Whether you take a taxi or public transportation, commute by train or drive, or even walk-the time spent going to and coming from work is an important issue.
”I used to drive and was crazy by the time I got to work,” a TempoWoman reader says. ”Now I take the train. I sit and read and think good thoughts instead of fighting with other drivers. I get to work far more relaxed, but I do have a problem because the train schedule is so confining.”
Depending on public transportation often is frustrating. ”Sometimes I wait 30 minutes for a bus or the `L,` ” says a reader who lives on the North Side and works in the Loop. ”I look at getting to work and home as a daily battle. I dread it in the morning and I dread it at night. But it`s great not owning a car or worrying about where to park it.”
Those who drive say it`s a hassle, too, but they listen to the radio and play educational and music tapes. ”I like the freedom of having wheels,” an executive says. ”But I hate the trucks.”
The logistics of getting to work often influence job decisions and where to live. But no one minds working hard to get to work when a good job`s on the other end.
SUSAN GORSKI
Age 30, marketing manager, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills
Gorski, an in-house consultant for Moraine, lives on the Northwest Side of Chicago.
”I drive 25 to 35 miles each day,” says Gorski, who earned an undergraduate degree in English at Northwestern University, a master`s degree in education at Loyola University and a master`s degree in business administration from Northwestern`s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
”I take the Tri-State (I-294) to 95th Street every day, going against traffic,” she said. ”I pay three tolls each way. It takes me 45 minutes in the morning but longer in the evening.”
Gorski had several job offers-some closer to home-when she earned her MBA in management in 1987. But in 1988, despite the long drive, she accepted her current job.
”It was a new position, and very attractive to me,” Gorski said. ”It was created because the college wanted to increase its marketing orientation. I get a chance to do many creative things and work on a variety of projects-it`s a very innovative college.”
Her work, she says, ”lets me combine my skills in marketing, nonprofit management and education.”
Gorski says it ”crossed my mind that perhaps I lived too far away, but meeting my boss, Kathy Wilders, associate vice president of marketing services, convinced me I should take the job: A supportive boss makes a job wonderful.”
She bought a new car, got an air-conditioner, but doesn`t have a tape deck. ”I listen to the news. I`ve worked downtown and in the suburbs and both have pluses and minuses. If I hadn`t taken this job because of the commute, I would have missed a chance to co-author a chapter in a book on marketing, to make presentations locally and nationally, and to help to create an image and identity for Moraine.
”How you get there doesn`t matter in the face of that.”
Lee Maglaya
Age 41, race relations coordinator, Asian Human Services of Chicago Inc.
”I live in East Lake View and work in Uptown-Edgewater,” says Maglaya, who is an advocate and mediator in discrimination cases involving Asian-Americans and Asian immigrants.
”When I came to work at the agency in 1983, I didn`t think about how to get there. But after a couple of days, I thought how convenient it was not to have to spend so much time on the bus. To get to my previous job, it took from 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours just to clear Michigan Avenue.”
On a good day, it takes her only 15 minutes to get to work: She takes a bus along Lake Shore Drive and transfers at Lawrence Avenue. ”It puts me in a transition mode for work, from my home to the neighborhood of clients and organizations we serve in the heart of all the immigrant social service agencies.”
On bad days, though, ”when buses don`t show up on time, it`s frustrating,” says Maglaya, a veteran community activist who helped produce the first Woman`s Exposition, held in Chicago in 1973, and was a founder of the Chicago chapter of the National Organization for Women. In 1986 she unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Illinois General Assembly.
Her not-for-profit agency has a staff of 21 who, among them, speak 9 languages. Maglaya, whose job is ”intense,” works on problems involving domestic violence, landlords, institutional racism, lack of access to jobs and negative stereotypes. ”I handle the controversial stuff,” she says.
How you get to work, Maglaya says, ”is very important because so often it takes up a lot of time, and you have to use travel time wisely. It`s also part of stress management. You don`t want your work accomplishments minimized by the frustration of a commute.”
That`s why, she says, she plans ”to buy a motor scooter.”
KAREN ELLINGTON
Age 34, employment consultant, Snelling and Snelling Inc., Naperville
Ellington has been a recruiter for Snelling for 10 years, half of which she spent working for the nationwide contingency employment firm in its Merrillville, Ind., office.
”When I made the move to Chicago, I decided I definitely wanted to live close to work,” says Ellington, who specializes in sales and management positions with an emphasis on engineering.
”I`m a result-oriented person and I wanted that convenience. In Merrillville, I commuted by train. It was a 50-minute ride each way, and while many commuters use that time to read, I personally found it was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my life.”
Her father, she notes, ”commuted by train for 20 years from Gary to Chicago, and I saw the toll it took on him.”
Ellington, who ranks nationally in the top percentages of dollar volume of total placements by Snelling`s 3,000 recruiters, bought a condominium near her office. ”It`s only five minutes by car or 15 minutes if I walk,” she says. ”However, I`m always carrying so much information, I don`t walk that often.”
As a recruiter, she works flexible hours including many evenings, so her proximity to work is an additional advantage, she believes, because ”I`m not concerned about going home late at night.”
In her work, she finds that most professional people are ”willing to add one or two hours in commuting time to the work day for a job they find exciting.”
Ellington advises job-hunters to think seriously about how they will get to work. ”Get in touch with yourself and see what`s important to you. If it`s going to be a long commute, it`s also good to talk to someone who`s done it, to find out the pros and cons.”
She has no doubts about her choice: ”For me, closer is better. I like what I do and I like being close to it. I`m going to have less stress and, hopefully, live longer.”
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Send comments and ideas for future questions to Carol Kleiman, The Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
