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  1. hesitation anxiety

    September 8, 2010 by shishnit

    So I was sitting around at work last week minding my own business when my former co-worker emailed me and said “email me your resume RIGHT NOW”.  THE former coworker!  The one that I always laughed with and had BIG FUN with for 5 years, until he left (got pushed out!) for bigger pastures about 18 months ago.

    I blogged about our working relationship back in 2008 here and then later when he left and I cried here.

    So he asks me for my resume.  Turns out the college he’s working for in Tampa has an opening that is tailor made for me.  Turns out the hiring party is a former employee of the college I currently work for.  Turns out they want to interview me.  Turns out I rather freak out about making such a monumental change and I don’t go to the interview.  Turns out they understand and reschedule the interview for this coming Friday at 1 p.m.

    I could write some hilarious jazz about this occurrence. I mean first the hiring guy calls me and wants me to come in last Friday at 8:30 a.m.  I decline saying I’m going away for the weekend. (lie..i needed time to think!)  So I agree to go to the Interview this morning at 9:30 a.m.  This mornin g I wake up and I’m having anxiety attacks about changing jobs…the economy the situation with the industry I’m currently in, gahhh my head is spinning. And for the only time in my entire life…what do I do?  I choke up and I do NOT go to the interview. I do not call anyone. I just choke.  I totally choke.

    And my pal calls me and is screaming at me, “I don’t believe you just passed up a great position for you, a chance for career growth, more money, we could have gotten the band back together!!!”  And I feel bad.  And then get this…..you won’t believe it.

    Chad tells me, “Call him back….reschedule…he knows your nervous…he  understands your situation.  I just spoke to him.”  And so…I call the hiring guy back (someone I also know….but haven’t seen in 5 years) and say, “ok this is rather like going out on a date with someone..taking them home and then abruptly kicking them out of your bedroom with little explaination and then calling the next day and saying “So do you still want to buy me dinner later this week?”  The guy cracks up laughing and says, “I understand..come in and talk to me, how’s Friday at 1 p.m.”  I say “sounds great”.  I have no idea why I used a sexual in nature analogy.  I’m going insane.

    I have a hair appointment on Friday at 1 p.m. I’m cancelling it.  I’ve begun to think about the band.  I’ve also begun to think about being an Assistant Registrar and maybe someday getting a Registrar’s job because of it.  Moving up the career ladder…baby steps at a time.

    So now that I’ve given my pal Chad an ulcer, not to mention Rick’s ulcer from listening to me ‘But should I?  What do I want to do?  But….I’ve been THERE for 6 years!”  I have also lamented because I have exactly 1 college course left to obtain my masters degree.  I want that course to be paid for by someone other than me.  That’s caused some stress and anxiety. I thought I would be in the same job to finish it without incident.  Now, we shall see.

    So it’s Friday at 1 p.m.  I hope I don’t flip out at noon.

    I did unpack the suit last week and I did already buy a new pair of sexy yet still very business girllike snakeskin heels.  Is snakeskin ok for a job interview? I’m thinking after standing him up…he’ll be happy if I show up in clown shoes.

    PROS = work with fave work pal, get promotion, make more money, get home earlier, ability to buy new car, ability to work overtime and amass fortune, also work with upwards of 6 other people I worked with in the past at my current workplace. Lots of “same people” different building.

    CONS= job is in Tampa…(further from house, higher gas costs, starting a new job kinda blows until you learn it and get familiar)

    Category career | Tags: | 2 Comments

  2. go to work with mom day

    April 21, 2010 by shishnit

    Thursday is Take our Daughters and Son’s to work day so I’m bringing my son to work with me.  This might make him never want to have a corporate job.  I also had to ask him to wear something whereby  his underwear/boxers would not be showing all day.  Certainly if he’s going to work the first lesson he must learn is the Corporate Dress Code….no?

    Next on the list of objectives….(and this list came from my company’s suggested daily activities) I highlighted the most important one.

    Show the following – how to send an email, how to add appointments to calendar, how to send calendar invite, how to use the copier, how to use fax machine ( send a fax to self) how to log sick/vacation hours, how to log onto Volunteer Match and the importance of Social Responsibility.  Tour *training system* and courses you have completed. 

