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MARY-JANE DUNCANE: It’s a juggling act, it is

Mary-Jane-s life has been a frantic juggle, running her own business, pursuing other interests, and sometimes she feels like tossing the laptop into the sea.

Life's been a juggle for Mary-Jane.
Life's been a juggle for Mary-Jane.

The current almost daily interaction between me and himself goes a little like this. How was your day?  Did you have a good day at work looking at screens?

My screens were good thanks, how were your screens?  A little boring?  Oh dear.  Want to watch someone on the bigger screen in the front room tonight?

You can sit and scroll through your smaller screen while we do.

Ditch the laptop?

Or so it’s felt like for us this week.  Between online meetings, (and yes, I forgot to turn off the camera whilst eating my sandwich) and lengthy meetings in person, and some extensive training, I am a little tempted to frisbee the laptop into the sea.  But I won’t.

It’s an onscreen life for so many of us.

One, I can’t afford a new laptop.  Two, there might be some wee animal in there not expecting a bop on the head with an electronic device.  Three, I need to work therefore I need the laptop.

It’s been a week of exhausting contradictions and I’ve been bouncing between two modes of work.

The first where I get 40 hours worth of work done in a morning. The second where I get 30 minutes worth of work done in a whole day.  No balance seems to be imminent.

My actual day job

When at my actual day job, I spend a lot of time chatting with customers, making sure the staff are all okay, have everything they need and generally steering the ship.

There is no opportunity for me to pop on some headphones, listen to a podcast, scroll through some tedious social media and stuff my face with an oven baked potato.

You don’t get to pop out on a lunch break when working in hospitality.  Instead you’ll find yourself grabbing something on the go, usually at about 3pm so when it’s time for tea you too tired.

I tend to get home and feel like I’ve achieved nothing and start all over again on the admin/research side.

If I’m doing one of my other side hustles at home, I’m never far from the kitchen and I swear the fridge sings to me.

I’m also fairly certain I’m more determined to hoover, clean, pop on a wash when I open some spreadsheets than at any other time.

A lazy morning

I’ve treated myself to a lazy morning today and am still indulgently in my jammies at 11am.

I haven’t attempted to tame my hair nor find my prosthetic breast to pop in.  Imagine the Amazon delivery drivers delight at the sight of me when I found him wandering in the back garden.

Poor lad has probably gone straight back to the depot, demanded some danger money and had this address placed on a ‘no go’ list.

As two Gen Xers, this new way of working is still a minefield for us.

My dad worked for the same bank his entire life, the in-laws similar but within the NHS.

To be fair, the Mister has had the same employer for over 21 years so isn’t exactly bouncing about from place to place, it’s just a relatively new post that’s thrown him slightly.  I seem to be the problem and I’m not sure how I even got here!

The Gen Z way

I can only imagine that our three Gen Z children will have a whole different world of opportunity open to them, Brexit aside.  They won’t worry about out earning boyfriends/ partners / husbands as CNBC claim.

I don’t know any females that feels like this, we all just want more money! They’ll become experts at completing tricky job application questions.

For example when asked for a ‘desired salary’, they’ll know what to state so as not to be exploited.

When given the offer to join a fast paced, dynamic team, they’ll know the correct answer is NOT to request a slow and more chilled out team stating the first option sounds a bit too ‘stressy’.

Being the boss

As an employer I understand the conundrum from both sides.  My least favourite part of being the boss is having everyone assume they’re getting a row any time I call them into the office.

Especially when all I’m doing is thanking them for their effort, reminding them what a valued and welcome part of the team they are giving them an Easter Egg.

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