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How often do we have a work week made up of two work days and three days of company holiday?  It happened in this week of winter solstice, Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day.  The anticipation for the week started after Thanksgiving holiday.  And the week had its fair share of movies, feast and gifts.

Working a short week gives a unique working atmosphere when the office was half occupied.  People carried occasional social conversation but mostly focused at work – a telling sign of a pretty engaging workforce.  It was a good feeling to catch up at work or get the time to develop interesting ideas.   At the end of the day, there was still more to achieve than time could fit in.  Yet, there was the next day and the pile of work did not build up more.  I took my teenagers to work one day, and had lunch with them.    Teenagers could easily throw a few hours on a computer or other smart device, even though they are gaming or watching more.  It is still comforting that they fit right into the work setting.

A five-day break gave room to some long-forgotten house chores.  My oven has not been cleaned for a time that was too embarrassing to mention.  Except for the first year of its history, its “self-clean” button was hardly touched, I had no real good explanation other than users often forgot about features when not used often.  Coincidentally, a magazine gave a recipe for a proven oven cleaning paste.  When there is a way, there is a plan.  I mixed up the magi
c cleaning paste, and rubbed it all over the oven the night before; next morning I woke up with the determination to start the rub and scrub. If the cleaning time is in proportion to the size of the appliance, the job would have been done in a few minutes.  After an hour, I was just able to get it to a used condition rather than the “like new” or “slightly used” condition.  It was more tiring than an hour of Yoga; more taxing than an hour of core training; and took more persistence than the slow jogging.  After over two hours, my standard of a clean oven found a decent compromise with my physical condition.   My unwavering respect for full-time housewife was once again refreshed with enough curiosity to look up the run-rate for professional cleaning.

If cleaning is some hard work, making bed sounds so much easier.  Yet doing it fast and neat takes some skills too.   It may not be easy to meet the expectation for a hotel cleaning job.  Remember that situation when a hotel cleaning lady knocked on the door of your hotel room, and you had to spare some minutes in the lobby, the gym or a café for them to prepare the room.  In their standard, it took twenty minutes or so to clean a
room.

Are you convinced that you have the skill sets to take up the jobs that are paid more or less than your current position?  There is no better or worse skill, just different pay and often I hope the pay gap is not as broad as it is, for some jobs.

Posted in Dear Diary