As a freelance writer and professional blogger, I have multiple clients. I also find myself being the client as I have to outsource many parts of my business. Recently, I’ve started worrying about what kind of client I am.

I had someone who worked for me end their relationship with me without a formal email or conversation. In fact, I wasn’t entirely sure that the relationship was over until I read a somewhat cryptic post on a personal blog. I immediately began to second guess my role as a client.
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One of the most amazing women I know recently returned to work after being at home with her two boys for eight years. The transition happened a little earlier than she and her family had anticipated, but the perfect opportunity came along and she decided to jump on it. I’m excited for her and proud of her.

And I was completely shocked to learn that her confidence isn’t what it used to be.

This is a woman my husband has met exactly once and instantly admired and respected. This is a woman who is smart, compassionate, and articulate. This is a woman that other women want to be like when they grow up.

And it turns out she struggles with some of the same nerves and doubts that may of the rest of us do.

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I am constantly amazed at what little respect employers and co-workers have for other people’s paychecks.

A morning phone call with my husband reminded me of how frequently this problem comes up in the workplace.  He is a subcontractor and bills for his work on a daily basis.  The person in charge of processing that billing is consistently dismissive about any problems that come up.

“Oh, it will probably be fine.”

“If there’s a problem, we’ll just resubmit the invoice and you’ll get paid for it next time.”

“What’s the big deal? It will get taken care of eventually.”

Statements like this make my normally mild mannered husband fume, and understandably so.  After all, the reason he shows up to work every day is to get paid. It’s kind of a big deal in our household.  And while his monthly bills aren’t his co-worker’s concern, presumably she has personal experience with the expectation of being paid properly and on time.

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The phrase “it must be nice” is one of my personal pet peeves.  Not that there is anything inherently wrong with the words themselves, but the apparent meaning they often come with drives me nuts.

You know the one.

It must be nice to have a great job.  It must be nice to have the money to buy (insert recent purchase here).  It must be nice to get to go on vacation.  It must be nice to be thin.

It must be nice.

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Gruff, unreasonable, and known to once make a co-worker cry, my spouse has been trying to make changes in his demeanor.  He knows the way he acts could possibly get in the way of future advancement. In the past year, he’s become a very different guy.  He’s made friends with co-workers (we’ve even invited a few over for dinner), goes to a monthly poker night, and has softened his tough-guy image. 

Except in one arena: he hates going out to lunch with his co-workers.  His team goes out to lunch as one big group about every two weeks.  They pick a fancier restaurant than my spouse is comfortable with and tend to rack up a big bill that often includes alcohol.  At the end of the meal, each person is expected to split the bill equally regardless of whether they ordered only a small plate or had three martinis plus an appetizer. 

My penny-pinching partner is practically having bleeding ulcers over paying 30 bucks for a lunch that he didn’t really enjoy. 

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We live just two miles away from a high school that has been closed for one week due to Swine Flu. Two schools elementary age children have become infected in the last day — both living in the same city as my son’s preschool. More schools in California are considering closing as a precaution. And it leaves me wondering… Where are all these kids gonna go during the day?

If the point of the school closure is to isolate children in hopes of keeping the outbreak to a minimum, you can’t simply just put your kid in an alternate childcare. Sure they may seem fine today. But with a waiting period of 7 days, a normal kid today can be a sick kid next Tuesday.

I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones.  If my son’s school were to close for a period of time, I can work from home 100%, have a supportive boss, and lots of family near-by that would be able to step in if needed. 

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I had to take a morning off this week to register my son for Kindergarten.  A month ago, I had to take an afternoon off to get the last of the immunizations required to register him for Kindergarten.  Two months ago I had to wake up at 5am to stand in line to get an appointment to register him for Kindergarten.  Plus I spent a few more hours filling out form after form, getting original copies of all our bills for proof of residency, and checking then re-checking we had everything we needed to register him for local public school.

If Kindergarten is this complicated, then I’m never gonna survive college applications.
The last two months have been so stressful in our house.  I’ve got a pretty good grasp on our day-to-day operations.  As long as there isn’t any emergency or last-minute schedule change, I tend to do pretty good at balancing what I’m balancing.  But the amount of work that went into just getting ready to register my son for school nearly put me over the edge.

How I am ever going to make it through the school-age years working full-time?

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In January, I started working from home three days a week.

After three months of enjoying a new work/home/life balance, I can’t imagine how I ever lived any other way.  I’m thrilled and grateful that my boss was willing to work with me to create a work arrangement that made it easier for me to manage my family life.  I understand now why “flex time” has become such a popular idea among women in the workforce over the last several years.

But is all this negotiating to create a work/life balance about to bite us all in the butt?

A recent Washington Post article warns that advantages like working from home could lead to lay offs in a bad economy.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

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I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the economy sucks right now.  I’m going to assume that you don’t need a link to a current news article to know that things are bad all over.

My family is one of the lucky ones.  We both have jobs, can pay our mortgage, put food on the table and still afford a few small luxuries.  But we’re definitely being more careful than we were a year (or two) ago.  I know most people in our area are in similar situations or worse.  Much, much worse in some cases.

At the same time, the public school systems are suffering.  Badly.

School boards in Florida (where I live) have tossed around cost saving ideas from laying off armies of teachers to pairing down to a 4 day school week.  The fact that Florida has no state income tax doesn’t help.  We know our schools need money.

And yet, every time I get yet another fundraiser letter sent home, I can’t help but shake my head and feel a little like a well that’s been pumped dry.

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Last week, I found out that a colleague of mine was suddenly laid-off.  He had no advance warning, was a top performer, and didn’t see it coming.  Needless to say, he was shocked.  And terrified to be undergoing a job search with thousands of others in Silicon Valley. 

Of course, my gut reaction to my colleague’s departure was an immediate increase in my worrying about my own job.  It feels like every day there is a new company is announcing the downsizing of their employees.  Add to it the stock market taking more dips than a speedy rollercoaster, my feeling nervous about my own job security is inevitable.  That is, until my spouse pointed out that men taking the majority of the hits this time around.

Could my gender actually save my job?

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