I’ve been working in an office full time now Since September 30th (that’s my birthday so you know when September 30th 2014 comes around). Below is a list of the top ten things I’ve learned since starting office life.

1.) I put way more thought into my outfits than I ever thought I would. Every night I plan to set out my outfit for the next day. In my typical fashion, I never follow that plan. By the time I get to my room at night, I just want to go to bed. So I convince myself that I will have no trouble finding an outfit in the morning and I go to sleep. I’ve started dreaming about my outfits. It’s okay if you said to yourself she’s crazy. I’ve learned to take “she’s crazy” as a compliment, so thanks for the compliment! I’ve looked in my closets (yes, I have multiple closets. I’m spoiled, I know and it’s fabulous) and dresser so many times that  I have every piece of clothing memorized. I’m one of those girls who looks at everything and sighs, “Oh, I never have anything to wear.” Ashamed to admit  it, but it’s a hidden part of me. I started dreaming about my outfits a few months into working and when I wake up I know just what to wear. I have become intent on not re-wearing the same outfit. I never used to care about that. In college, my first time living “on my own,” I wore the same jeans for weeks and had three t-shirts in a cycle. Obviously, it’s impossible to not re-wear outfits, but I plan it out so I don’t wear the same dress within a few days. A few times I’ve been asked to work at a difference office with different people….I’m going to admit, I wore the same outfit two days in a row. Nobody knew though….until right now. Don’t worry, it was clean!

2.) I say the word crazy way too much in normal conversation.

“Hey, Kate. How about that snow this winter?”-coworker  “I know, right, so crazy.”-Me
“Hey, Kate. Hot out today, isn’t it?”-Coworker  “Yeah, it really is. Crazy.”-Me

“I can’t believe what that person said to me.”-Coworker  “Totally uncalled for. People are crazy.”-Me

NOTE TO SELF: LEARN NEW WORDS OR THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK AND DON’T FALL BACK ON CRAZY. IT SOUNDS CRAZY. As much as I love words and I love speaking in public, I tend to lose my words in small talk and fall back on overused phrases. Fluctuation and decrease in temperature really isn’t that crazy.

3.) Lint rollers are a God send. I never felt the need to use a lint roller. Probably because I never really looked closely at my clothing before leaving the house. I have the tendency of being very unobservant. Working in an office has made me so much more aware of lint. I think it’s because I’ve worn black pants so much in the past few months….more than I ever have in my life. I’ve either worn jeans or brightly colored pants. Large amounts of lint on black pants looks ghastly.

4.) It doesn’t matter how long I’ve been doing something, I still have trouble getting into a routine. Every day I set my alarm for the same time and every day I do not wake up at the set time. I consistently sleep till the last possible minute, get ready in a hurry, and rush out. Every, single, day. I am not a morning person. Well, that’s not completely accurate. Once I’m awake I’m pretty okay, but that simple action of removing myself from my fluffy pillowed fortress seems so utterly unbearable. If I know I can get ready quickly, then I wait till the last minute. And I’m also never really late. I often say, I’m always running late, but I always arrive on time. Makes sense to me. I like to call it Sprandio Time. None of us are that great at keeping to a time schedule.

5.) I’ve learned how to use a letter opener. I can’t quite describe how I looked when I used a letter opener for the first time. Thankfully, I was sitting alone in an office when I used it. To give you a good image, picture what an envelope would look like if a small ferocious animal tore it up. That’s how it looked when I first used a letter opener. After shredding a few envelopes, I finally perfected a swift slicing motion and I can open an envelope with ease. Opening an envelope with one swift motion was one of my prouder moments this year.

6.) I learned how to use a fax machine. The first time I was asked to fax something, I walked up to the printer and stared blankly at it. I didn’t say right away that I didn’t know how to fax something. I’m the boss’s daughter, I try my best not to look like an idiot. I walked boldly into the printer room and thought I could figure it out myself. Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that I just can’t seem to accomplish. I walked back to my coworker’s desk and I said, “Uh, wait. How do you send a fax?” She kindly responded, “Press the fax button and dial the number.” I walked back into the printer room and stared again. “Where is the fax button?” The slender, rectangular button stared at me. It seemed to jump out at me and smack me right in the eyes…..FACSIMILE. Come on English major.

7.) I ask more questions than I ever thought I would. Growing up, I was never one to ask a lot of questions in school. If I didn’t understand something, I did everything I could to figure it out before asking for help. When I started working in this office, I asked a lot of questions right away…at least after my initial fax machine encounter. There are a lot of little things to remember and every person does the same task in their own way, so I have learned different ways to do the same tasks depending on who was training me.

8.) I’ve learned the importance of savoring my Fridays and Saturdays. When I was doing freelance work and going to school, I could occasionally treat weekdays as weekends. As much as I want to go home and sleep some Fridays, I will myself to keep going on so I can get the most out of my weekend. I also refuse to wake up any earlier than 10am on Saturday if I can absolutely avoid it. I love sleep. Saturdays are for sleeping in. I don’t care what anyone says.

9.) I’m learning so much about how to interact with people and how to handle certain situations. I’d consider myself a social person, but I can be shy when I first meet people. Working in this environment and taking on so many different roles, such as interviewing new patients, has made me more comfortable with leaving my comfort zone quicker than I ordinarily would. I didn’t realize working in an office could reveal new personality traits I didn’t know I possessed.

10.) This one is weird, but, hey, so am I….I surprisingly don’t go to the bathroom more than the average woman. Growing up with four boys, I was always the one who had to pee on family trips. I was the one crying in the back of the car, “I have to go to the bathroom, Daddy.” Legit crying. I admit it. My dad always says I could write a book titled “The Bathrooms of North America.” I thought if I had to go and I didn’t have the chance, then I would never be able to go again. Totally logical, right? Right. There;s a lot of women in the office and we all go….a lot. I’ve developed a way to check to see if the bathroom is occupied. If I angle my head out of my office properly, I can see if the bathroom door is open or not so I don’t have to travel down the hall only to approach a closed door. Seeing that closed door is such a let down. I walk down, see it’s closed and turn right around back to my office. Sometimes, I continue on to the kitchen and pretend I’m getting a glass of water or a snack. I linger and wait to hear the door open. If it doesn’t, I make my way back to the office. The bathroom door always opens the second I step back in my office, just like the phone always rings when I leave it.

Those are the top ten things I’ve learned. Like they say, though, you learn something new every day.