     

     

    Category career, keith, kidlet | Tags: | 1 Comment

  3. tired

    March 4, 2010 by shishnit

    It’s been a rough week and tomorrow is still only Thursday.  It seems that mostly all I do sometimes is work work work.  This is largely because of my all inclusive (nearly) all day long workday.  Or the fact that it feels that way.  I work from 12:45 to 10:15 Monday thru Thursday and then 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday’s.  Today I worked from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. taking part in a special Leadership program at the University I work for.

    Tomorrow I will work from 9 a.m. to 10:15 p.m.  Yes you read that right. Just typing it makes me want to throw up.  And no….no overtime since I had 1 short day and 1 long day.  *sigh*  Why couldn’t I just get the long day first and the short day the next day? No such luck.

    Last I heard Keith went to school today.  I hope that stands as the truth….  It would help if my ex-husband had some communication skills.

    Category career | Tags: | No Comments

  4. if “you” only had a brain

    January 22, 2010 by shishnit

    Trust me I’m all for education and brain power.  I’m getting my Master’s degree right now. I’m even in favor of good management skills, something few few managers and business owners really have.

    Today in a cultural diversity management class I explained that this is Florida, it’s a right to work state and your boss can fire you for being late to work even one time. I pointed out that my husband’s boss at the moving company yammers about all the reasons he could fire a person and how I couldn’t tolerate that from my boss on a continual basis.  A fellow student replied and wrote to me and said this of my husband’s moving company job.

    Now that I know the background I can definitely say I agree with you that these “tough as nails” bosses will fire someone at the drop of the dime because it does not take brains to move a family.  Unfortunately, for leaders in our positions we are conditioned not only to enforce company policy but to have compassion for our employees and our families. 


    I got really pissed off and wrote back to him. I used to think it didn’t take “brains” to move a family. I now beg to differ.  As a mover you must arrive at the job on time (ie: better use mapquest) and with all of your tools ready to go.  The customer wants to pay someone else to do the job but they also want to dictate, manage and tell you what to do all day long. 

    It’s a job that requires a high level of customer service skills, tolerance for people, etc.  Often my husband moves people that speak NO English.  Try that one on….they are telling him to move a couch to a certain area…it can take 15 minutes more just to figure it all out with hand gestures and drawn pictures.  He must explain paperwork, collect payment, explain moving insurance (what is covered and what is not) and get clearance from the customer to even touch their belongings. 

    He must then load all of a persons belongings into a truck to avoid duplicate trips, and yet not damage or break anything of the customers because customers really don’t like damaged belongings, especially antiques and things that are clearly not covered in the insurance.  He must know about physics to know how best to pack a truck (there is a efficient and proper way and there is a every day Joe way). 

    Amazingly enough even to me most movers have their own abbreviated language for everything they do. I know from experience with my husband when we moved that “SET” means put a piece down to give your moving partner a chance to gain a better grip.  Moving big pieces of furniture down a winding set of stairs can take upwards of ten minutes to properly plan and only 4 minutes of maneuvering…planning is key and often crucial.  He has moved piano’s down 10 flights of spiral stairs with only one other person.  His job does not entail brutal strength and no BRAINS.  I used to think that myself.  Oh moving…big deal…pick it up and put it somewhere else.

    Not quite.  There is a lot of planning, communication and customer service.  It’s the only job I can really think of besides dentistry where your customer is yammering away (and even dentists resolve that problem) the entire time they hired you the professional to do the job they don’t want to do or can’t figure out how to do.  My husband has women tell him all day long how to pick up a refrigerator and yet those women are the same one’s who have never in their life picked one up. They like to play director and yet if they knew how to move they’d move without paying him to do it.

    My husband and I have the brains versus brute argument all the time. He tells me he has a strained shoulder and I complain about my aching brain neutrons or my tired mouse clicking finger or my carpal tunnel from too much keyboard typing at my office job. 

    However….I wouldn’t choose to put up with his customers for a minute. “Don’t scratch my hardwood floor but move that 1300 pound antique armoire across it and I don’t want to unpack anything inside of it..mmkay?”  Oh and don’t mind the cat hair covering everything and oh my look at all the junk under the couch..don’t track that dirt all over my new condo or I’m going to be mad.  While you’re at it, can you move that couch from that spot I told you about five minutes ago and put it over here on the south wall again, I want to decide which I like best”.  Oh and don’t mind Fido’s dog shit all over the bedroom  floor because you know I’m ignoring it so you should too.  And can you please stand in here and take apart my bed, my dresser and my damn ping pong table too and then put it all back together in the new place.  And don’t scratch it.

