness that includes people who have stopped looking for work or whose hours have been cut to part-time is 11% — the highest in 15 years.

In …

When good technology goes bad

All of you visiting Time.com blogland last Friday may have wondered: WTF happened? I’m quoting our fearless Time.com leader Josh here, but I’ll translate: What in fosh-farned farnation happened?

For an explanation, see Josh’s post below. Suffice it to say that our former blog platform went all kerflooey and it took the best and …

Oops

Faithful TIME.com blog-readers may have noticed something odd today: the blogs kind of disappeared. Long story short, we’ve had major server problems, and as a result we’ve had to re-launch all of our blogs on WordPress. The upside is a faster, better, more stable platform. The downside is we’ll need a few days to get our archives back …

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