Working Girl's Guide #5: Traveling without an ID, no one's getting fired anymore, and seasonless pants

Happy belated MDW!! I’m still OOO in my head, but I managed to pull it together and write this newsletter for you, because I know my girlies need something to read at work while they’re pretending to do their actual jobs.

Speaking of your actual job, gentle reminder that you are allowed (at least in my book) to cut off your boss’s 5-minute story about his toddler saying something he definitely did not say with a more relevant anecdote about something that actually happened in the world. Read on.

Digital Wallets Keep Getting Better

Big news for those of us points to self who would never lose our phone, but are prone to forgetting our wallet at home: at 27 airports in the US, you can now flash your digital Driver’s License in lieu of an actual ID. This is hugely convenient, and plus, I would feel so cool on a work trip flashing my phone at TSA instead of digging through my bag to find my wallet, which is somehow always at the very bottom. Just me??

Take AI Suggestions With a Grain of Salt

Next time you’re sitting in a meeting/on a date listening to the “omg AI is so amazing” speech, one-up them by citing a couple of recent AI hiccups. Google’s AI told users that eating small rocks is good for digestion (please no), glue belongs on pizza (this is why we can’t have nice things), and thirteen US Presidents went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison (none did).

No One’s Getting Fired Anymore

They’re getting “rightsized” or “involuntary career event”-ed, which is obviously just as bad and also just kind of dishonest? After a bunch of TikTokers rightfully ousted their bosses when they were unfairly fired, managers are trying to soften their language, which Stanford professor Robert Sutton called “jargon monoxide.” That’s a genius pun, and I won’t tell anyone if you claim it as your own.

Big news: I lasted 72 whole hours at Bottlerock. Not for the faint of heart!! But had SO much fun, 25% of which I attribute to this cute matching set, 25% to great music and spending time with my besties, and 50% to this wide-brimmed hat, which is giving dermatologist’s daughter and/or young widow goes outside for the first time in months.

This fit is a bit of a spendier option!! Here’s my splurge philosophy: I’m less likely to spend big bucks on a trendy piece or something I’m wearing on vacation/to a concert/one time. I try to think about spending more on pieces I’ll get all kinds of wear from, which (as you know) is why I LOVE sets, because I can mix and match with other items I already own. I also think about seasonality (San Francisco doesn’t really have seasons, but you can adapt this philosophy to wherever you live). This suit is made out of seasonless wool, which at first sounded as real as unlimited PTO, but I think is actually very legit. And I know chocolate brown is really ~in~ right now, but I do think this is something I’ll reach for once we’ve circled back to sad beige (please no).

I’ll admit that I sometimes struggle to prioritize boring personal tasks, like taking the bag of clothes I’ve been meaning to get rid of to Goodwill, picking up a jacket that’s been at the dry cleaner for months (wish I was exaggerating), or dropping off a return at the post office. I also NEVER miss important meetings, obviously because they’re important, but also because they’re scheduled on my calendar. Instead of keeping a running list of s*** you need to do, try scheduling blocks of time in your calendar when you can actually get them done. You’ll be more likely to get to the dry cleaner if you scheduled a 30-minute window at 11am than if it’s just looming on your ongoing to-do list as some nebulous task. It’s all about reducing decision fatigue. Don’t make yourself think more than you need to!

Still with me? Great, here’s my content from the week. And yes, the blue light glasses are a paid actor at this point.

Last but certainly and never least, Corp and I have a hot new episode for you, in which we dive into our experiences with public speaking: how we’ve grown from scaredy high schoolers to people who are sometimes paid to talk in public. We also plea desperately to be invited to a yacht party (anyone here have a yacht? Anyone? Anyone??), share some behind-the-scenes details from commercial shoots, and get into more of your horrible bosses confessions (these somehow keep getting worse??!). Listen to the episode here.

Thanks for reading!