    At the end of it all when the bill talleys up to $5,500 for a 12 hour all day move, the customer will then say “wow that’s crazy”  yet they had 5 people in their house, two trucks loaded up and unloaded, and they sat in a chair smoking a cigarette while someone else packed up even their boxers and deodorant and 5 guy’s walked in and decided who was doing what and had a plan to get them moved from a 5,000 square foot house to a 3,5000 square foot condo in 12 hours.

    Do you honestly think that’s all just brutal strength and requires no brains?  Bosses at moving companies are strict because when you need to send 7 guys and someone doesn’t show up….the customer is NOT happy. I’m sure customers get mad and cancel an entire 5k job because a crew showed up at the customers house 3 minutes late.  If you owned that company, wouldn’t you be just like my husband’s boss?  He’s in a business and he needs people to d.y.d.j.  Do your Damn job.  If you’re job means being on time, then do it or lose it.

    I too often focus in on structured organizations and how they do things. I  focus in on the Googles and the Starbucks and the IBM’s and HP’s etc.  But the reality is…these small businesses are more plentiful than the Googles and IBM’s of the world and this style or lack of management style is often what the real world copes with.  I’m trying not to lose touch with people unlike myself.  My husband and I are polar opposites. I would call my HR department if a boss ever talked to me like his does.  Different industry..different circumstances.

    Incidentally….every time we’ve personally moved, my husband somehow manages to move an entire household in 7 hours flat with minimal help.  It’s not because of brute or speed.  It’s because of critical thinking and planning.  He has a plan and is efficient.  That takes brains.

    Did you know that you don’t pack what’s in the dresser drawers…you move them as is.  You don’t pack up books, you shrink wrap the entire bookcase and make sure it’s weighted out properly on all sides and use a hand truck..etc.etc.etc. I could go on and on with all these boring details but it’s not brute like people think.  Trust me the garbage man even has to use his brain to be efficient.  You don’t know a job until you do it.  Calling someone’s job a “brainless” task is really b.s.

    Category Rick, career, love and marriage, world | Tags: | No Comments

  5. praised

    November 13, 2009 by shishnit

    I spend the majority of my time trying to work towards being something more. I am in college, always writing, reading and readying myself for some unknown opportunity that I’m hopeful will come.  I am hard on myself, I am working on myself, I am molding myself. I am a work in progress and I’m always focused on the work that yet remains. I NEVER blog about work, except to say I go to work.  That’s a given.  However, recently a new position was posted and it’s gotten a lot of buzz, mostly because most of the people I work with have far far less seniority or “time in” than I do. The average is 2 years. I’ve been working at the same company for over 5 years. There hasn’t been much growth within the company in the past 2 years so it’s nice to see some changes and  job additions lately. I am often hard on myself, push myself, and rarely do I ever let up….I feel I’ve wasted a decade of my life being lost…and I need to make up for it.  I never stop and realize how much I’ve done for myself in the last 5+ years.  

    Recently one of my co-workers asked me about the buzz gaining job etc.  She’s hopeful that our collective boss will apply for that job so that I can apply for our boss’s job and in essence be her boss.  This had to be one of the most flattering emails I’ve ever received.  Not just that she thinks I can do the job but that she would want me to be her boss..and not because we’re pals, we’re not…just because she respects me. I suppose I’ve learend something in all these management courses afterall.    

    She wrote me an email that stated:  

    From: Michelle

    Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:35 PM

    To: Kristy

    Yeah I was just wondering if you thought J. might go for it and then maybe you could be the ops manager! J  From: Kristy

    Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:36 PM

    To: Michelle 

    She may go for it……lol you want me to be your boss???  Really??? From: Michelle

    Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:37 PM

    To: Kristy

    Yes really, I think that you are fair, even tempered, and intelligent enough to make a great manager. I’m sure there’s lots more to it than that but every employee should feel like they are treated fair and that their boss has an even temper and is smart enough for the job.
     

    Category career | Tags: | 3 Comments

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