Coffee Break: Desk Trays
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If you're looking for a way to add a bit more personality to a corporate office, or to better organize a home office, do consider these fun desk trays from Anthropologie — they look functional but lovely. I like the bright, happy, floral prints (and I'm not a floral girl!).
They're $34 each at Anthropologie.
(These Rifle Paper Co. trays are verrry similar but more affordable.)
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On the hunt for cute office supplies? As we've noted in the past, Target, Anthropologie, ShopBop, Urban Outfitters, and Amazon all have a ton of personality-infused office supplies. Some of our favorites as of 2024 include these:
Sales of note for 2/7/25:
- Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
- Ann Taylor – Extra 25% off your $175+ purchase — and $30 of full-price pants and denim
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 15% off
- Boden – 15% off new season styles
- Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
- J.Crew – Extra 50% off all sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything including new arrivals + extra 20% off $125+
- Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 40% off one item + free shipping on $150+
Sales of note for 2/7/25:
- Nordstrom – Winter Sale, up to 60% off! 7850 new markdowns for women
- Ann Taylor – Extra 25% off your $175+ purchase — and $30 of full-price pants and denim
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 15% off
- Boden – 15% off new season styles
- Eloquii – 60% off 100s of styles
- J.Crew – Extra 50% off all sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40% off everything including new arrivals + extra 20% off $125+
- Rothy's – Final Few: Up to 40% off last-chance styles
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – 40% off one item + free shipping on $150+
And some of our latest threadjacks here at Corporette (reader questions and commentary) — see more here!
Some of our latest threadjacks include:
- My workload is vastly exceeding my capability — what should I do?
- Why is there generational resentment regarding housing? (See also)
- What colors should I wear with a deep green sweater dress?
- How do you celebrate milestone birthdays?
- How do you account for one-time expenses in your monthly budget?
- If I'm just starting to feel sick from the flu, do I want Tamilfu?
- when to toss old clothes of a different size
- a list of political actions to take right now
- ways to increase your intelligence
- what to wear when getting sworn in as a judge (congrats, reader!)
- how to break into teaching as a second career
For those of you who have gone for partner or an equivalent role, how do you answer the question WHY do you want to do this? I feel like I’m ready from a skills perspective and I want the recognition of my work internally and the stature that comes externally with that title, but that doesn’t feel like a great answer.
The $ is better with that title. And the view inside the sausage factory is better (not saying that it’s savory, but important b/c you’re affected by what goes on there regardless of title).
Plus, I considered an offer once where they were all “if your current place hasn’t made you a partner yet, why should we?” Um, b/c otherwise I won’t walk through your door. I didn’t. But b/c of this also.
I am committed to the firm, our/my clients, and my career.
I want to invest (I.e. capital) in the firm and continue to grow in my career and firm leadership.
My advice: answer how you would answer an interview question. Answer to get the job, not what you would tell your spouse or gripe to your work BFF.
If you care about business development, you really need that title and the respect that comes with it.
It helps with business development
Low-stakes question that is at least half a vent, but would you say anything to a friend who is play-acting at being poor? She has over $500K invested before the age of 30 (due to an inheritance) and low six figures in liquid assets in her savings account, but seems to have a lot of money anxiety and likes to complain about not being able to afford minor expenses like a big grocery run or an oil change and then also complain about “never going to be able to afford a down payment” in her MCOL city. It’s honestly really grating/offensive and I wish she would say “we’re making the choice not to use the inheritance money for a down payment” instead of “we can’t afford it,” but I also don’t want to be the language police. Would you say anything or just ignore?
I ignore this. My impression is that this is common, and I can’t fight a whole societal trend. I don’t really understand what it’s like to have all that money even as something set aside, and clearly the people talking this way don’t understand what it’s like not to or at least feel isolated when they don’t try to relate this way.
Ignore it. I don’t like the phrase “I can’t afford it” for this reason. There are obviously some things people truly cannot afford (I cannot afford a private jet, for example) but 99% of the time when people say that they mean “I have different budge priorities” or “I’m not able to buy X if I want buy [or save] Y, and I’d rather have Y.” It’s a common problem, not just an issue with your friend.
