Let's go to work

This week I have been really suffering with a bad cold.

I had hoped to get out and do exercise during the week but that has not been on the cards at all.

It started off on Monday morning as a sore throat which wasn't too bad, I hoped it wouldn't come to much. Same thing on Tuesday but also with a cough and a bit of a drippy nose. By Tuesday night I was starting to feel pretty rotten. All day Wednesday and Thursday I was hot then cold, nose running like a tap, achey muscles and generally feeling pretty rank.

But I've still been going to work. I'm right in the middle of my busiest time of the year and can't afford to not be there. I have staff who would be able to do bits of my job but there are other bits that only I am up to speed on and I wouldn't want anyone else making a mess of.

If it had been almost any other week that I was ill I would take the time off but this week I just couldn't be away if it could be helped.

I don't mind though, I don't really like phoning in sick, my attendance record is pretty spotless. 3 days off in the 29 months I've been in the job which was when I sprained my ankle and couldn't walk.

I wish other people had the same attitude though. Too many people phone in sick at the drop of a hat and try and milk it for everything it's worth. And I'm sure a lot of it isn't as bad as is made out. Back pain, depression, stress, anxiety and other 'illnesses' are very hard to prove or disprove. Anyone can pipe up, "Ooh, I'm depressed, and I have a sore back, which is making me anxious". Not a lot we can do as long as their doctor buys their story and that's the last we see of them for a couple of months. Meanwhile the few left at work have to carry the can for the rest of them.

Once one person goes off sick it's like a domino effect, everyone feels they have the right to a few days off work, a few days extra holiday.

I'm not saying that anyone who is genuinely ill should struggle in to work, but a bit more responsibility would go a long way. The prevailing attitude that sick days are there to be used is a bit past it.

I'd rather go to work when I'm feeling ropey, it's rubbish at the best of times anyway. I'd rather save days off for when I'm feeling good and can go and do stuff.

Next Level Design

In my professional life, away from running, marathons, clubs, music and any of the stuff I generally write about on this blog, I am a desktop publisher.

What I really would rather be is a graphic designer. That is to say, I would rather be employed as a graphic designer than as a desktop publisher, even though they are both pretty closely related things.

I see the graphic designer as having a more creative role than the DTP person who often will concentrate on laying out documents to fit a corporate style, rather than coming up with imaginative ideas for branding, corporate identities, logos, adverts and the like.

I do a little bit of freelance graphic design on the side which keeps my hand in the more creative side of things that I don't get so much of an opportunity to do at work. I've never really pushed it that much as most of the time I have worked a full-time job and have lots of other things going on.

Often the work I do isn't payng work. I'll help a friend out with some business cards or some promotional flyers to advertise an event of some kind.

So I do that as a favour, because I enjoy it, and they are trying to get a business off the ground or are trying to keep costs to a minimum. But the good will I receive doesn't help pay the bills or put food on the table.

So, in an effort to push for a few more paying gigs I have decided to put my portfolio online. As such, I have set up another blog where over the next couple of weeks I will be putting up a selection of my work from over the years.

Please stop by and check out the Next Level Design blog, and if you have a need for any design work, bear me in mind. Although I'm hopefully going to cut back on the free stuff and increase the paying stuff, I'm sure you'll find my rates very reasonable.

Any comments more than welcome. I'm always interested to hear what people do and don't like as it's a very subjective and personal thing.

Half day to paradise

Innit great when you take a half day?

Walking out your work a few minutes after 12 when your colleagues still have a good four or five hours of toil at the coalface. "See ye laters, I'm on a Colonel Gadaffi!" you trill whilst skipping out the door.

"Bastard!" they say, as escape just in time to avoid the pens, elastic bands and staplers which hit the back of the door.

It's even better when it is followed by a long weekend with both Friday and Monday off.

Yes, no work til Tuesday for me, and I'm going to enjoy it. Apart from maybe Saturday afternoon, but more on that later...