I'm slumming it a work.

When I go to rich companies for job interviews I realize how much I'm slumming it in my current job.

Today I had a job interview at a huge auction company - a company that makes billions and billions of dollars. Their building was like a glass palace. They had an in-house cafeteria, daycare and fitness room.

They had glass elevators and huge walkways and giant pillars. They had LCD monitors embedded in the glass for chrissakes.

Here, I work out of a classroom in an old elementary school that's closing in a month and a half. The fluorescent lights in the classroom hum. My boss sits so close to me that I can hear her breathe. The hallways smell like chemical disinfectant.

There are no LCD monitors embedded in the glass, but there are stick-figure paintings of people and animals pinned to bulletin boards along hallways.

Today is my one year anniversary at my current job.

I have now been working here for one full year.

It's been neither good nor bad. I'm treated decently and the work is dull.

I haven't learned anything, nor increased my skills in any major area. Nothing really bad has happened and nothing really good.

The best thing that happened was that we moved closer to my house. The worst thing that happened was we lost a couple employees so I had to do more administrative work.

I'm not upset at all that I'll be leaving this job shortly. Nor would I be upset if I had to stay another 6 months or until I found something better.

The job is entirely neutral - neither good or bad - like an Arrowroot cookie.

Finally some excitement at work.

I've been waiting for awhile to have some excitement at work. Finally we got it. We had to cancel a sports tournament because the organizers hadn't followed some rules.

What an outcry! You'd think the world was ending with the angry phone calls and emails. These are 14 year old boys. Trust me, they'll get over it in about 24 hours.

Lots of hysterical people demanded that we be fired for enforcing the rules. Even a few people within the organization said we were in the wrong - which frankly shocks me.

If you don't want your team abiding by the rules, withdraw from the league. Play the other teams who also have agreed NOT to abide by the rules.

If you think the rules are unfair try to change them. There's a process for that.

If you none of the above applies, lead by example and teach your kids that self-sacrifice is sometimes the right thing to do.

How to deal with "drama" at work

In my last three jobs, I've experienced "drama" at work. Yesterday I found out that the government cut 100% of our funding. We're a small, not-for-profit. One staff person was laid off immediately. More will probably be laid off and the association could dissolve.

In my last job, our manager blew up in a meeting and went around the table insulting most of her staff, one-by-one. Then she quit on the spot. The company later closed the offices down and let everyone go.

In the job before that, the company just stopped paying us. I showed up on pay day and there was no cheque for me. I hung around a couple extra weeks, believing their promises that they would pay us and they were a little short etc., then just walked out one day. I'm still waiting for that last pay cheque...

Here's my humble advice about how to deal with drama at work.

• Don't say anything during the crisis. Stay quiet.
  
  
• Don't believe upper management's words. If you want a hint about what's going to happen, pay more attention to their actions.
  
  
• Don't get emotional or take sides directly after the event. Stay quiet and keep your head down. Make other plans. (i.e. look for a new job).
  
  
• Never ever think that you are safe. You aren't. You're very replaceable and the company you work for probably doesn't have much loyalty to you. The company you work for is also replaceable.
  
  
• It's usually pretty exciting! A crisis is a good break from the mundane, day-to-day activities. Watch everyone freak out, while you nod your head and play it cool, a knowing smile on your lips. You can freak out later at home.

Having a job really gets in the way of my playing guitar.

Since starting my new job I’ve noticed that I can’t play guitar as much. I haven’t learned as many news songs and I haven’t improved my playing style. Last year when I was unemployed, I had lots of time to play guitar.

I used to watch YouTube tutorial videos, learn guitar tabs and even order magazines and books about how to play the guitar. Now I don’t do any of that. Basically I come home from work, make dinner, clean up and go to bed.

How can I change this? I can’t bring my guitar to work because my boss would be displeased. Of course in the summer, when everyone’s on holidays, I’m often the only one in the office for the last 2 hours in the afternoon. I could bring my guitar in from my car and play at my desk.

But that wouldn’t really work either. You can see my desk from the glass front door. Anyone walking buy could see me playing guitar. I could play in the backroom beside the copier, but then my back would be facing the front door and someone could just walk in the office and I wouldn’t notice. Plus my acoustic guitar would be loud and likely heard by the other tenants.

It’s just not going to work.