I think people avoid saying “I have different budget priorities” because the listener can read this as judgmental.
Don’t be weird. You can say that you “can’t afford” something even if you are not completely broke. You can not “afford” things even if the money is in your bank account because retirement funds, college funds, and emergency funds are valid uses of money that in adult-world, trump frivolous spending.
Yes, the OP’s friend is being weird, but that isn’t solved by policing the language of people who are really saying, “when my kid’s 529 is only on track to have a third of state U paid for by age 18, I don’t feel comfortable taking a trip to Europe” or “when I still have heavy student loans, I don’t feel comfortable signing on to a mortgage in this inflated market.”
I don’t tell anyone not to say “I can’t afford it.” I know our society has accepted that phrase as standard. I’m just saying that I personally find that phrase annoying, and wish it were more socially acceptable to say “it’s not in my budget,” which is more precise.
This is sooooo nitpicky. You know that’s what people mean when they say they can’t afford something.
Do you not have any irrational things that annoy you? It’s a minor pet peeve of mine and I commented about it in agreement with someone who said her friend’s use of this phrase was annoying her. I’m not making a federal case about it.
I hear that it’s annoying, but I would try to mentally substitute “not in our budget” for “we can’t afford” and not say anything to her. You really never know. We “can’t afford” some things because we feel the need to keep what others consider a ridiculous amount of cash on hand because we have some dormant but potentially serious/expensive health concerns in the family. I’m sure some people would conclude we can afford certain things that we don’t think we can.
Nothing. Lots of people have $ anxiety and lots of people with a high income have spending problems that mean stuff they want doesn’t ever happen. I could p*ss away a million dollars, easy (so I pay myself first so I never have free cash to blow on anything but a few very low ticket items).
Ignore. Using “I can’t afford” language for “I don’t want to spend money that way” is similar to people complaining “I don’t have time to do X” when the person spends hours doing other activities that may seem less important to me. I think both “I can’t afford” and “I don’t have time for” can be shorthand for “that’s not a priority to me.”
(Clearly recognizing there are many things each of us actually cannot afford or does not have time for, but I’m talking day-to-day expenses and activities).
Money anxiety often has nothing to do with current financial situation and a lot more to do with ideas shaped during childhood. Ignore it.
I get this. We make nearly 7 figures now but I grew up below the poverty line and I still feel like I can’t afford things. At one point I realized I can’t keep using “I can’t afford it, or sorry that’s not in my budget” as an excuse for things because I could more or less afford whatever I wanted. Solution for me is just never talk about money so there’s no opportunity for these things to come up, which was easy bc it wasn’t a real topic of conversation before anyway.
All this to say I don’t think she’s play acting, she’s telling you what’s real to her. That doesn’t make it any less tone deaf. if you really can’t ignore it, I might say something like “hey, can we talk about something else? the money talk kind of stresses me out/is kind of a downer/whatever.”
I think this is the best advice. I think the real complaint isn’t that she is being stingy, it’s that she’s complaining about the same thing over and over. If it stresses you out, I’d just say that and not elaborate.
No real advice but commiseration. Obviously, don’t be pushy for her to spend on stuff like joint vacations if she has other other priorities. But otherwise, ignore her like I ignore my landlord who owns 4 houses but only rents out one of them and visits the others periodically, but then also complains about a $300 repairman invoice.
Thanks all. I think you’re right that I should just ignore – it’s annoying but what can you do.
I’ll be the voice of dissent among the crowd and I’ll agree with you that it’s annoying. It’s not a good look to count other people’s money, but it’s also incredibly grating to hear someone who presumably has a cushion/safety net to whine about groceries. It’s not as if she’s a single mom living on food stamps.
I guess in terms of a script, you can stay neutral as possible in your phrasing like, “I’m sorry you feel that way,” “Yes, groceries are getting more and more expensive,” “Housing is out of reach for a lot of people, it’s stressful.” Not sure what else to do. If this is truly grating and something that’s more than an occasional occurrence, just try to limit time with her.
