Working in Midtown

Of course this job is in Midtown, I grunted. And what do you mean I have to take two subway lines to get there? I don’t want to have to change trains once I am on one. You don’t have to change, I pointed out. It’s just ten stops straight downtown to SoHo for you.

I can hear myself. As if arguing my finer points to Cohabituer would change the circumstance. To my dismay he is not the judge of the universe and could grant my demands based on obvious facts that I uttered repetitiously. I was making a big deal about something that was nothing. I was pushing back against change coming into my life the only way I knew how, picking apart what I feared would be inconvenient.

I couldn’t talk my way out of this. I was finally getting a big girl job in New York City. After months of funemployment that melted into my own mental health prison, I was breaking out and getting back into the professional world. I had been working with a temp agency to make money here and there. I only ended up being assigned to two one day assignments before this permanent gig came about. It was originally suppose to be a longer-term job, but then the company decided they wanted permanent placement. Even through my slump I knew it was the time to say yes and throw myself at it.

I made up a new ritual that whenever something great, or equally, something shit happens I would go to my favorite milk tea spot and sip myself silly with cupful pools of lavender and rose flavored comfort. The mood never matters, a lavender milk tea and a rose milk tea are always the solution and perfect fit for any occasion. I had an interview back to back twice and each time I took the subway there after to decompress and write my thank you emails. I wore my Calvin Klein dresses that made me feel like a big deal even though I bought them at what used to be Dress Barn. I bought them on sale and with an additional coupon, too. There are places in the city, like FiDi- the Financial District for the rest of us novices to neighborhood shorthand, that a $4,000 suit is everyday wear that would put my sweet little neoprene, well-stitched dresses to shame.

After the second interview I bubbled to the same young woman I saw the previous day about how I made this a tradition and came the day before after my interview so I had to do it the second day, too- for luck. It was not as frenetic as it usually was during the evenings so she had time to chat and was sweet to ask me some questions. I told her how I had recently come to the city because it was my dream and how I was interviewing for my first real job in the city. She was warm and encouraging, plus it was great to chat with another human for a moment.

This city and its people will never cease to surprise if you pay at least any bit of attention. I was already two milk teas deep, which is kinda a lot, so she brought me a card that read, “A toast to new beginnings in New York! And warm wishes, luck, and a nice treat yo’self” with a free drink of choice for my next visit signed by Alina. She told me she would have brought me another tea but thought it may be too much for one day. This was the start to our beautiful acquaintanceship. From that day on for months we hugged each time I came in until she finally left for her own new adventure.

I am not trying to kill the surprise, but I got the job. I knew nothing about functioning in Midtown during rush hours- with the locals- the real and actual New Yorkers. My office was specifically situated in Midtown East. I came to learn that the east side is the far more preferable part of Midtown to be in because it is less touristy and more authentic. No freaking Times Square. We hate Times Square. It is the area of the city where you probably didn’t wander to it without having a reason to be there. This lends itself to efficiency and the bustling people you think of in movies. And I was about to be one of those people! Midtown East is exactly what it sounds like it is, it is the east side of the island and borough of Manhattan. Midtown officially starts below Central Park at 59th and goes all the way down to 14th Street. But the skyscrapers that are synonymous with the city are predominately stacked throughout the 50’s through 30’s across the east to west side of the island. Okay, sidebar, people call Manhattan an island but it really is a peninsula. I just want people to know that I know that.

My office was at the cross section of Lexington Avenue and East 51st Street in a fairly famous Art Deco building that used to be home to General Electric, so it is called the General Electric building even still. There are still design elements from when it was GE’s home evident on the building like a lighting bolt of electricity designed in metal and on the corner of the main entrance the cursive GE logo still ices the top the ground floor level. In irony of being in a vertical city I only made my way to the second floor. This is paired with that fact that I live on the ground and basement floors. I have no vertical game, my friends. None whatsoever. I worked on a higher floor in Florida (by one floor, but still). My elevator access does not go up further than my floor unless I ended up “joyriding” to a higher floor which sometimes happened by mistake, and always when I am in a hurry, when my access card and the button selected decided they weren’t taking commands that day. Sadly I only ended up in other company’s lobbies and never with a vista out a grand window from a top floor. Someday, I told myself. Someday.

Getting to work is just part of the daily grind, but once I learned the ins and outs it is easy enough to zombie myself to the place where someone else takes me to where I need to go. I live on the Upper West Side, so for me the commute entails stumbling out of my apartment, down the street and around the corner, down the stairs into the subway, down more stairs for the downtown train platform, the waiting game for the B train to head downtown, the hope and prayer there will be a seat but it is a futile wish, ride four stops, Houdini myself out of the train, down another set of stairs, wait for the E train to appear so I can go across town, ride two more stops and then it is time for strutting full force to beat as many people as possible to join the massive sea of midtown commuters as we shuffle to the longest escalator that continuously churns and belches out the people from the bowels of the city- it is that far underground. Then there are still several sets of stairs up to street level before emerging into fresh air.

