"the cognitive thrill of pattern recognition"

I realized why my job makes me uncomfortable and why it is necessary that I experience it. I'm used to being a wage slave, paid by the hour. In the hourly world, your job performance is based on what tasks you accomplish within your shift. In my first State job, internship, and now here at UIS, work time and performance stretch out over longer periods of time. I'm not judged on what I do on a minute-by-minute basis, as in a restaurant or a warehouse; I'm judged by larger projects completed over months of time.

That has been uncomfortable to adjust to. For awhile there I was always worried I would be fired any minute. I needed this experience to expand my concept of work time, to not be so compartmentalized and slaved to the ticking clock.