It’s possible her inheritance has restrictions and she can’t use it for what she wants. I know quite a few people in that situation.
OP here and that’s not the case, but she wants to save it for the future. I get that and think she should do whatever she wants with it, but it strikes me as pretty tone-deaf to be sitting on half a mil before age 30 and be saying “I’ll never be able to afford a down payment” when a 20% down payment in her city would cost ~$100K. To me, that’s a choice, not a financial hardship.
Honestly, I’d go one further — if she’s really a friend, and not just a casual acquaintance (and I’m guessing she’s a friend, given how much you know about her finances) I’d say something about it. I agree that it isn’t right to count others’ money, but imo, she’s invited this on herself by sharing her money gripes with you, and nothing obligates you to respond with sympathy. I’d respond: “What do you mean? Of course you can afford that.” I think you would do her a favor. I can’t imagine walking around talking like that given how many people are genuinely struggling to make ends meet these days.
I keep getting alerts about stocks doing poorly – is now a good time to invest or do they have farther to fall?
You can’t try to time the market. It’s always a good time to invest. Long term the market goes up.
+1
Yes and maybe. Don’t try to time the market. (I know, boring.)
I need a reality check. I am a fairly young partner at a midsize regional. Current firm has under 150 total people (employees and lawyers). 5 of our full-time employees are 100% IT functions. Since January 2021, our firm has had 8-10 business days when our entire firm email has been down or our remote system has been down. By this, I mean I have been unable to access, read, or send emails or login to our remote access system for multiple hours each day (not days in a row – it’s almost once a mont but not at the same time of the month). I am frustrated and concerned that there might be something seriously wrong. Clients have gotten bounce back emails and our assistants no longer rely on e-filing notices because we are nervous about receipt. Our IT dept has repeatedly told the partners that each outage was from something unique, unforeseeable, and unpredictable. They’ve also assured us there is no “hack” or bad actor lurking in the system. My fellow partners are frustrated but sort of ho-hum, shoulder shrug, “that’s life with computers! We have leading tech!” My attitude is different – I’m freaking out. I never hear colleagues at other firms complain about things like hours without email, servers being down, etc. (although I admit everyone has at least one IT-related complaint). I came from a smaller firm that never had problems – is this normal at bigger organizations?? If yes, how do you prepare for outages or explain it to clients?
This is insane. I work at a similar sized firm and our email has been down for a total of 2 hours in the last 5 years.
Our clients audit us for various IT things. Maybe see if you can find an “outside counsel IT audit checklist” on the internet (or via ILTA)? Because a client probably cares as much as you do.
Exactly this. You need an outside group auditing your IT.
+1
We had had a server go down (80k employees, multinational), but it gets back up within a day if that long and it’s local usually. We also always get information about what happened, why, and how it will be prevented going forward (if possible). Your systems being down for days is 100% unacceptable.
Plain colourful filing trays – yes. Patterned ones – no, too visually distracting.
Loved the thread this morning about best work compliments you’ve received.
For me either “your projects are much easier to onboard on to” aka my projects were well-organized or the time when I calmed down a client when the engagement manager wasn’t able to and someone else on the client side messaged me to say that she “took mental notes on how well I handled it”.
Paging anon in sf from this morning looking for trips over thanksgiving. I went to Santa Fe just pre pandemic based on recs from this board and I cannot wait to go back. Highly recommend, easy trip from the Bay Area. We flew into Albuquerque because there was a nonstop SFO flight. The drive to Santa Fe was quick.
Anyone having trouble with clicking on a link and nothing? I have to “click to open a new tab” each time now. It’s been doing this since Thursday. Not a massive problem, obviously, but odd.
I have noticed and have had to do the same thing for over a week now.
Gift ideas? My good friend’s father, who I’ve known for about 15 years, is officiating my small casual wedding next month. He likes his grand kids, photography, and history, and lives in Houston. I’m cautious of food gifts because he has allergies and my friend grew up keeping kosher, so he may have some restrictions. I was thinking a membership to something in Houston he could enjoy with his grandkids, but I don’t know what he already has memberships to. Any thoughts?