Pulling an All Dayer

I'm takin' care of business
Baby can't you see?
I gotta make it for you
and I gotta make it for me.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh. I got work to do.
I got work to do.
I got a job baby.

- Work to Do, Average White Band

Well I once again find myself at work at 7:15 p.m. with another long evening's slogging ahead. Right now I'm on my "dinner hour" and then I'll get back at it.

It's symptomatic of a start up. Right now we have our staff, and there won't be anybody else arriving on the scene until we start bringing home the bacon, so to speak.

Despite the long hours this job sometimes entails, days like this still feel nowhere near as long as my days as a secretary, when I expended a great deal of energy battling being so bloody bored all the time and enduring managers' "isn't she cute?" vibe when I tried to do more and be more. A lot of people always seemed pleasantly surprised I was actually intelligent, and some of them got downright resentful when I seemed to know as much as they did.

I remember sitting in investment meetings, biting my tongue about offering up information that was directly relevant. It would have been unexpected and therefore inappropriate and hey, since when do secretaries read the business section of the Globe and Mail?

At any rate, I just thank God I'm away from all that. It's great to work with people that aren't assholes. It's great to make enough to cover my bills and save for a rainy day. It's great to use my brain. It's great to have my expertise and input respected. It's great not feeling like I am wasting my life force showing up for work.

So I don't mind long hours sometimes. I like succeeding against the odds and pulling it out of the fire. I like seeing how much my endurance has improved when it was previously nil. There's something special about being at the start of an enterprise, turning a vision into something concrete and impactful.

Who knows where it will all lead? I'm just glad to be along for the ride.