Re: They DO NOT GET IT….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I think workplaces are designed badly, for many types of people right across the board. I watched a video where a co-founder of a software company made the case that almost all offices are full of distractions – so many in fact, it’s hard to get any real work done all day with the constant meetings, phone calls, visits, chatter, gossip, breaks, etc. I want to work for him. I really, really do.

A few things to keep in mind about most corporate or even small office environments and ourselves:

1. Businesses are far more focused on image than they are on products or great bodies of work.

2. We humans tend to derive a lot of our self-worth from our jobs because we spend so much freakin’ time at it, with it, thinking about it, stressing over it, dealing with it, changing it, growing it, nurturing it, and sacrificing for it, so when someone at work comes along and is mean or critical, or worse – separates us from it by firing us or letting us go – the first thing we do is feel intense negative emotions because we didn’t chose to leave on a positive finishing note.

I had to learn the hard way years ago that despite all of the emotional investment I might put into my work, getting fired or reprimanded because my employer’s focus was on my spelling and not my ideas or contributions as a whole, my efforts weren’t all for naught, and that it says more about them than it does my unique skill sets. We all have something to offer to those employers who are willing to take us on as we are.

My suggestion is to stop trying to jam your square body into a round corporate hole. They don’t want us road bumps there anyway. I hate working in offices. I know I don’t belong, and have turned down many jobs in bigger tv companies because of that very reason. If the job stated I had to be in a veal pen from 8-5, I kept looking. I would starve before I put myself out there again. Often I did. And often I look jobs that were deemed beneath everyone else and had a great time, made awesome freelance contacts and had creative, unique job offers thrown at me that other people wouldn’t think of applying for.

I may not like what I do for work right now, but at least I get to work beside my husband every day helping him keep a business going that has one goal: to pay us enough money to live in a house. Hopefully one day this business will allow us to afford retirement. Who knows, right? The store exists solely to employ us two. We have a lot of freedom in one respect, but in another we don’t because of the nature of our industry. It frustrates us, but every day we find new ways to change how we do our work in some small, creative, fun way that our customers seem to dig. I have to tell you all, playing on our strengths at work bigtime means we no longer have to pay to advertise. Everyone in town knows us, and if you don’t by now, someone you know will have recommended us to you at some point, or will. We estimate 85% of our customers are long time customers and those who have found us through word of mouth. The rest break down into website traffic and random walk-ins. That’s not too shabby for a store that’s only been around for 8 yrs, huh?

See, my point here is… the long winded point, that is… don’t give in. Keep your chin up. There are jobs out there for people who don’t fit into the corporate world. There is great relief when you cast off the shackles of belief that the only good paying jobs are located in veal pens or in the professional offices of the world. They most certainly are NOT. And even if you have to make less to live, the gain to your self-esteem and self-worth will more than make up the difference in the long run.

*steps off her soap box*

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