You might have noticed I love my job. I only mention it here. And here. Oh and also here.

Well, I have yet another reason to boast about how much I love my job.

I’m currently swamped. SWAMPED. A high-profile special mandate, with a hard deadline that’s fast approaching; an audit starting this week; another project got pulled forward 6 months and must be done by Xmas; and a lot of turnover in my team (life in Canada: wouldn’t change it for anything, I am so proud of our country’s policy to grant 12 months mat leave to women… but oye, does it ever have implications from a staffing perspective). I feel, to put it mildly, stretched to my limit.

Thursday, after a day of meetings to discuss all of the items above, the feeling of pressure in my chest was unbearable. My brain stopped working, pretending instead to be a hyper hamster, running endlessly on a hamster wheel, going nowhere and accomplishing nothing. So I timidly knocked on Big-boss’s door, intending to ask him to make reassuring noises. But ADD, yo! Instead I asked him a work-related question, which started a productive discussion. Half-way through, he told me to sit down, and reached into his computer bag, pulling out some goodies that he had bought for me during his latest trip to Paris. And then, he looked me in the eyes, and told me that he knew I had an awful lot on my plate, and he imagined it might be overwhelming. “You got this, Vanilla, and I want you to know that I got you. Whatever you need to get this done, and done as well as I know you intend to get it done, you let me know, and we’ll arrange for it to have it happen. And if you need to vent, you know my door is always open.”

My rapid intense blinking had nothing to do with the sudden rush of tears in my eyes. #professionalallthetime #excepthardlyever

This weekend, I was enjoying my Halloween festivities. Seeing pics of all my Fbk friends’ little babies, all decked out in their costumes, made me think of my wonderful team. How they are my little cuties – I feel maternal towards them, they are so young. Yet one of them is leaving on mat leave in 2 days, and the other has a 6-month princess, and the last one is finishing up uni (did I mention #young?????) How they too are stepping up to the plate, handling the transitioning roles seamlessly, working like champs and making me so proud to be their manager every damned day.

So I decided to feed them. Behold, the entire inventory of candy from the local grocery store:

Apparently, at work, we show leadership by giving each other diabetes. The kind of gift that is impossible to forget.

#lovemyjob

#managementwayoflife