I have been with my employer for twenty-five years. I have worked for over a dozen bosses during that time. I have gone from an admin role to a managerial role. I am still somewhere in the middle of the food chain, but I am happy where I am.
What have I learned?
Don’t take anything seriously, so long as you know you haven’t actually broken the law. I have been through lots of bad times, and been perfectly terrified of what might happen next, and everything turned out fine.This was largely because I’d done nothing wrong; it was mostly the fault of my higher-ups. Remember this.
Rush jobs are usually nothing of the sort. If someone wants a rush on something, it’s almost always a ruse. After a while, you learn which are the real rush jobs and which are the pretend rush jobs. Trust your gut.
Don’t be sarcastic or mean. It’s not worth it. I badmouth people all the time behind their backs, usually under my breath (although I slip once in a while), but most of the time I am patient and kind with people, even the stupid ones. Partly this is because of medication. Partly this is because I’ve been doing this for twenty-five goddamned years!
If you make a mistake, just come out and say so. There’s no harm in this; everyone makes mistakes. Most people will respect you for it. A few will mock and disrespect you for it, but most of those people will be gone within a year or two. And good riddance to them!
Get out of the building at lunchtime. Go eat. Go home. Take a walk. Do something. It will keep you far saner than your coworkers.
And finally: Remember that nothing lasts forever.
(Ooh, that’s sobering. I’ll have to think about that one.)
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