A few months ago, Betsy Kerekes—a/k/a Parenting Is Funny—was eliciting suggestions for a new blog name. Sure, parenting is funny, but these days, she writes more about Jiu-Jitsu. I get a real kick out of that.
/ martial arts humor.
In any case, my suggestion got the most votes, so I “won” the “contest.” I use quotation marks around both words because:
- She never actually changed the name of her blog, and
- The “prize” (more quotes!) was a stick-on tattoo of Betsy’s face.
Nothing against Betsy or her face, but I’d have preferred something with a little more substance. Say, a year’s supply of Chex Mix. I’m pretty sure she’s got a few cases stashed in her pantry, as snacks are another non-parenting topic discussed frequently on her blog.
Nevertheless, she went to the trouble of mailing me her face, so I wanted to be a good sport about the whole thing. Especially since she included a couple of oranges from her tree. Betsy lives in southern California, so you can bet your ass those things were juicy and delicious.
As a show of gratitude, I decided to have a little fun and take Betsy to work with me today. It’s a great excuse for a day-in-the-life entry, though I limited it to work hours because if I’d taken Betsy into the shower with me and later to bed, Tara would’ve given me the side-eye. I chose a Tuesday because for me, it’s the most “typical” day of the week. And oddly enough, I hardly ever post on Tuesdays. The last time was February 21. Feels like a lifetime ago.
Without further ado, here’s how Betsy and I spent our day at CenturyCo!
I picked Betsy up and we were ready to rock ‘n roll, as the kids say! (Or maybe they don’t, but I still do.)
We pulled out of the driveway at 7:45 on the dot. Work is about 10 minutes away, but I’m the type of guy who is late if he isn’t five minutes early, so we arrived at 7:55. In other words, right on time.
Side note: look at those beautiful blue skies! You’d think it was going to be a lovely day or something. Spoiler alert: you would be wrong.
I swiped my badge and unlocked the door for my coworkers, who believe arriving on time is being on time.
What a bunch of weirdos.
The lobby was deserted at that hour. Betsy got a kick out of the Marketing Department Tenets scrawled on our white board:
- Less is More
- It’s About Them, Not Us
- Show Don’t Tell
- (Good) Liquor & (Educated) Guessing
It used to say cheap liquor and wild guessing, but we wanted to make it more professional for when we have visitors.
I switched on the lights and fired up the computer. No, not the overhead fluorescent lights! I can’t stand those. My coworkers sometimes joke that I work in a cave, but I’ve never been a fan of bright lights. The lava lamp, glitter lamp, and salt lamp are illumination enough for me. Plus, there’s ample natural light.
The first thing on my agenda this morning was checking Facebook planning out interview questions for my upcoming business trip next week. I have seven confirmed interviews and an eighth pending, so that’s a lot of questions. Took me most of the morning.
Our weekly marketing meeting takes place every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. We meet via Microsoft Teams, even though all but one of us are in adjoining offices. The agenda includes current promotions and ongoing marketing tasks; site statistics and e-newsletter open/click-through rates; upcoming public articles, press releases, and emails; and other miscellaneous marketing business. We wrapped that up in an hour, and then I futzed around got some more stuff done before heading home with Betsy for lunch.
My lunch routine consists of three important orders of business: eating, reading, and petting Sydney. Not necessarily in that order, though often simultaneously.
The kiwi was damn good, by the way.
I tuned into SiriusXM on the drive back from lunch. SiriXMU is my go-to, though I’ll sometimes flip over to Spectrum or Alt Nation. Mitski’s got some good tunes, so there was no flipping today. It started to rain on my way to the office. In fact, the clouds were looking downright ominous, and rumbles of thunder began to echo in the distance.
Here’s CenturyCo. My office is that darkened (naturally) middle window. I have a great view looking to the west—which, if I’m being honest, is sometimes distracting. Especially when there are deer or other wildlife grazing in the field, which is often the case. The grass is incredibly green thanks to an abundance of rain this week. We’ve been suffering through a drought for the past couple of years, but have gotten almost 2″ of rain in the last four days alone. Hallelujah! Yesterday, we had strong thunderstorms roll through mid-afternoon. Today, the National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Rapid City until 7 p.m., so this is where my Tuesday deviated from the norm.
With tennis ball sized hail a possibility, Betsy and I didn’t want to take any chances. We hauled out the hail cover and got the Markmobile covered up. Thank god I used protection, because within half an hour, all hail broke loose.
Honestly, as far as hail goes, that’s not too bad. Could’ve (and has been) a lot worse. But now you know what I mean when I tell you that view can be distracting!
Next up, Betsy and I had a webinar to attend. It was titled “Marketing Pep Talk” but it could have used a lot more pep. Sadly, it was pretty much all talk. I have a feeling Betsy snoozed off at one point. Hey, the job isn’t always glamorous for eight straight hours.
After the webinar, I took care of our weekly donation requests. CenturyCo supports the rural South Dakota communities we serve through donations and sponsorships for everything from post-prom events and youth sports uniforms to rodeos and golf tournaments. And somehow, they put me in charge of that! Actually, it’s one of the more gratifying parts of my job. Feels good to throw a little corporate money toward deserving causes.
Finally, it was 5:00. Quitting time!
My work day may have been finished, but Betsy and I enjoyed a glass of wine together before I tore her from my arm parting ways.
I hope everybody—not just Betsy—enjoyed this fun little introduction to a typical day at work! But more than anything, I hope the next contest I win comes with a better prize.
Cash would be nice…
Mark My Words 
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