you may think i'm a little screwy for being interested in the survey topics (you may be correct) and you may have opted out because you didn't feel like answering ten questions (step up!). regardless, there are certain commonalities in our lives that i wanted to pick out...such as, how many hours do you actually spend doing work-related items while at work. are you going to answer that honestly if everyone knows who you are? probably not. are you going to admit to having had a work fling? could go either way. but it sure does make other people feel better when they see that other folks are in the same boat.
so! without further delay, here is a summary of the survey results:
1. how many hours do you actually spend doing work during a typical workday? (be honest)
i asked this question because i, clearly, do not spend every minute of my typical 9 hours in the office working on work-related items. i bounce back and forth, allowing myself short mind breaks. for those superhuman folk, you have no problem maintaining a laser-focus throughout the day. i salute you. i sure as heck am not one of you.
here's what we got...
4-6 hours: 20%
5-6 hours: 10%
6-7 hours: 10%
7-8 hours: 30%
8+ hours: 30%
for those of you in the 8+ realm...i hope you enjoy your chosen profession! which brings me to the following...
2. how satisfied are you in your current job?
this question is more significant than you might originally give it credit for. i am currently pretty darn satisfied with my job. i love sales. i love people. i love having decorating authority over my own office space and a door to close when i feel like it. if only paperwork weren't involved...
we spend at least 8 hours a day at work. i don't know how many hours you sleep at night, but if you do the math we're spending a huge amount of our lives in the office. if you hate what you're doing, you may hate your life. and that's just unfortunate. yes, we're young and we need to put in our time. but our current level of job satisfaction is still relevant to our overall happiness, and this period in our lives is no time to waste.
here's what we have for job satisfaction:
extremely: 30%
satisfied enough: 30%
so-so: 30%
i hate it: 10%
i'd say we're doin' alright, minus that 10%. hopefully the "i hate its" are just putting in their time until they can leap into the "extremely satisfied" category. otherwise...did you hear theladders.com are now accepting applications for all career levels?
on to the next, the scandalous, numero tres...
3. admit it...have you ever had a workplace fling?
here's my honest response: no, i have never had an official workplace fling. but have i dated folks i bumped into in the working world of conferences and business trips? you better believe it! while i wouldn't go suggesting you hop into one of those industry-cestuous relationships, they are fun ways to pass time until mr or ms right comes along.
something to note: no one said they did it and loved it. keeping that in mind, here's what you said:
yes, and it sucked: 20%
no, but i would!: 40%
no, and i would never: 40%
now, on to a more serious topic. love and life. good thing it's anonymous, because if you answered in the negative for this one, your significant other may kick your ass.
4. do you think it's possible to love and be with only one romantic partner for your adult life, after you've become monogamous?
call me naive, but i think this is absolutely possible. i base this not on the majority of marital examples (wedded bliss is not the trend these days) but on the select few that i have seen and covet for myself. for those of you who are more cynical, you need not explain. we can just look in entertainment headlines for justification.
here's what you said...
absolutely: 90%
probably not: 10%
...is there hope for us after all? let's keep our fingers crossed.
i wanted to get into some specifics regarding attractive qualities (and the less attractive qualities) of the opposite sex. what do we love, and what are the non-negotiables? what do we define as deal-breakers?
i'm going to summarize the next few questions (5, 6, and 7) below...
most attractive attributes of the opposite sex...
in the gents:
sense of humor, ability to communicate (and use grammar and punctuation correctly!), empathy, a nice set of shoulders or calves, toned arms, strong jaw, honesty, loyalty, intelligence, humility, professionalism, good set of friends, refinement, appreciation of quality time, physical fitness, thoughtfulness, confidence, creativity, and motivation.
what would you change? listening skills, and nothing! our ladies seem to like our dudes just the way they are. which is different from us.
in the ladies:
pretty hair, nice boobs & bum, physical fitness, confidence, intelligence, and a sense of humor.
what would you change? periods. enough said.
DEAL BREAKERS (for both): picky eating, lack of curiosity about the world around them, bad teeth, laziness, smoking, no effort to make their own money, lying, cheating, and lack of time for a significant other
it seems the gentlemen have a shorter list of preferences than the ladies...i'm somehow not shocked :) as far as the ladies were concerned, the most common preferences were shoulders, calves, and intelligence. intelligence was #1. and i'm right in there with the pack preferring some sexy brain matter in my man.
it's time now to deal with the controversial living situation: to live, or not to live, in sin? i'm absolutely amongst those that do and am happy i chose to do so, but i'm not so naive to believe there aren't potential negatives associated with premarital cohabitation.
here's what i asked:
8. if you do or have lived in sin (lived with a bf/gf before marriage), what do you think the highlights are? what are the negative aspects?
