Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Working Girl

I was late a few times in October and last Friday, no thanks to the never-ending roadwork along Jalan Ampang (aka Bangkok KL) and the discriminating traffic cops at Jelatek and Renaissance lights. This was despite the school closure during the haze days. Oh, I used to be late when I first started work (I was a very reluctant member of the workforce) and once even turned up to work more than an hour late (and no, it wasn’t because I was out all night partying and clubbing) because of the horrible road works. You’ll be glad to know that I have since improved on my discipline since those early days although I still run late every now and then, especially Fridays for some reason.

I take the bus to work and I walk a lot: from where I get down in the morning to the office, from office to the bus stop/LRT station in the evening and home from the bus stop/LRT station. This means it is necessary for me to slip on a pair of comfortable flat footwear to work and only change for formal office footwear when I reach the office. I’d stood on buses in high-heel sandals before in my early days and they made my legs ache. On Fridays though, I wear my FitFlop to work in my attempt at casual Fridays.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I use public transportation to/from work and don’t contribute directly to the fossil fuel (I’ve been playing my #ChangeClimateChange part for years now!). Why should I be ashamed? I’m a KL-born and bred girl and I’ve been using public transportation since I was small as Abah hates driving into the city and being caught in the jam even back then. And yet an officemate never fails to find every opportunity he can get to tease me about taking the bus. I mean, get a life already. I notice among my uni friends, there’s a very small minority of us who don’t drive (and we happen to be KL-born and bred). Everyone else, especially those from outside KL, drives. There are benefits to taking the bus: I get to read on the journey home (not so much on the journey to work as I usually only get to sit after we’ve reached KLCC) and have finished hundreds of books on my commute to and from work (I’m on my 101st book of the year right now, Alhamdulillah). I get to walk a total of at least 4 km each day which forms my daily exercise - and that excludes the walk in the office when I don’t carry my hand-phone around. I also get talk to God or recite Quranic surahs on my walks. When the LRT fare hike comes into effect tomorrow, I’ll walk to the other LRT station instead of the one I normally use. The pros are I don’t have to walk up and down the stupid uneven bridge and I get to avoid having to dodge my way through the stampeding human bodies determined to have their own way (do they really think the bridge is a one-way bridge? Inconsiderate idiots!). The cons are that I have to go through two street crossings to get to this other station and as it’s an interchange station, there are a lot of fellow passengers about and my chances of getting a seat on the train are much lower.

I usually iron my work clothes the week before. So for any one week, I would have ironed my work clothes the week before plus those tops that I’d had laundered throughout the week. I find deciding in advance what to wear for the following week helps as it saves me the daily morning headache of deciding what to wear. Oh sure, I have been known to switch my outfit at the last minute but I try not to do this too often. As for scarves, I usually iron them late in the week as they tend to wrinkle faster. I do not believe in ironing my clothes in the morning every morning just before going to work. I hate ironing as it is and I’d rather spend 20 minutes for a maximum of 3 nights in a week pumping iron than 5 minutes every morning and 20 minutes every weekend. Besides, it is more economical, not to mention more environmentally friendly, than to iron clothes on a daily basis.

I have, of late, started to lay out my underclothes and accessories the evening before (I don’t know why I didnt think of doing this sooner). I launder my underclothes when I have my evening shower and they are usually already dry by the following evening. I store them back in my dresser drawer and take out the underclothes for the following day. I take off my work accessories for the day to store them and at the same time take out the accessories I want to wear for the following day. It all takes a minute tops. This helps save me time trying to decide what to wear in the mornings although of course I have been known to change my mind again in the morning when donning my work clothes and work accessories. I love accessories and can’t seem to have enough of them. My work accessories comprise the following: my trusted watch (I feel lost and my wrist feels naked despite my bracelets if I forget to wear it), scarf clip, fashion necklace(s), bracelet(s) and/or bangle(s), brooch(es) (usually flower brooches), rings and the occasional belt. In addition to these work accessories, I also wear necklaces and earrings that I change every few months, and anklets, bracelets and bangles. Except for my anklets, I do not display these semi-permanent accessories in the open. I prefer to wear my not-for-display necklaces and earrings all the time and not take them off because when I was burgled, the effing burglars took all my jewellery away, among many other things, and I was left with only what I had on me when it happened that unfortunate weekend when I was visiting my parents (the burglary happened when I still lived at micasa).

I use a handbag organiser in my handbag for my wallet, coin-and-tissue pouch, key case, mobile phone pouch and my office pass. Like the name suggests, it organises my stuff and makes changing handbags so easy and such a breeze. I no longer have a messy handbag where I have to dig through to find anything. It really saves me time when doing my handbag change and finding stuff in my bag! I change handbags every three weeks although I do carry a different handbag or tote to the office on Fridays and wear it through the weekend. I carry a handbag and also another tote bag where I stuff my brolly, novel, a handheld fan, and canvas shopping bags (one is for those groceries, household items or stationery that I sometimes buy on my way home. Another is to cover my handbag when it rains or if I find my Boston or Speedy bags too heavy to tote). I’m more susceptible to being snatched and pick-pocketed because I walk and use the public transportation (in fact, I had been both snatched and pick-pocketed before in KL) and as such, I don’t usually carry my Chanel bags to work (I only do that on Fridays). I do carry some of them on Fridays especially those in caviar leather but I try not carry lambskin bags as I have to baby them more and protect them from being brushed and scratched against.

I go through my skincare routine after my shower and before sitting down for breakfast. After breakfast, I don on my work clothes and spray on some perfume on top of the deodorant and body spray. Then I put on my scarf and work accessories. I don’t wear a lot of make-up to work, only my lipstick and lip gloss on top of my lip balm (sometimes when I’m being really absent-minded, I even forget to apply my lipstick but not to worry, I do have some tubes of lipstick in the office). All these dressing, spraying on perfume, wearing scarf and putting on accessories and lipstick take me only four minutes flat on average. Only then am I ready and confident to face the new day and take on the world.


What about you? What is your daily pre- and post-work routine? What challenges do you face getting to/from work? What do you do to save time (apply make-up and/or wear accessories or catch up on your reading when caught in the traffic jam?)?