The Power Players & the Glorified Homeless of Manhattan

I found out this week that the big "boss" - the VP of Internet Ad Sales - is a pretty big deal in advertising. Apparently she is pretty well known in the industry. I already knew she was fabulous, but I am even more excited to know that I'm learning about corporate NYC from one of the best in a highly-competitive industry. Her husband is also successful in advertising sales (she told me the story of how they met in advertising). They're quite the power couple, which I really admire. I've always sort of pictured myself as being one half of an ambitious duo. Ambition in the opposite sex is one of the characteristics I deem highly attractive. I guess the big "boss" breaks the mold with regard to a recent article in Forbes magazine entitled "Don't Marry Career Women."

I also learned that all-right-with-me "boss," whose title was periodically reverted back to the-Devil-wears-Prada "boss" throughout the week, is half Filipina and half White - just like me (though I would have guessed she was half Chinese). I don't know if my view of her has continued to soften throughout the week because we share the same mixed heritage or because I am starting to understand her management style and the stress of her job. I think it is more of the latter because I am not unlike her in a lot of ways ... aggressive, meticulous, detail-oriented, a bit obsessive. She hasn't seen that side of me though because I've taken to a more submissive demeanor - not only as a temp, but for the simple fact that I am treading blindly in advertising.

After a week containing three 10+ hour workdays, I welcomed Saturday morning by looking at the clock and then rolling over and pulling the covers over my head. I slept until 11 a.m. and then went to meet a broker in Queens with whom I had an appointment to view an apartment. Just like the last dozen or so, it was a negative. Apartment-hunting in New York City is extremely stressful, but thanks to a wonderful best friend and her accepting, easy-going roommate, I am not "on the clock" like so many other apartment seekers. The big "boss" left a copy of a recent article from The New York Times on my keyboard at work on Thursday. The article, "The Housing Virgins of Manhattan," described in almost mirrored detail the current housing situation that is my life. I completely empathize with Lani Fortier, one of the glorified homeless featured in the article. Glorified homeless is a term I use to define myself, which is essentially what thousands of New Yorkers are right now.