hiiiii!! how are you??

my market value has gone up since i joined the workforce again...people who once condescendingly asked me, either in person or through social networking sites "what do you do all day?" or "So, how do you spend your time?" (not that i did nothing? i ran a very successful class and worked as a consultant on project work...and wrote web content....and ...well did more than their sorry asses did in a "fulltime job") now want to know how i got back, what i do, which firm and who are our clients.

i now get resumes atleast twice a week delivered by email. and calls from people i wont even acknowledge in the street if i passed. All calls begin with a shrill voice "hiiiiiiiiiiiii! how are you? long time yaar!" yeah, like i didnt know.... these very same people who bitched about me getting better work, getting away with not doing much and other such "i dont know how she got there when we too deserve this" kind of sour grapes gossip..... now ask me completely amazed with jaw on the floor (this i am not so sure of because we talk on the phone) expressions of "how i managed to get a job in the recessive market when all support functions are facing layoffs?"

because i am bloody good at what i do is what i feel like telling them!! but then, restraint is something i am trying to get good at...and i realise that it wont score me a point to say this...the fact that they are calling me up itself is punishment enough. so i respond depending upon the time i can spare and my mood, as vaguely as i can, and then hang up. then wait for the resumes to come into my mail box....

i realise that i have been very lucky. to do the work i do and do it well. not many have that. Which means, despite not wanting to suck up to anyone, i still didn't have to call people i didnt like very much and ask them if there was anything available. i wont screw that up.... so i wont mess with my work. period. that should take care of everything else!