Pregnancy chasers
posted in Pregnancy, Career Advancement, Working Moms, Office Rants |
When I think back to “the good old” days of my pre-pregnancy (even pre-married) self, I think about my no nonsense career attitude, my ability to make plans at a moment’s notice and having no excuse for being late or being brain-dead (you get the drift.) Fast forward to the present and you’re more likely to find that I’m multitasking like a mo’fo’, rushing to get out of work by 5 PM and wearing the same outfit two days in a row. ’Nuff said.
But a recent article in the New York Times got me thinking about who I used to be. The column profiles Leslie V. Norwalk, acting administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In the article, she discusses the strong relationship she had with her working mother who set an interesting example:
For my mom, at the end of the day, it was all about “what it is you need to do in order to accomplish your goals.”
Ms. Norwalk then goes on to rehash her career and what she needed to do to accomplish her goals. Of one of her jobs, she says:
I worked in the office of presidential personnel for three women and between them over three years they had five babies, so I ended up with more responsibilities because I filled in during their maternity leaves.
This may be a benign admission to the average reader. Co-worker goes out on maternity leave, and you get more responsibility as a result. But to me, it raised a red flag: she was a pregnancy chaser. And you know what, I used to be too.
A pregnancy chaser is like it sounds - someone who scopes out opportunity for advancement that a preggo co-worker can’t help but leave behind. She can’t see her feet so she waddles to a meeting. You can speed down the hallway in half the time to introduce yourself to the client first. She can’t travel past 32 weeks. No problem. You can go anywhere, anytime. She gets put on bed rest. Well, this is just like you won the lottery, isn’t it?
I remember being a pregnancy chaser at my first job. When my boss announced she was having a baby, my first thought was, “goodie, I’ll be in charge in no time.” (cue the Dr. Evil music.) It was no matter that I was straight out of college with no experience. All I saw was the path to greatness. On the heels of my boss’s pregnancy.
But when you’re a chaser, it doesn’t always work out as planned. You can get too wrapped up in your own perfection that you fail to realize how great the person is that you are filling in for. A clear cut sign: the client *sighs* when she realizes that she’ll have to deal with you and not the top dog for the next three months.
And if you’ve ever been chased (I have not, as of yet), I can imagine it can be more than a little frightening. You’ve packed on the pounds and are tired and cranky. And yet, little kiss-butt is all over your every move like you are to a Chinese buffet.
So the moral of the story is this: chaser, stop chasing, ’cause you’ll get your due at some point. And if you’re being stalked? Well, you can revel at the satisfaction that you’ll be back to your former self in no time. Or something like that.
Ok, now it’s your turn. Have you been chased or have you ever chased a poor preggo? Spill it, sisters.
Tags: pregnancy, career advancement, Leslie V Norwalk, New York Times
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