For a brief period between my sophomore and junior years in college, I had the exciting privilege of working a job without my boss’ knowledge. I’m not quite sure how this happened (and, apparently, neither did my boss), but it’s an interesting story that’s worth mentioning.
At the end of my sophomore year, I applied for and accepted a job at a library. Having few aspirations beyond funding my first summer living away from home (and all the accompanying frivolity such an endeavor entails), I wanted nothing more than a quiet work space filled with quiet tasks amid quiet and comfortably dusty stacks of books. To be honest, I imagined spending most days sliding around on those vintage rolling ladders one sees in especially august and illustrious institutions. It was an idealistic notion of library work, so you can imagine my dismay when I discovered I was to be the resident “cataloguing specialist.”
This glamorous title referred to a job that essentially involved pasting bar codes onto books in a little back room isolated not only from my coworkers, but also the bulk of Western civilization. I arrived to work at 8 o’clock every morning and spent most of my day using an X-ACTO knife to cut and mold plastic catalogue labels onto books, DVDs, CDs, and anything else that happened to appear on the cart beside my desk. Had I been wearing fingerless gloves and struggling to stoke a pitiful fire, I would’ve resembled a wee street urchin toiling away in a Charles Dickens’ novel.
Three weeks into the job, I realized my boss had no idea who I was. This realization occurred during a visit from my friend Podge Bumby, who had locked himself out of our house and needed my keys to get back in. However, when he stopped by my boss’ desk that afternoon to ask if Ian was in, my boss’ face crumpled into a frown.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I don’t think anyone by that name works here.”
“Oh,” Podge said. “Are you sure?”
“I’m in charge here,” my boss said with a rueful chuckle. “I think I’d know who’s working for me.”
“But I think I see him back there.”
“Where?”
“Back there. Way in the back by the broom cupboard.”
Flabbergasted and befuddled, my boss swiveled around in her desk chair and peered toward the dark and isolated recesses of my “office.” “Oh,” she said, noticing me for what was apparently the first time. “Do you work here?”
I paused midway through cataloguing a copy of Oliver Twist and briefly considered mentioning that, since I’d been pasting barcodes onto books since the veritable crack of dawn, I jolly well hoped I worked there. However, being the meek and mild-mannered lad that I was, I decided to err on the side of caution and say, “Yeah.”
“Oh.” My boss wrinkled her brow in an act of supreme concentration. “Are you Ian?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. Well then. Keep up the good work.”
From then on, my boss paid more attention to me. This development was rather unfortunate, however, as it seemed that I had somehow catalogued the complete works of Charles Dickens in the Contemporary Spanish Love Poetry section, which, I think we can all agree, was a fairly embarrassing mistake.
I mention this experience because there comes a time in all our professional lives when it seems like we’ve been shuffled to a dark and anonymous office to complete monotonous tasks. While these experiences can be necessary and even valuable learning opportunities, we also shouldn’t feel stuck in such situations. So, if you’re beginning to feel like a forgotten or missing person in your own place of work, then you’re in luck, as Pickett Street’s most recent opening offers the chance to leave all that behind.
Recently voted one of the best places to work by the Business Intelligence Group, Pickett Street has succeeded by overhauling what they consider to be the broken real estate model. The company approaches the sale of real estate by not only considering numbers and mortgages, but by also taking into account the idea of “home” and all the emotions that entails. To put it another way, Pickett Street aims to “do life together with passion and curiosity-creating opportunities for our clients and ourselves.” Pickett Street relies on a tight-knit, driven, and highly motivated team of experts to bring this holistic vision to fruition, and the result is a work environment that is challenging, rewarding, meaningful, and even fun. With a business model like this, it’s hardly surprising that the company closes an average of 150 sales per year (the average, solitary real estate agent closes 4-8).
Pickett Street is searching for motivated, ambitious, and talented professionals who not only want to work in a challenging environment, but who also want to have fun while doing so. And, in return for your hard work and dedication, Pickett Street promises to cultivate an engaging and supportive team environment where your coworkers know your name and never forget who you are.
For more information about applying to Pickett Street Properties, contact Margaret Smith at margaret@pickettstreet.com today.