Coffee Break: Melike Grained Leather Bow Tote

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1. I met someone at a networking event in my town last night. She just moved to town and has a killer commute (1 hour, bumper to bumper. Worse on bad days). She is very actively looking for a new job.

   She is a social worker with a background in the really tough stuff: trauma, s*xual abuse, death. She is herself a dreamer/DACA (perhaps something else, we didn’t get into it because it wasn’t the point but she moved from central america and her parents, who are now deceased, were illegal). She is very open, but cautiously optimistic, to transferring to a different sort of role. A group of us were brainstorming nontraditional areas to look: town/county social workers, schools, nonprofits (? not sure which ones would be appropriate). Thought I’d see if this community had any ideas as well. She didn’t say it outright but I could tell from the conversation that she is worked to the bone, exhausted, and just ready for a change.

   1. EAP programs? Some have staff who work remotely and provide telephone based counselling/screening/referrals. Most hospitals have social workers on staff as well.

   2. Philanthropy jobs are pretty hard to get but most foundations are looking for people with (both professional and lived) experience with historically marginalized communities. I recommend she look in that direction.

   3. I would start here: https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/the-five-most-popular-social-work-careers/

   4. I don’t know if it would help with being exhausted because it is a very hard job, but I work for the public defender and we hire social workers in our different divisions to help clients find treatment, housing, counseling, all of those things. We also use them for mitigation work (pulling together facts about the client’s past to help give some context to the crime and ask for a lesser sentence). If she also speaks Spanish, our office would pay her more.

      Other places to consider: hospitals, retirement homes, jails and prisons, drug rehab facilities, police departments, district attorney offices.

      1. My sister-in-law changed jobs from social worker to probation officer. It’s not as exhausting.

   5. Legal aid or immigrant rights legal organizations, especially if she speaks Spanish.

      Or, try to move into more training and consultation- places like DV organizations sometimes have social workers whose full job it is to train other social workers and social service individuals on doing that work.

      A last idea is funding or policy. A few social workers I know now have jobs with our county or city government managing funding to social service organizations.

   6. You guys, this list is so helpful! I invited her over with her kids in a few weeks for a playdate and will throw out some of these ideas.

      She’s a native Spanish speaker and works with an incredibly marginalized community.

2. Can someone help me out here? I spent 16+ hours working and traveling for a work trip last week (I work for a company that consults on federal contracts) and have to bill my time, although I am exempt. I knocked off a few hours on my timesheet, but ultimately billed 14 and am now getting pushback from my supervisor. I think she expects me to bill 8 hours (our expected work day) even though I traveled for twice as long. What’s the standard for billing travel time here? I’m googling but it’s hard to see what applies to me.

   1. If you are billing for something related to federal contracts, you MUST bill accurately. Your supervisor can take a flying leap on pushing you back from 16 to 14.

      1. She’s trying to push me from 14 to 8 – I already pushed myself to 14 just to cost the project a little bit less. And yes, this was for a federal contract, although we are the subcontractor and not the prime.

         1. That doesn’t matter. It needs to be accurate.

         2. Yeah this is illegal. You are required to record your time accurately. Not trying to be alarmist but labor mischarging is a False Claims Act violation and I’ve seen people go to jail for directing it.

            1. I agree but does the travel time count as labor?

            2. It may not be billable to the client but it is still labor. You should have a charge code for travel if it’s not billable.

               What you’re talking about (assuming you are exempt) is uncompensated overtime. There’s a concept called total time accounting — you can look it up and find some explainers on how not having total time accounting impacts costs charged on federal contracts.

      2. Agreed. I don’t do goverment contracts, but if I work 4 hours on a brief for 3 cleints, I bill 12 hours. Straight math. If you worked 14 hours you have to bill 14 hours, otherwise its’ a fair billing issue. My boss would yell at me if I ever bill less time then I worked. Dad says to tell your boss you do not get a charatible deduction for not billing money you are owed. Then you will also get dinged for not billing enough time! A double loss for you which could cause you to loose your job! FOOEY!

   2. Almost all companies that bill time have an actual policy on how to bill time. Check with whatever department would have that info, and also check with the project head and request a copy of the engagement contract, as this is usually spelled out there as well.

      1. Nope, there’s nothing. I also checked the travel policy and it’s not addressed there. I can’t get my hands on the exact contract for this project, but our other projects have not specified whether time spent in transit to an off-site meeting and back is counted as travel.

   3. It’s super confusing. The rule that was followed during my previous job (I was exempt) was that I was to be paid for travel time if it occurred during the hours I would otherwise be working. For example, if my workday was 8:30 to 5:00 and my flight was from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, I’d be paid for that time. If, during that trip, I worked on-site from 8:30 to 5:00 and caught a flight back at 6:00 pm, I would not be compensated for that travel time. It … was not great, but it followed the letter of the law. I sometimes was able to flex out the additional time, but often I just ate it (along with Saturdays/Sundays in the expo hall).

      IANAL. The best resource I can find that explains this is here: http://greenwaldllp.com/law-clips/considered-working-time-must-compensated/

      1. Do you mean you were non-exempt? Exempt employees can work wherever/whenever and don’t need to be paid overtime or compensated for time spent in transit.

   4. Ah crud I put in a longer post about travel pay as an exempt employee but I didn’t realize the issue with the federal contracts. Please disregard my comment (whenever it appears).

      1. Thanks for your post, but can anyone point me to anything that says that federal contracts are actually treated differently? I’m struggling to find anything that looks halfway legit on Google. Unfortunately I suspect that what you described is what’s going to apply to me, although we have no official internal travel policy saying as much. All I want is a few freaking hours of flex time so I don’t have to leave for work at 6:55 am the day after getting home at midnight.

