5 Apr 2012

What The Hell, Dude?

Remington Rand ad
from the January 1953 Charm
That was the subject line of an e-mail I received from a blog reader who wanted to know what was up with the lack of food pictures and overly sentimental fawning for the oldy times on this amazing space on the Internet.

There are a few well-known bloggers who have taken steps away from their public spaces because of things like divorce, death and depression.

My absence is because I lost my goddamn mind:

I got a full-time job.

What the HELL, dude?

I know, right? It kind of came out of nowhere. I was minding my own business, freelancing without a care in the world, when BAM! Full-time employment.That's really how it happened, sound effect and all. I was freelancing for a Toronto ad agency for ten days, told the CEO that I should probably work there forever, she agreed and said that was her secret plan all along, and all of a sudden I'm wearing pants with a zipper and getting up before noon on a regular basis.

What the HELL, dude?

It did not hurt that I'm basically the most awesome employee ever who is oozing with talent. Well, that, and the CEO is a former boss of mine and someone that I'm good friends with. Heh. Welcome to Nepotism. Population: Me (And My Friends and Family).

What the HELL, dude?

Eh, that's getting tired. Enough of that. So, yeah. Not only have I been working full-time, I've been working, like, double full-time. The agency is so swamped with work that I clocked 270 hours at the office in March, which is basically the sort of thing that happens right before a person runs into the street naked and starts pounding their hands in the pavement. Or something.

But as I've gotten the hang of the role, started to make positive changes in the department, and knocking things off the clients' lists, things have been much more reasonable lately. While working at an ad agency is never going to be a 9 to 5 gig, I feel like things are normalizing.

And y'all know I don't "do" normal.

So, as long as I don't regularly end up staying in the office until 10 PM, I'll be embarking on a supremely flawed lifestyle experiment to compliment the 50s Housewife Experiment:

The 50s Career Girl Experiment!

Eee!

I've been collecting oodles of books, magazines and articles that deal with working women in the 1950s, and it's time that I shared all this horrifying marvelousness. I'll attempt to follow career advice, business etiquette, marital advice, home keeping advice, and fashion and health suggestions that were given in the 1950s for "the girl with a job".

It will be all kinds of wrong as I'll still be living in the land of laptops and cell phones, but I'll do what I can to explore the decade's advice and put it into practice. And, naturally, because of the industry I happen to work in, there will be a somewhat annoying desire to label what I'm doing as "Mad Men'ing" ... but, eh, if the shoe fits ...

It'll be a little while before I put everything up here and set the experiment up officially, but I hope to share fun snippets and crazy tidbits here and there while I get this latest gong show rolling. And here's one to get us started, from the introduction to The Executive Secretary: Techniques for Success in a Secretarial Career by Marilyn Burke (1959):

What the HELL, dude?

8 comments:

Susan Vollenweider 10:11 am, April 05, 2012  

WHOA! This is so grown up! And I am so proud of you for taking this grown up moment and turning it into a 50's experiment! (No, like unnaturally proud of you, like you were my kid or something)(Which sorta sounds creepy) (Deal)(Although maybe this is just an excuse for vintage shoes and sweater-sets...which only amps the prouditude)

Congrats on the job, it sounds like you are rocking it! So, to emulate the 50's technology, are you going to smack the side of your laptop everytime you hit, "Enter"?

Father of the Monkey,  10:49 am, April 05, 2012  

I am so proud of you for taking this grown up moment and turning it into a 50's experiment! EXACTLY like unnaturally proud of you, like you were my kid or something!

Ha ha

MMM,  6:22 pm, April 05, 2012  

YOU'RE BACK! Never leave us again! And OMG I am excited for your next experiment!!!!

Karen 8:06 pm, April 06, 2012  

I think this new experiment could be even more interesting, given that so many of us relate to the working world than the housewife world and we could see how much has changed and how much was the same was these pioneering wives!

Anonymous,  3:05 am, April 13, 2012  

Congrats on the job but don't let it burn you out! Looking forward to the career girl posts.

Anonymous,  11:54 am, April 13, 2012  

I cannot wait!!

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Need words? I'm a Toronto-based freelance writer who injects great ones into blogs, websites, magazines, ads and more. So many services, one lovely Jen (with one 'n').

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