"Signs you've had too much of the 90's"

[garote]

Those were the Internet Bubble years, and the heady workaholic times that led up to them. In the mid-90's I made this jokey list and put it on my website:

Signs You've Had Too Much of the 90's:

1. Cleaning up the dining area means getting the fast food bags out of the back seat of your car.
   
2. Your reason for not staying in touch with family is that they do not have e-mail addresses.
   
3. You refer to your dining room table as the flat filing cabinet.
   
4. Your idea of being organized is multiple colored post-it notes.
   
5. Your grocery list has been on your refrigerator so long some of the products don't even exist any more.
   
6. You keep trying to open your front door with the key to the office.
   
7. You normally eat out of vending machines and at the most expensive restaurant in town within the same week.
   
8. You think a "half-day" means leaving at 5 o'clock.
   
9. Anything under an hour each way is not a "real" commute.
   
10. You hear most of your jokes via email instead of in person.

Today I realized something disturbing:
Working where I do, and living where I do, I now practice SEVEN OUT OF TEN of these.

Clearly, I have had too much of the 90's. Something has to change.

Comments

[bluepapercup]

Startups still practice this, sadly. Perhaps you work for the world's most successful startup?

I guess you could always run off and join the circus, though I hear that's quite trendy nowadays. ;)

[maggiedacatt.livejournal.com]

I think the oughts and the tweens (so far) are only worse than the 90's.

[rudetuesday.livejournal.com]

Yikes.

Change'll happen. It's best to do it on purpose, I think.

[garote]

Hrmmm. Excellent advice, madam!

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

I don't remember any of these things happening where I was in the '90s.

[garote]

Where do you live, and what are expenses like? Perhaps I can move there. ;)

[robocowboy.livejournal.com]

Well, leaving at 5 would be a half day for me... but I do tend to start work after 11...

It is indeed the largest startup in the world.

[garote]

I have to ask myself -- where is this leading? I mean, I like the bay area, and I generally enjoy my work, but why does it have to take FUCKING 50 HOURS A WEEK, EVERY WEEK? When does the time-crunch ease up?

I thought it would get easier as I established myself. Five years in, and the pace has only accelerated.