For Real, Y'all

I'm frustrated with my job. I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of people all over the country who are saying essentially the same thing right now, but this is my blog and I'm here to feel sorry for myself. My boss has disappeared, before we could talk about my raise which I'm now feeling is not going to happen after all. It's incredibly discouraging when you put so much of yourself into a job only to get so little in return. Does money mean happiness? No, but it can cause a lot of sadness when your credit card bills are piling up around you and your boss is driving a car that costs around a quarter of a million dollars, but is unable to give you insurance or enough money to pay for living expenses. I wonder how much we are supposed to take in our jobs.

When does enough mean enough? THere are limits for everyone, and I have just about reached mine with this company. I have been patiently waiting and doing an excellent job. Thanks to my work, our publicity is shooting through the roof right now and I've brought on more new accounts than anyone else here this spring. I come in with a positive attitude and get as much done in one day as any human reasonably can. I rarely complain and instead put my mind to work, trying to understand this business better. But in any company, there needs to be recognition and compensation for achievements of employees. I think if more employers understood this there would be a better balance. Instead of purhcasing a car that is eight times an employees' salary look at the bigger picture and dole out the money accordingly. By making your employees feel appreciated you are setting up a better atmosphere and in hte long run a better company. Like Mike says in "Office Space", "That'll make you work just hard enough not to get fired.". That's what I'm currently doing. i'm currently working the bare minimum. Starting to come in a little late and leave a little early and in between deal with the reality of what this life is.

Corporate America is disappointing. In "Bait and Switch", Barbara Ehenreich tries to get a salaried job in the corporate world and fails miserably. She is shocked to find that with all the effort and time she put in, that no one is really a team player anymore, that CEOs would rather fire employees than take a salary cut, that people who move too far up the ladder too fast are cut, that more companies prefer temps because they don't have to pay health insurance. There are companies and organizations that won't take people over 35 or 40 years old, that offer little or no vacation time, that dont care if you spent the last five years at home with your kids- it was a gap.

I can't believe that this is what our country has come to. And we're not even doing all that well. We're in the midst of a war, we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world right now, we give the least benefits of any developed country. In most European countries, mothers and fathers take roughly a year of paid maternity leave. Their companies feel everyone benefits from this arrangement and no one returns to work guilty that they didn't spend enough time with LIttle Annie. Here six weeks is the average but many places want you to take LESS THAN THAT. Having children is looked upon as a nuisance and something that takes away from your career, instead of adding to your ability to multi-task.

Of course I've done nothing but work for the past 18 years. i've been in school full time, adding on extra jobs and activities during the summer. I applied for everything, I did everything, I spent many sleepless nights working on things to heighten my ability to land a good job in the near future. Where has it left me? Discouraged and job hunting again. Trying to do something different with my life, trying to live on my own. No wonder so many people in their twenties and even thirties are moving back home. Our parents don't realize how different it is now, how people no longer care about what you're doing with your life, or what you're trying to accomplish, that you're supposed to slave away at being something in the corporate world, to be a busy bee.