When you arrive to work...

[rose.winter1980]

My routine is:

Arrive at work properly dressed for business with face fully on (never leave house without being well-groomed and face on)
Say hello to Bossie as Bossie is usually in before me.  Ask Bossie how it is, how its meeting was the day before etc etc
Switch on computer, printer etc, and log on (this little baby takes time to power up)
Change into office shoes (I wear walking shoes to and from work and heels in office)
Hang up coat
Put lunch in fridge
Make cup of tea and get a glass for water at my desk (no water fountain)
Record daily message for telephone voicemail
All the above takes no more than give minutes and by this time the computer is up and running
Check emails and reply to as many as possible promptly
Check phone messages and reply to those promptly
Check daily diary and work schedule and add tasks  if needed
Discuss any updates with Bossie (Bossie is very close by in next office so we talk through open door).  Add those to task list
Get going on long pieces of work - whatever Bossie has asked me to do, correspondence, my various projects etc etc


Winter Rose

Laugh long, sing loud and dance when you get the chance

[gee4]

Good - another tight ship.

I have seriously watched others, clock in, get halfway to their desk, only to stand and chat for at least 10-15 mins.

Or the other way round.  Leave to go home, get half way to the clocking machine, chat again for 10-15 mins (or longer) and clock out after me!

I think I must have attended the wrong induction programme or maybe I missed the "how to dodge the system" session!  

[Dusty *]

Following on from turning up for work and then putting make-up on.......  

My husband, who sometimes travels into London by train, says he often sees women putting their make-up on whilst on the train!  

If it were me, I'd have to get up half hour earlier and make sure I was ready before I left home.

[gee4]

I get up early enough to do all those things.  Like Rose, I could never go out to work without being fully dressed or makeup on.  

[Katie G]

Well, I make my coffee before I leave home and bring it along in a thermal mug.  I loves my coffee, but most places make it too strong for my liking.  Normally, I eat breakfast at home -- a bowl of cereal (shredded wheat or hot oatmeal) and a little protein (a hard boiled egg or a chunk of cheddar cheese or a spoon of peanut butter -- keeps me from crashing later).  If I'm running late, I keep a box of either cereal bars or granola bars in my desk for a quick breakfast at my desk.

I usually get to work and check email and voicemail, respond to anything urgent, and then get started on the "to do" list that I updated the night before.  (I loves my Outlook Tasks feature, too!  Don't know how I lived without it!)

I really do need to make more of an effort to drink water as I'm working.  I tend to get "into" what I'm doing and don't come up for air enough.  

[Jackie G]

Ok, I swipe in on the time clock and put myself 'In' on the In/Out Board.  I switch on my pc and while it's warming up I put the sticky 'Today' thing on my calendar to the right day and call up my voicemail to change my voice message.

I log into my PC and open up my email and check what's there.  Depending on the day I may also check boss's email if he's not due in till later, or if we're expecting something, as I'm usually in before him.

Then I trot off to the kitchen with my mug which needs washed from the day before usually, to make a cup of tea and it's back to my desk and head down until I decide I need something else - that's either another cuppa or some water and often not until way after 12!  I don't stick to the 11 am and 3 pm tea break that the rest do but take a break as and when I need one, apart from a half hour for lunch.

I may stop on the way back to my office if I am waylaid by another member of staff or, more likely, a member of the management team to check on something.  This can mean that my tea's drunk by the time I get to my office which also means I don't eat a biscuit with it!!

Jackie, Peer Moderator

[JessW]

Me, I arrive at work, walking through the office collecting the morning filing, and go to my desk.  As my computer is turning on I fill my thermos with strong black sweet coffe and my mug with cereal for breakfast. I then log on and do any email responses before sitting down to sort and file the pile on my desk, unless there are urgent digis (which i do there and then).  By that time I have effectively done two hours of work in one hour compared to some of my colleagues who start work half an hour before I do each morning.

Mind you, I also do filing throughout the day too, as well as cover any and most of the others when they are not at work too (except their filing - I have only 1 pair of hands and 7.5hrs to do it, especially if I treat myself to a lunch break!)

[ecogirl]

I'm afraid I am one of these people who arrive at work, have my breakfast and put my make up on but then I do arrive more than half an hour before I am due to start.   With a commute of one and a half hours I'm not ready for breakfast at 6.30am before I leave and I certainly wouldn't put my make up on during the journey.  That said, I don't usually get peace to enjoy it!

caroleanne

[peaches2160]

Have make up on and ready to start the day when I arrive.  Usually arrive 15 - 30 min. before start time.  I bring my own coffee in an "adult sippy cup" so I am ready to start the day.  Fire up the laptop, greet bossy and inquire if he would like coffee or bottled water to start they.  Bring bossy his coffee and comment on any of the days upcoming activities.  Check e-mails, review his briefly, to get a feel for the day and break out my to do llist.  Hit the door running and don't stop until 5PM or after.

[Atlanta Z3]

Unlock the lap top, set up, click on email then go get oatmeal or yogurt and water.  After full cup of water, 8oz diet coke (mini cans here).  Trying to cut back on the caffiene.  Dive into the rest of the day.

[geminigirl]

I would never leave the house without full warpaint i.e. make-up!  Good lord, that would scare the horses!!  And I always have breakfast – tea & toast – to set me up for the day.  I have worked at places where people would eat breakfast once they arrived (cereal, using the milk that’s meant for tea / coffee and couldn’t care less if it meant no milk by mid-day because they didn’t have hot drinks).

So, my start-time is 9.30 but generally in before that:

• Switch on PC and check emails and voicemails;
• Check the diary to see what the boss is up to for the day (although I also do that the afternoon before to make sure she has papers etc for any early morning meetings;
• Get my already-made-up bottle of squash (cold water and fruit cordial for those who don’t know what squash is) out of the fridge and large glass poured – this way I try and drink at least a litre of water a day but quite often that large glass is only half done by the end of the day;
• Get on with whatever needs doing;
• Put coffee on about 10.30;
• Carry on with stuff.

My office is at the end of a corridor with no through traffic so I don’t get caught for chats etc unless someone comes to my office on purpose.

I'm always amused by people who say they have too much to do but always have time for several 20-minute natters during the day ...

[rose.winter1980]

My routine is tried-and-tested but not inflexible.  My life is like a military operation. I sometimes feel I could do better than many an army General.  I have four children and a husband to organise.  Then there's the house and garden including vegetables and fruit, and what is fast resembling a zoo of animals, large and small.  My husband travels from time to time for business and the children have a complicated schedule: school, extra lessons in academic subjects, ballet, cubs and scouts, brownies and guides, church things, sports, music lessons. The only way I retain my sanity, and haven't murdered my family, is by having a well-kept diary.  If it isn't in the diary it doesn't get done!

I come to work to recover. LOL.  

Winter Rose

Laugh long, sing loud and dance when you get the chance