Bored to death

Its way beyond six,
there’s still no fix
on what we are
to do,
so I've indulged
myself in three
CNN quizzes.

According to one, I’ll go down in the history as the one who drowned in the sea of office politics?

Here’s an excerpt from my “What's Your EQ at Work? quiz”

My final score is: 70 out of 100
According to the CNN analysis: Emotional intelligence is not a fixed quantity. We expand it as we go through life. (Reallyyy………that’s reassuring.)
A score below 70 indicates a problem. (Phew…that was close!)
But don't despair: EQ is not unimprovable. (Sure if there was a word like unimprovable maybe my EQ had sum hope…)
"Emotional intelligence can be learned, and in fact we are each building it, in varying degrees, throughout life. It's sometimes called maturity," says Daniel Goleman, author of Working With Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, $25.95).
(So, I guess I’m about $25.95 away from reviving my emotional quotient… Maybe I’ll have the money to buy the book after all… Guess a call centre job in the day would suffice… Even if I went missing from work, they’d only look for me by nightfall…)

Annie, my trusted agony aunt, did pitch in with a brief interlude of humour….

This is a question a lost soul like me put to her...

What do I say to my boss, and anyone else who asks, about why I am ducking out of the office for an hour or two? I'm really going on job interviews, but must I say so? I don't want to lie, but the truth would probably count against me. -Old Scout

Dear Scout: If you absolutely can't schedule these interviews at lunchtime, or very early in the morning or late in the day (when your absence might be less conspicuous), you can always offer a vague explanation - "I have an important errand to run," or "I have a few things to attend to. I'll be back by 4." As longtime readers of this column know, I never recommend lying. For the record, though, people often do fib about this. A recent poll by recruiters Korn/Ferry International found that 27% of job seekers say they have a family- or child-related appointment to keep, and 23% say they're going to a doctor or dentist. The largest group, at 34%, said they "give no excuse and just sneak out." Why not try that?

Just sneak out… Hmmm… More than anything else, I’m tempted to do that! Coming back to the dilemma... But of course, everyone fibs… If you have made up your mind to make the switch, then you gotta ditch that goody-two-shoes pitch! Come on, are you telling me you can’t tell ze big boss with a straight face that “I think I’m gonna puke…or "my dog's water broke”...ok little over the top...but can-do! So, like I was saying...sure, you can fib, in fact, do it ad lib.

(Just checked.. I still don’t have anything to do! This stab at doing nothing isn’t doing anything for me)

The last… but more interestingly quirky quiz I gave was: Work and baby?
Apparently I’ll be successful in combining motherhood with a career (or even a job hunt!!! I supposedly can pull it off if I manage to get some tips from those who “have it all” and make some lifestyle changes!

How bored am I? Alter, get the damn mandrax quick…