...and here are some of my favorite, honest, and thoughtful answers:
- i've done it, but don't think it's a good idea. i don't want to give the milk for free!
- highlights are living with someone you love...negatives are the social stigmas that still exist- especially amongst the older generations
- highlights: you get to know someone and your compatibility with them before committing. negatives: too easy to walk away if there isn't a ring
- highlights: getting to know someone on a very personal level. negative aspect: may reduce their speed in proposal.
- highlights: intimacy, benefits of a roommate (companionship, shared and saved costs, cooking for two) with the solo-living benefit of still owning all of your own things, ability to build a home together. negatives: non-life-long-commitments/semi-commitment, building a home together when you may not end up together aka fucking miserable if you break up, ease of time together that is often not quality time and hinders planning of quality time together
- highlights: decreased expenses, conveniences in spending time together, always have a cuddle buddy, getting to know someone really well (are you going to live happily or kill each other?) before lifelong commitment. negative aspects: can be confused for true commitment and therefore delay a proposal
amy's thoughts: i see some patterns here. keep in mind, i'm living in sin and not yet engaged. hmm...(i'd still make the same decision all over again)
and ON to number 9, which happens to be my favorite. not because i think everyone is going to say, "amy is my one and only best friend." in fact, some of you may not even consider me a friend! my thoughts on this one: how often do you have the opportunity to really figure out what type of friendships other adults have? let's face it. it's not as easy to make friends as an adult as it was when we were kids. you have to work to initiate them, you have to work to maintain them, and your parents aren't going to call their parents if they're mean to you.
9. do you have one BEST friend? ...if so, how do you know they're the best? ...if not, do you think it's possible? ...do you have more than one best friend?
i often wonder whether my friends are just way better at this than me. while i'm hanging out with a few of my closest girlfriends and then a wide net of fun acquaintances, are they constantly surrounded by bosom-buddies and bffs? i'm also curious about the general adult population. do we stick with one best friend, do we surround ourselves with more distanced "acquaintance-friends", or is it more common to keep a few close buds and slowly expand your circle as opportunities arise?
so i asked. and here's what you said:
- this is a tricky question. i have one best friend, and i know that they are best because i know that i can confide anything in them - good or bad - and they'll still love me. it's about a level of trust and comfort. my other friends are similar, but i don't let them in as much or as completely.
- YES! always there for each other, no matter what.
- I have few friends that mean the very most to me. They don't know each other and they probably wouldn't be best friends....is that odd?
- I have more than one best friend, and I don't think I could have it any other way.
- I have two best friends whom I feel I can tell ANYTHING. I consider my mom and dad best friends, and know that they will love me forever (and I them), but I self-censor, and while I COULD share the things that I share with my two best friends, I do not because I don't want to share the nitty-gritty with them. I have a third friend whom I have not known as long but is every day becoming a life-long best friend of the caliber of the two mentioned above. I love, trust and respect all five of these best friends. I want to know what's happening in their lives, what they think and how they feel about it. I value what they think and feel about what's happening in my life, and they want to know. I do think it's possible to have one best friend (and at a time, when in a serious relationship, I did). That said, I am extremely grateful to have the love, trust and respect of five best friends, and I enjoy giving it back (but not from the back...never tried, because I lack the "giving" equipment) ;)
- no. i have more than one best friend. they care about me, ask about me, share with me, and i care about them and their opinions.
this last one was just a personal curiosity of mine. we're getting to the point in our lives where we're accumulating money (or will eventually) and have options as to how we're going to spend it. based upon what i saw from my parents, the 80s and 90s were a time of "bigger is better" in the housing department. every move meant an upgrade and increased square footage. to the point at which we could each be in a different room watching television and have no idea that anyone else was in the house.
that's not really my style.
10. would you rather have...
i made the assumption that folks these days appreciate travel. yes, we enjoy roofs over our heads. but do we want the biggest roof possible, watching national geographic for extra-cultural pseudo-traveling experiences, or do we want something easy to maintain that will allow for us to get out asses out the door and into the world?
my preference: one small house, plenty of travel $$. here's what you said:
one small home, one vacation home: 20%
one small home and use extra $$ for travel: 70%
no home and use all $$ for shopping and travel: 10%
i'm proud of us :) and i'm assuming that last group (no home) either enjoys camping or has a romance with rentals.
and there we have it . the results from my first official amy's brain output survey...because i wanted some of your brain output.
thank you for sharing! feel free to judge.
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