Once you see daylight it is time to activate the speed legs which includes dodging bikes, people, cars, dogs- who the hell is living in midtown anyway, mystery sidewalk stuff, as we all trying to find a window between taxis to cross the street before the crosswalk says go. The opening theme to Sex and the City shows off the Chrysler Building as Carrie prances about in a pink tutu dress in time to see a bus adorning her advert splashes her as the song winds to its decrescendo. Iconic. Once I am out of the subway station there is a straight shot down Lexington Avenue of the Chrysler Building. The magnificent building stands at its home on “Lex” and the blocks of 43rd and 42nd. As it comes into view I play the theme song in my head purposely every morning as I gaze at it so that I remember this is what I came for, for these things to be a part of my life. I give a small grateful nod with a pre-smile before it is out of view as I duck into my building pulling open the heavy building doors or take a whirl in the revolving door, nod to the door person on duty, pull out my access card as I join the crowd gathering at the elevator banks to take my ride up one floor. For some reason the building never has the stairwell open for going up, only for emergencies to go down. Then you go to the sink to scrub your hands to get your commute off of you and then it is time to get to work. Or spin around in your chair. In real-time this can be done in thirty minutes. With perfect conditions I’ve done it in eighteen.

I never understood the reference from Manic Monday, “Blame it on the train but the boss is already there” until I started commuting without a car. Delayed trains on any given day can occur for myriad of scenarios. There could be police activity at another station, train issues, a sick passenger, something with a track or station, but my favorite pain in the ass moment was a water main burst on the Upper West Side about ten blocks from where I live. Streets and stations flooded causing groups of commuters from other stations to migrate to the nearest dry, open station. The blip in activity was enough to back up the whole system causing getting onto a train to be a nightmare and impossible feat. Every ten minutes another train would arrive already packed as the masses still attempted to squeeze five more sardines into a basically minuscule open space. I ended up walking across the park, going to a train on the east side but it turns out that subway line had another issue of its own that morning and was backed up, too. I ended up taking a Lyft to the office and was still late. The walk across the park was pretty great, though because there were so many dogs!!! The upset made the news that day. That is the cool thing about being here. New York City believes it is the center of the universe and everything notable or worth talking about is broadcast. Thanks, New York Times.

The building itself is a lot to unpack. It is a “known” building, like the 107th tallest in the city, beautiful on the outside but it is aging. Buildings that are getting up in years have …issues. The nine months I spent in the office before coronavirus forced glorious working from home upon us ran the gamut. The heat went out and my office chose a select number of people to rotate in to man the office and urged wearing many layers, while others got to work from home. Why we all could not work from home is beyond me but decision making is above my pay grade. During construction you can feel the jack hammering vibrating the building. It is slightly disturbing and annoying. Sadly a guy lit himself on fire in the bottom floor restaurant bathroom. It caused concern when we were told we were locked down before we knew what happened. The elevators went out and frequently spazzed and had fits. Actually, after a mass outage they were never quite the same again. The water valve had to be shut off more than once meaning that no use of bathrooms on any floor and the only available toilets for use for all twenty plus floors was in the basement. Coworkers constantly bitched about the various weird smells of sewage and who knows what. But the hidden panel walls into out of sight compartments for maintenance and whatnot was pretty freaky and sweet once you knew where they were. I felt like I was in a Babysitter’s Club Mystery book when I first saw one open that I thought was a solid wall. I also inherited a key to “the secret bathroom” that wasn’t really a secret but felt like it because of the panel walls.

Despite the hiccups and interruptions to waltz in and to find the lobby unexpectedly decorated for Christmas stopped me in my tracks. You would have thought I had never seen decorations as I stood gaping in awe. I looked around to share the moment with someone equally enamored but there was no one. I was left standing alone as others rushed to their offices. The entire lobby was draped in custom fitted, uniform garland, wreaths, and warm white lights that highlighted the already regal beauty of the marble floors and ornate silver metal detailing. I wanted to memorize the moment and live in it forever.

Fun fact, the building lobby was used in a fight scene for Iron Fist on Netflix. It filmed and aired way before I worked there. I never watched it but I keep telling myself I am going to turn on that episode. In other television related sightings, Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank has an office in the building, or so people say, or maybe he is just showing up to do business with Barbara Corcoran. My coworker saw him in the elevator and spoke to him for a moment. She said she blurted out he looked familiar and he just smirked at her, but she figured it out. There is a possibility other known faces and names came through but I never recognized or noticed anything. I did not come and go as much. I was pretty much upstairs by nine, leaving at five, and finding lunch usually around one or one thirty.

