Maggie Rants [and Raves]

Spring Cleaning — or Not

by Maggie Franklin | March 25, 2009 | Bookmark +

I hate having stuff on my desk. In a perfect world, my desk would look like Exhibit A (on your left). It would have pretty much nothing on it. Even when I'm working.

 

Of course, that isn't very realistic, so my desk actually looks like Exhibit B (below). And when I'm in the middle of a service, it actually gets even more stuff all over the place. Drives me nuts.

 

Not to mention all the extra stuff that clients bring with them and set all over the desk: keys, cell phones, drinks, sunglasses.

 

Mind you, I had my desk made for me 14 years ago to my specifications. The darn thing is five feet long! It's not like there's not enough room for everything. There should be plenty of space for everything I need while working without being crowded or cluttered. Yet, you see how it ends up.

 

Why do I need all this stuff? Why does everything I own have to be on my desk? UGH! They say it's all part of being organized and cutting down on time. You're supposed to keep everything you need during a service at your fingertips so you don't waste time reaching into cabinets and drawers. Except, with everything on my desk and at my fingertips, my desk looks cluttered and disorganized and makes me feel like a slob.

 

I'm always trying to get stuff off my desk. Every so often I go through a major cleaning meltdown and end up finding a home for all that extra stuff inside drawers and cabinets and sometimes all the way back in the backroom. I sit down at my desk feeling all superior and Martha Stewart-y, like I just cleaned out the garage or something. Until I have to actually work.

 

Next thing I know, I'm hanging upside down trying to find my brushes at the back of my desk cabinet, or having to get up and track down that dish of extra pink powder that I almost never use so I thought I'd just stash it in the back room, except I forgot that I always use it on this client so I guess I'd better keep it handy so I don't have to pull this rookie move every other week and go on a scavenger hunt through the salon to find it again.

 

You'd think after nearly 17 years I'd just resign myself to the fact that I need to keep just about everything I own on my desktop. But then I get my monthly copy of NAILS Magazine — or find myself perusing through the pages of any number of other salon industry periodicals — only to gaze upon photo after photo of pristine salons, all set up and professionally photographed when no one is present and all the stuff has been stashed out of sight to give the illusion that I am the only nail tech in the world who has to keep a ton of junk on her desk in order to do her job efficiently.

 

And then I go on another cleaning spree. Someday I will find the balance between efficiency and empty space. Someday.

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