Office Fever

When it comes to my job, it seems that I struck the jackpot.
For those of you who are new to my blog, I had spend quite some time trying to find work after I returned from my years abroad. I’m a agricultural geneticist by profession, meaning that I can work in a lab with genetics and in livestock on a farm. I chose to pursue the livestock bit in England, gaining practical experience on farms and generally learning everything that there is to know about sheep (the first thing being that you never know everything).
I worked as a waitress for a year, which was very hard for me. The hours were long, the pay minimal and the clients draining. But, I had learned a lot from it, and I’ll always be grateful for the experience that I gained there. I think that it proved to be great preparation for the job that I would eventually get.
In August, an animal pharmaceutical company hired me as their Sales Representative and Technical Adviser in the field. I spend most of my days (by guidelines, 4 out of 5) out on the road, driving from one farmer to the other, looking at chickens and on the odd occasion helping with placing the day old chicks. I can tell you a lot of the chicken (broiler) industry, of how the meat is produced and how wrong these greenies have it that campaign against large scale production of meat birds. They have it all wrong, and they work on sensationalist claims rather than fact…
But, I digress and I actually don’t want to touch that topic, as it is not the purpose of this post or my blog to start a debate among animal rights groups.
The point that I’m trying to make is that I’m out of my office a lot. More often than note, the view from my car window is of the most beautiful and desolate places in our country. I can drive miles without seeing a single soul; I spend days out in the field surrounded by the beautiful scenery our country has to offer. I am very, very lucky in that sense as I have quickly found that I like to be on the road a lot more than I do in my office. I can’t stand the walls, I can’t stand the lack of view, I can’t stand the fact that I have to stay in at the strict office schedule. I’ve discovered that I would much rather get up at 5am and see my clients early so that I can get home a little bit earlier than sit in the office for the allocated 7:30am to 4:30pm.
The problem is also that I don’t have a lot of specific work to do. I have a lot of calculations that I have to do in excel, and I always have things that I need to read, but none of it’s immediately important. And, I tend to do it in the evenings when I’m bored (I have no life, I know). Sitting here in the office…
I’m going stir crazy. It feels as if my office is getting smaller and smaller by the moment.
So, today I find myself listening to songs from my favorite band, trying hard to do the work that I have to do. The disheartening thought is that tomorrow I’m back here again, because I couldn’t find any appointments. People are scaling down, and they certainly don’t want a sales rep with them this close to Christmas.
So, I have to soldier on and do what I’m paid to do.
It’s going to be hard, but I’ll have to do it.
Work.

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net