I am pretty food motivated so probably my favorite time of the day other than leaving to go home is lunchtime. Getting food in Midtown is like trying to get dressed. There is nothing to wear in this huge pile of clothes. The area is heavily concentrated so you could miss something that was just a block over if you aren’t walking past it on your daily route, which means lots of googling, word of mouth recommendations from coworkers, and scouting up, over, and down the streets. A couple blocks uptown on Lexington a food festival pops up weekly during the summer months meaning expanded options. Plus you have the regular carts that post up on the corners. Street food is often the best food, but at the same time there is an element of needing to be brave to eat street meat. Carts sometimes insist you have cash on hand. There is no swiping a card, bring your cash money or no taco for you. Speaking of, there was an amazing taco cart a few blocks from my office with gourmet tacos, we are talking cilantro and purple cabbage shreds (I am sorry if you have the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap, but I love it) for just a few bucks cash. You would never know just looking at the ordinary cart.

Problematically once you get said tacos, where ever do you eat them? There is the famous walk and eat New Yorkers have adopted and perfected, but sometimes you want to take your time and wind down. In Midtown, I learned that you chase waterfalls. I know… TLC says not to do it, but trust me, it’s okay this time. Midtown is home to several pocket parks, or parks that have cropped up in small, formerly unused areas and are often wedges of space between buildings. NYC, including the borough of Manhattan has many, but Midtown takes the cake on design. Surrounding a small radius around my office were three pocket parks each with a waterfall and all vastly different. Sure I could just call the parks by their given names but I named them based on appearance. Hipster waterfall was the closest to me, but big waterfall was the prettiest.

The pocket parks have public seating that includes chairs and tables. Unless you are going to a fancier, sit down restaurant, the place you get your food is not likely to have easily available seating so it should be under the assumption you are getting it to go. Some people take their food back to their desk probably to have a working lunch. It depends how into micromanaging your office is and what you do. In the summer the pocket parks fill up fast. I am not a direct sunlight and heat loving individual. If you can handle rain or the temperature drop you can have the whole place to yourself. Pro tip- this is a great option for phone interviews on the fly.

You start to think you know what you are doing and then you come out of the station and are looking around wondering what is all of this? I can’t bitch, this is what I came for, the unexpected. If you ever want to know what is happening because you don’t know what is going on always ask your building people running security. They know all. In this particular case I am speaking of what is coined “UN Hell Week” among Midtowners. Metal silver crowd barricades lining streets blocks upon blocks- seriously the city must have miles of these things, concrete blockades, heavy police presence, the terrorism unit and every other specialty squad and their arsenal of vehicles onsite. You wonder what the hell is happening when you are being held from crossing the street for what could be thirty minutes or more. This is when the United Nations, which is nearby, hosts the UN General Assembly. We are talking a huge international presence of the world leaders coming together and that means safety and security is at an all time high. It lasts a week and if you can work from home it would probably be ideal unless you want to factor this in to any plans that entails coming and going from the office. You are going to be tardy to the party unless you get lucky and the President of France isn’t riding in his motorcade criss-crossing the city to or from wherever dignitaries go. Now add the 192 other countries that attend.

During the other fifty-one weeks of the year you never know what you can learn from others around you. As I mentioned, unless you have a reason to be in that part of midtown you are not likely to wander there. This means fast sidewalks and your head on a swivel. Everyone is walking at an appropriate rushing pace, people know where they are going, no one is going to stop in front of you and risk getting slammed into, and droves of people are jaywalking across the streets in an always possible life-ending, high-stakes game of follow the leader. It is a dream come true. After work I was bopping to my forever theme for sidewalk use: Move Bitch, Get Out the Way on my way to the subway station. Enter three clueless pedestrians with maps splayed widely crowding the sidewalk. I overheard them talking about a famous grate. I thought to myself why would a grate on the sidewalk be famous? Weird flex, but it is New York City, so sure whatever. Then I heard them say Marilyn Monroe. Okay, that makes more sense. While I was waiting on the train I googled ‘Marilyn Monroe subway grate‘ and low and behold, those map-toters were right. The iconic subway dress blowing up scene happened on a subway grate that I walk over daily. Wonders never cease. That day I was grateful for the intrusion to the usual flux and flow. Now I purposely walk over it especially when wearing a dress.

So the question is, is it any different to work in New York City- or in a skyscraper- than anywhere else? I am going to let you in on a secret. The answer is no. Not really. At least not in this job, with this company. Every place and every job can be different. There are definitely Wall Street peeps and those in Venture Capital Finance firms that pull the long ass hours.  Truth is, generally it may be more relaxed and casual here than the other places I have worked. I thought NYC would be work on steroids. There are so many people, and companies, but to compete to get the top talent the only choice is to lead the way in change. I can say that Florida and Mississippi are assuredly still very much stuck in “the way things have been” and always will be because… ‘professional’. Insert eye roll. Outdated office policies, dress codes, and micromanagement won’t survive in organizations here. I find it electrifyingly exciting.

I say this acknowledging that I somehow found one of the more conservative and traditional places still left in the city. Cohabituer’s office is the opposite. They put people first and it shows. They have people throwing resumes at them and doing outlandish things to try to get an interview. One guy dressed up in a T-Rex costume and staked out the office for three days until he was asked to leave. I would have to write another thirty-five hundred words to elucidate fully and properly. I am too jealous to think about it right now, but maybe one day I will tell you about it.