Sometimes we work late. Sometimes we work way too late – we actually
dream about work. I thought it was just me, but as Back40 staffers
recently confessed, working in our sleep, while not billable, is
practiced regularly.
Jaimi Aycock, designer,
has dreams of organizing large groups of new employees. “Well, Dave
hired like 40 new people in one day. I was supposed to do something
with them. They were like cattle. I would herd them around the office,
past the copiers, down to the conference room – over to Mecca’s
office…” At the end of the day, or the dream, when all the dust had
settled, everybody had a new office and Jaimi had completed another
task.
Donna Walker, account executive, even
gets stressed out in her dreams. “It was deadline and I was way behind
on getting ads in,” she recalls while wiping her forehead. “Then I got
the call, ‘We’re going up 20 pages this month,’ said the voice on the
other end.” Reluctantly, she shared this story; knowing one day her
dream will become reality.
Dave Miller,
President, had a dream (see photo) that he was in a room with dozens of
programmers. They were sitting around a horseshoe-shaped table. No one
was talking. The room was dimly lit; all you could hear was the
clicking of keyboards. None of programmers would look up. “Walking
around the room I saw Chad Dahlgren, our project
manager, barking directions like a general in battle. Then one of the
programmers spoke and Chad screamed, ‘Silence!’” I’m thinking we either
need more programmers or perhaps Chad needs a vacation.
Not everybody dreams of work at night. Take designer, Sarah Bailey,
who’s been obsessed with preparing for her wedding. With all the
excitement one would think that she would be dreaming of the magical
moment when she and the groom walk down the aisle, or when they rush
off to their waiting limo and begin their new lives together.
“Actually, I dream that I’m wearing the wrong dress, and nobody even
showed up.” Perhaps Sarah should think more about graphic design.
Peyton Hutchison,
project manager and half-marathoner, has running dreams. “I keep having
the same dream over and over. It’s a windy day. I have new running
shoes on and I am running, but everyone is passing me—friends, people
at work, Back40 clients—my mom. And then I realize I’m running in place
and I can’t go forward, no matter how hard I try. I’m stuck.”
Teddy Burch,
managing editor, had a dream he was pumping gas. “I was there at the
pump and I couldn’t get my car filled. It kept going and going. I kept
watching the dials spin on the gallons and dollars. I couldn’t turn the
pump off; no one would help me, And then the really scary part, I look
up and the sign says, UNLEADED – $4.04!” If I were to interpret that
dream, I’d have to say it has something to do with Teddy buying an SUV
recently.
Poor Don, Mecca Seymour’s husband,
doesn’t have it easy. Mecca admits “Sometimes I have dreams that Don is
leaving me, and depending on the severity of the dream, I can wake up
and be mad at him all day.” She says that some days she can carry the
resentment all day and then let him have it at dinner. Suggestion to Don: Watch your back and pass the potatoes in a loving, caring way.