like nirvana

I’ve been out of school for about 2 years now and have my fair share with working with many different types of people. For the most part, ideally, you want to work in a team with nice people because, well, why would you want to work with a team of mean people? But here’s the thing, you can be the nicest person but be the shittiest worker. And the worst part? I think I’m starting to hate nice workers more because they can get away with doing less/minimal work because they’re liked. Just because I’m more stern, strict on my work, I usually come across as not-nice, and mean. (Ha!)

Type I: the quiet worker; does their work or more; doesn’t get recognized Type II: the louder worker; does minimal work; gets recognized Type III: the worker that’s a little bit of quiet and loud; does more work; sometimes get’s recognized for poor or good work Type IV: other workers 

Now of course, the type of worker also depends on the type of manager you have-so, don’t take my tumblr blog as a professional reference or anything. I’m not a professional when it comes to determining types of workers; but when it comes to actual, hard-earning, work—that is something I am the type of worker for and I don’t appreciate nice workers that get away with doing minimal/less work than what I’m doing.

Being nice is a great characteristic to have, but being able to work, commit, and do the job that’s given is more so why we were chosen to do the job.

Nice people are the types of people that doesn’t make me feel motivated to do more than what I’m supposed to. If nice people can get away with doing less/minimal work, why should I have to? If I’m going to do more work, I usually only get recognized for poor metrics rather than the good ones.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, now that I’m out of school and we’re in that critical time of getting that 2-5 year experience on our resumes; the types of workers that I’m already working with is just the freakin’ beginning. We have our whole lives to work with types 1-to-gazillion, so we can take our experience with a grain of salt; work through the work day; get along with those who you like; and get to where you want to be without having to worry about those who slow you down.

Today, my contracting company wanted to talk to me because I was “being too direct” with my peers regarding their work. Their suggestion? Next time, reach out to a lead or a manager prior to talking to them about their work. That’s a better way to do things because that’s what they’re there for; it’s not in my place to look at metrics, implement new suggestions, tell people when they’re doing something wrong, or when they’re not doing their work. They don’t feel comfortable with my tone when I talk to them, so they’d rather have someone else talk to me about how I say things (side note: all/most contractors get paid to do same work in my team).

Here are my thoughts...

I get it. There’s a way to do things and then there are “proper” ways to do things. But, what I don’t get is when did being “too direct,” become falsely looked upon? If I’m not going to tell you there’s something wrong in your work, who’s going to tell you how to fix it? When you ask me a question regarding something you should already know; I’m going to “directly” tell you what the answer is and tell you that you should already know this. It’s a very simple communication process and being “direct” is what makes it effective.

Feelings aside, “I’m sorry that you feel uncomfortable with me speaking with you regarding the work you’re doing incorrectly.” (if you played volleyball with me, you’d understand this shity-apology) I don’t know, maybe its just that I don’t like that you’re being paid the same wage as I am and you’re doing less work.

FROM THE BEGINNING... If you know me then you know I have a thing for “dirty” dogs (hot dogs) from the cart lady in DTSJ. I enjoy dirty dogs so much that I made an attempt to recreate them during NYE 2016 and share this experience with a special person. These braided-bacon hot dogs with caramelized onions, bell peppers, mayo+ketchup+mustard, was a huge success. I’m glad to make this our New Years Eve tradition + a glass of pink moscato.

MY FRIENDS: Besides having Mikey to share my year with, another big part of my year were my friends. These are the friends that give you shit for flaking on them and the friends that call you at midnight on your birthday. Speaking terms? Not much, but when it comes to thinking about them and cracking the stupidest jokes/moments; you know they’re there for you. (+Sydney because I don’t have a good picture of us)

FOOD & TRAVELING: I also took the time to travel a lot this year! Probably one of the best decisions of my life (with time and budgeting). First time travels to: San Diego, CA, Austin, TX, Oahu, HI. Also traveled a lot locally in the Bay Area like Napa for wine tasting, Hog’s Island to try some bomb-ass oysters, river rafting in Sacramento, San Francisco to try new foods, and day-trips to Tahoe to play in the snow. Our city is truly amazing; culture, food, art, and experience. We have it all and take it for granted. Note to everyone: don’t take anything for granted and learn from your experiences. You never know where it’ll take you.

CONCERTS AND STUFF: Holy crap, 2016, was the year of spending a shit load on tickets to see things. Not just concerts, but in general, anywhere or anything you wanted to see or do—you had to buy the damn tickets. I freakin’ love music and entertainment. I appreciate a good show and great talent; as we all should! My favorite concerts this year: Adele, Above & Beyond’s acoustic concert, Triple-ho Show: Backstreet Boys, Golden State Warrior’s watch party at Oracle during playoffs, Hearst Castle tour, first luau at Paradise Cove in Hawaii, Milpitas’ Fourth of July fireworks show, Bay Area Brew Fest in San Francisco, PACE Gallery in Palo Alto, FROST Show at Stanford to see Fetty Wap, Monterey Carnival, and shit load of movies.

MY FAMILY: This year was quite different for my family because we made time to see each other. It gets quite comfortable when your life is too busy not to come home or see my sisters or parents. Especially with all the traveling etc. it’s good to just catch-up and appreciate how lucky we are to have each other.