         1. Link to follow.

         2. https://www.cbh.com/guide/articles/timekeeping-requirements-far-versus-the-uniform-guidance/

   5. Ooooh boy I had the same thing happen to me last week! 18 hr day, getting paid for 8 hrs

   6. Are you talking about billing the client, or reporting your time and number of hours worked on a timesheet for payroll purposes? Typically the two are not the same. For example, you may work from 8 to 6, but you’re probably not billing the client for every minute of that time, even though you should get paid for working that long. So hours worked /= hours billed. In either case, it is a violation of law to report your time inaccurately. At the very least, it should be reported correctly and then marked down by a supervisor before billed to the client or something.

      If you’re exempt, you get paid the same amount of money no matter how many hours you work (i.e. a salary). If you’re NON-exempt (i.e. get overtime or comp time for hours worked over 40), the information above about when you get paid for travel time may be applicable.

3. My boyfriend recently mentioned he’d like a more professional-looking bag than his REI backpack to bring stuff to work in so I’d like to get him one for Christmas. Any suggestions for a nice messenger-style bag for men?

   1. Tumi or Roots

   2. My husband loves his bag from Lo & Sons.

   3. I got a really nice messenger bag for my husband from Denali Leather – the Washington Messenger Bag. It’s really nice and seems to be well-made. (I haven’t gifted it yet, doing that tomorrow!) The only thing was it came in rather flimsy packaging. But otherwise I would recommend it.

4. Anybody know of any good online pilates mat classes? Ideally free, but I’d be willing to pay for really good ones.

   1. Blogilates has free videos on Youtube and monthly challenges on her website.

5. I’m restless at work. I’ve practiced law for almost 10 years, in house and private practice. Love it and have lots of objective successes, my colleagues are great, but I’m just constantly thinking what if something else. I enjoy the corporate environment (I’m currently in private practice) and am thinking about applying for a non-law job at a company. The downside, of course, is that I don’t have recent direct supervisory experience other than my assistant.

   Anyone made that move? I’d likely look at only larger companies in my Midwestern state (1000+ employees), which includes several public companies. I have some savings but wouldn’t leave work until I had a job.

   1. Not the question you asked, but you should find something to focus on in your free time for variety. You love your job and like your colleagues, and presumably are making good money and have control over your schedule. Take the win and scratch the itch outside of work.

      1. +1

      2. +2. I’d look at volunteering where you’ll be directing a committee, which will give you some insights that cross over a bit with supervision. Can you get involved with your local school board or food pantry? If you attend a church, can you get involved on a committee there? You might need to serve on a committee for a year or so before you can lead it, but it seems like you have the time and skill.

   2. It seems sort of crazy to me to leave a job and career you “love” for something you know nothing about. You don’t even say what the new career is or what draws you to it. I’m an ex-lawyer myself but most people I know who have found success and enjoyment in a post-law career were moving towards something that they wanted, or at least moving away from a job/career they hated. Leaving something you love is risky in the best circumstances, and these do not sound like the best circumstances.

6. Can anyone recommend a good book (?) for dealing with constant disappointment due to high expectations? My life is chaotic right now and many things set me off – which, while frustrating, just lead to being persistently angry. I don’t have the means to see a therapist right now, which would be my preferred strategy.

   Calm? Acceptance? I don’t know, I’m just looking for coping mechanisms to deal with life when it’s going 70% well instead of 95% well.

   1. I’d suggest writing in a gratitude journal every night. It’s helped me. You can read about it here https://ninaamir.com/7-powerful-ways-deal-disappointment-unmet-expectations/ or here: https://ninaamir.com/7-powerful-ways-deal-disappointment-unmet-expectations/

      You could also try the Calm app or yoga or meditation. I don’t have any references for that but yoga helps me clear my mind and get rid of free-floating anger.

      I’ve also used the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy book before – Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks: A Workbook for Managing Depression and Anxiety It’s also an ebook or your local library might have a copy. Hang in there.

   2. Call it woo woo medicine, just start a gratitude practice. Write 10 per day, as mundane as :
      I am grateful I can….
      the clouds brought rain
      I have a roof over my head
      I have clothing
      I have food
      I can breathe
      And in that note, a mindful breathing practice
      can be beneficial.
      I also recommend to start listening to any book by Pema Chodron

      1. This is great. I posted a comment a few hours ago about doing this same thing, but it’s still in moderation jail.

         OP, you might want to repost tomorrow for more ideas.

         Mine were a gratitude journal and the book Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Seven Weeks. It’s a DIY guide. I also posted articles on Gratitude Journaling. I’ll post names of the articles in a separate post.

         Also, yoga and perhaps guided mediation like the Calm app.

         1. Huffington Post Article – The Benefits of a Gratitude Journal and How to Maintain One from July 8, 2016 and 7 Powerful Ways to Deal with Disappointment and Unmet Expectations by Nina Amir at her eponymous .com blog.

   3. Similarly wo-wo, but find a cheap yoga class that ends in shivasina (lying down, hands at your side.) Use that time to engage in the gratitude practice about myself and send good thoughts about friends and family into the universe (I.e. I hope Sarah’s grading goes well, I hope Rachel’s work trip is easy…). I find the 45 minutes of moving my body calms my mind and leaves me more open for the gratitude. Afterwards, the physical motion means I feel better, while the gratitude makes me feel better emotionally.

      1. Sorry..you didn’t ask for this, but I would like to point out that it is not “shivasina”, it is “shavaasana” which means corpse pose (shava = dead body)

         1. Cool! I’d never seen it written before. Thanks!

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