Working in an Office is not All It's Cracked Up to Be.

When I was a little girl, I thought it would be so much fun to go to work at an office like my parents did. I relished the thought of taking phone calls, getting exciting mail, wearing nylons and heels everyday, using office supplies, and making important decisions. I guess I was a weird kid.

This dream continued until I actually started my first real professional job as a lawyer. Telephone calls are more likely to start a whole new batch of problems than fix them. My mail usually consists of a court decision against me, client letters demanding something unreasonable, and court filings designed only to create more work. Nylons and heels are much more trouble than they're worth, although I still like wearing a suit everyday.

Office supplies are definitely not as fun as the TV ads tell you. Staplers jam, pens get ink on your new white shirt, copiers are more sensitive than a group of PMSing teenagers, my computer is tempermental at best, and I get paper cuts at least once a week. Today, after having a fight with yet another paperclip chain, I realized I should have been an artist, screw this professional thing.

OK - I guess I still get to make important decisions everyday. But after throwing a fit related to paperclips, tossing half of them in the garbage, and then taking the rest to my secretary to figure out, I don't really feel capable of making important decisions.