Dear Ana,
I want to start having a more dressed-up, professional look but I don’t have the time to put into looking good. Should I start waking up at 5 a.m. to get all dressed up, or should I be a slob forever?
Slob
Dear Slob,
I don’t want to hear how you don’t have the time to dress well – it takes just as long to pull over a dress blouse as it does a T-shirt and it takes the same amount of time to pull on a pair of jeans and a pair of dress pants. You can roll out of bed and into a suit pretty easily. I don’t see why anyone would have any reason to wake up at 5 a.m. unless they have a long commute anyway.
My advice would be that after you stop being lazy and put on nice clothes, you spend more time in general on hygiene. I’m not trying to imply that you would be gross in any way to begin with, however maintaining nice nails, a clean shave, and an overall well-kempt appearance are what make the difference between a professional and some slob in a suit.
Dear Ana,
I love my boyfriend but I have a crush on a coworker. He’s not even my type and I’d have no intention of ever dating him. I don’t cheat and I hate this feeling and just want the crush to go away, what should I do?
Work Romance But Not Really
Dear Romance,
I hope by want the crush to go away you mean the feeling and not the actual person that you are crushing on. Also, I want you to think about why you could possibly have a crush on a man that you don’t want to be with. It is probably just a physical attraction and not an actual crush.
Is your relationship long distance or maybe have you not seen him much lately? You could just be feeling lonely. Instead of thinking about your coworker, think about why you feel this way.
When it comes to work, try to avoid having too much contact or communication with your coworker. If you two work closely together, that may be why you suddenly feel this way. Spending less time around him if you can will help with reducing the feelings because it’ll create distance.
Dear Ana,
I work at the outlets and I realized the other day that I am starting to hate people. I hate society. I especially am starting to hate Canadians.
I don’t want this to turn into some weird foreign/people-hating complex for me, so how can I stop this hate from taking root in my dark, retail-destroyed soul?
I Work at the Outlets
Dear Outlets,
Everyone dislikes both Canadians and people to a certain level because everyone is just a little bit cynical. Some people are more than a little bit cynical, and those people typically work at either any McDonalds ever or the outlet mall. It is what you get paid to do, to give good customer service to people with screaming kids at 9 p.m. and not cry when someone walks out of the fitting rooms with a baby and a dirty diaper in their hands, criticizing your “changing” rooms.
You may not get paid to have to babysit Canadians jumping off of a bus with a bunch of money in hand and ending their sentences with “Eh” (and they totally do) but it is part of the experience. Also, every time a Canadian says “washroom” instead of “restroom” or “bathroom”, an angel in heaven dies. I know, it’s hard to stay happy in retail.
But, it is possible! You just have to have an open mind and look at your work a different way. Don’t think of your shift as a waste of your day but rather focus on doing everything the best you can and completing it in a set amount of time. You will have to do the work anyway so you may as well work your best.
And don’t think of all people as awful customers, because they are people, too – People who also may have jobs where they have to handle annoying customers to get through their day, people who can be pretty funny if engaged in conversation.
There are thousands of people who flock to the outlets, so you should be able to find at least a handful that could restore your faith in humanity.
