Not the bad kind of crying, the good kind. The kind of crying that happens when something touches your heart.
I’ve just passed my 1 year anniversary at PaperCut, having spent 23 years in a much larger and more corporate organization. What a rollercoaster of change it has been.
The ride is wild and the highs and lows are extreme because we’re constructing a product and a culture that matters.
Behind it all, I am reminded daily (if not hourly) that the people I work with care.
Here’s a little story about how Papercut is committed to walking and talking, and living its values.
A delayed surprise…
The morning after American Mother’s Day (I’m a mother to Emmeline and Tristan), having taken a longer weekend to re-energize, I noticed I had been added to a new Slack channel, #thebombmoms, over the weekend.
It sounded strange enough. Our Slack channels vary from “strictly work only” spaces like #serious-business to the “exactly what it sounds like” #cat and #dog channels.
In this peculiar new Slack channel, there was a note.
It was from the non-Mom’s in our Portland office, where I’m based. On Friday they had wished all us Moms a Happy Mother’s Day with a beautiful video message.
It told us to go check our emails for a special thank you.
I found this e-card in my inbox…
It read:
Sue, I’m not a mom, but I’ve come to admire your “mothering style” these past six months.
Maybe it’s the accent or your no-nonsense British attitude. But you’re a pro with this whole “mom-that-does-it-all” role.
What I really want you to do this Sunday, is take 15 minutes to read this card (with a glass of wine in hand) and take in all the praise and love you VERY much deserve this Mother’s Day.
Because you’re killing it with the math homework and because on top of all the laundry, cooking, driving, de-licing, and organizing you are already doing, you are keeping your family alive and safe and healthy.
Sunday should be all about being nice to yourself: to relax and remember you are a badass.
I’m not crying, you’re crying
I consider myself to be a pretty resilient and tough cookie when it comes to getting through daily life.
Granted, my life is pretty sweet compared to others with family in tow, especially as we trudge our way through this pandemic.
I admit that schooling for my kids is touch and go right now, especially for my elementary kid who’s heavily reliant on my direction. There’s a lot of research out there that says Minecraft is educational, right? I’m doing my best with that, but it’s definitely not what it needs to be.
So when I opened my e-card, a cup of coffee in hand, a day after Mother’s Day, it immediately brought me to tears.
Somebody cares.
Somebody has empathy for all us Moms, even if they don’t know exactly what it’s like to be us right now.
I underestimated what it would take to make this remote working and stay at home thing work with kids. But we’re all doing the best we can.
I’m full of gratitude for thoughtful co-workers that care.
For a work environment that encourages us to care for each other.
And for the communities in which we work - with or without a global crisis.
Looking for a company that cares?
Waddle on over to our Careers page. Granted, our hiring process is a bit quieter right now due to COVID-19 but we’ll be back to our regular recruitment efforts soon.
Oh, and, a bit tardy, but Happy Mother’s Day!
To all the Moms out there. Especially to those, like me, who are still struggling to know the difference between Minecraft and Fortnite.
