What A Difference A Day Makes

Overheard at work two weeks ago:
Client to Old Director: "Yo, I'm looking for that chick who does the letters."

Old Director: "Which chick?"

Client:"The fat one that be sittin' in the back."

Old Director: "Oh, you mean Aja? She's back there."

Overheard yesterday at work:
Different Client to New Director: "Yeah, is that chick who does the letters here?"

New Director: "There are no chicks who work up here."

[five seconds of silence while the client thinks about it]

Client: "Excuse me. The lady who does the letters. Is she here?"

New Director: "Yes, but you have to go through the point person and see if she will be seen now."

I'm an Administrator for one of the top alcohol and substance abuse treatment providers in the U.S. and in fact around the world. (If you google drug and alcohol treatment & prevention NYC, the company I work for should be at the top of the list). For the past three years, I've been working at a facility that is for male parolees. It really could be its own blog, but because of confidentiality clauses, etc. I don't really discuss it much. For the past three years, it has been an internal battle everyday not to cuss my old director out.

It's only been a week with my new director, and already, a change has come. I adore my new director because he truly believes in the team and is not out for personal accolades. The old director was a clinical genius admittedly, and helped our program earn two three year licenses with our state regulating agency and our contracted agency. Which is great. But not with out much controversy and taking all the credit for the hard work of the clinical staff, administrative staff, and other ancillary service providers. The fact that he would allow a client to refer to someone (namely me) as a chick and not bat an eye should be testament to the lack of respect I felt everyday under his tyrannical rule leadership. He definitely had fat chick issues (although he loved breasts and gave me special attention when I wore blouses or shirts that highlighted the girls *insert eye roll here*). So I know that ultimately, I was good for the work I did, but because I wasn't eye candy too, I didn't really register on his radar.

My new boss is all about getting work done and efficiency. He is allowing me to be the supervisor I am supposed to be when it comes to the Administrative stuff under my watch, and is officially entrusting more responsibilities to me, as opposed to my old director who would throw things my way last minute.

I'm not sure how long the honeymoon with my new director will last. But I love that he demands respect for all of his staff members, and not just the ones in short skirts.

Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself...

It has been awhile since I have blogged here. I'd like to say that it was because I have been wildly busy. I have been in a way. The website has taken up a lot of time, which is good because it has been growing more and more. But mostly, I just haven't really wanted to write here because I kept going back and forth about whether I should start a new chapter of my life somewhere else. I have some great ideas for a personal blog. With a theme, themed posts, etc. But at the end of the day, any personal blog about me is going to be just that: about me and my growth (or, in some cases, my lacktherof). BronxPearl just defines me. Regardless of where life takes me, the Bronx will be home. My pearls are not just birthstone, but were well-earned (twenty of them to be precise).

There are some things that I have been piddling around on for ahwile now (how long have I been "trying to go to grad school"? Yikes.). People always say that there is never a "right time" to do something. I kindly beg to differ. A sister finally has some money saved up and can start spending it wisely (and frugally since Lord knows where the economy will end up now, even with the bailout bill signed). I'm still working on the relationship thing. Or rather the lack thereof. And while I have a new director at my j-o-b, it is clearly going to be business as usual and therefore, worthy of plenty of humorous posts. The themed posts will fall into place just as well here as they would anywhere else.

So, with all of that said, "allow me to reintroduce myself"...my name is Ms. Aja B.

Here we go. Again.