Ahhh Youth! & Purple Lights

There are days when I wonder how in the world I got roped in to  being HR at the office.  Granted, it is pretty much the  perfect job for me, however, the volume of tasks is almost overwhelming at times.

One of the admins at the office, a very young millennial, recently expressed her unhappiness at the pace of her career.  Mind you, she is in college, and doing everything she can to move onward and upward, but she is just not happy at how not quickly that is happening for her.  As I listen to her lament about how much it sucks to do data entry, but not be told what the purpose of the data is… I think back to when I was her age… 

I was married, a college dropout, and working a full-time job while my "was-band" (thanks Heather!) went to school.  Whatever I was doing at the time, it wasn’t important enough for me to remember the employer… I just remember having that same sort of impatience for “life to get started”.  What I wish I knew then was that I shouldn’t be wishing for time to speed up — I should have utilized that time for my own self improvements.  Ahhh.. the privilege of being young, and having the whole world in front of you.

As DINKS (double income, no kids), my husband and I don’t have to rush different directions in the morning, and recently we have gotten even closer since his company just moved in down the block.  We have been riding into work together, and have some pretty interesting discussions during the drive.  

One morning last week I slowed to let a car merge over into the lane she needed to turn, and my husband commented that we should “have a second light, a purple light, to indicate oops, I don’t know where I am going or I screwed up, and that lets the rest of us know that they aren’t just assholes — they are nervous, or unsure of their surroundings, or just plain freaked about having messed up during rush hour.  The purple light would remind us all of times when that very thing has happened to us in traffic.  It’s stressful, and makes the commute into work dreadful at times."
If everyone would just relax a bit, and not be so “GRRRRRR!” maybe rush hour wouldn’t be such a hellish experience for many people.

"PURPLE LIGHT!"

A couple of mornings later driving in alone for the first time in a few weeks, I thought “purple light” upon seeing someone with their signal on and 4 cars not letting them over.  I slowed up a tad to allow enough space for them to squeeze in, without even having to hit my brakes!  Easy, peasy!

So there’s your challenge!  In the comments, share your “purple light” moments — both when you have given a purple light, and when you could have used one.  And, then be observant for chances at purple lights on your daily adventures.