New Job Redux
June 24th, 2008 | by Tom |I got a request for an update on my new job. My update is that i no longer have that job. I am not going to say that i got screwed because the guy that fired me was too nice for me to get too upset about it but i will say that i was misled. I dont think its worth it to go into the exact details about what happened. I have put it behind me. My issue is that i quit my job at Gartner, which i hated but was a secured position, to work at Yale, took a pay cut and then got fired. So now i have no job. while i would like to feel really stoked about not working i feel anything but. I feel like i have hit a gross number of dead ends in my job search, I send out dozens of resumes everyday and fail to hear back on a lot of them. Is this customary practice in the business world? I have no idea. It seems like it might be. I almost had a job working at another Barnes and Noble but that fell through as well. I would love the opportunity to blame somebody else for this but because it isnt any single persons fault i will blame myself. One, for being hasty and two, for being unable to cope with the depression that would wash over me every morning when i woke up and realized i had to go to work at Gartner. which sucked because i always looked forward to the moments that surrounded my daily decent into hell. I liked getting coffee every morning. I like listening to talk radio. When i got to work and after fighting my way past the awkward nod hellos and mindless sports chatter with people i didnt really care to know I liked sitting down at my desk blowing on my coffee scrolling through the New York Times online, opening my email, when it was fantasy football season, checking on my league. I also liked going home. I liked packing up my gear as quietly as i could and slipping out like a ninja so i wouldnt have to say goodbye to anyone or exchange plans for the evening. it really made me happy not to care what people were planning on having for dinner or whether or not they would try to make it to the gym. So, i liked walking silently away from these major annoyances and getting into my car and blasting some tunes so loud that it disturbed anyone who might be having a conversation in the parking lot. These are things that i liked that made my working life remotely bearable for those 18 months. here is what i didnt like: being told what to do by someone who has no idea what to do, being the only person who is held accountable for anything, writing me up for being late even though i was never late because the other idiots in my department who were always late might get mad because they got written up and i didnt, being asked to do work other people were supposed to be doing but didnt feel like doing, having to come up with a new plan for lunch everyday, having my calls monitored by someone who doesnt know what he is supposed to be listening for thus negating the whole purpose of a call monitoring system, office wide birthday parties, birthday cards from executives i had never met, and the notion that Gartner isnt trying earn my love by feeding my for free once a week. Listen up corporate America. if you want to earn our loyalty and our respect this is what you do. Hire people that know what they are doing, fire people who dont know what they are doing. Stop being passive aggressive slobs when it comes to disciplining people and dont try to buy my love like you by love from a toddler with company branded presents and free pizza. I am not a two years old. I am also not an idiot. I said before that i blame myself and i do. I wish i had handled everything better. and every other second of everyday that has gone by since i quit Gartner do i wish i could go back? yeah i do, because it was work and not working for someone like me, details details, is not ideal, especially when you have to pay rent and for food and gas. But i think i can land on my feet, or rather i know i can land on my feet. i think i will be ok and next time, if i get a job in a similar environment as Gartner i will try harder to stay positive. It doesnt feel like this post has an ending…
By gorky on Jun 24, 2008
Sorry to hear about the job. Maybe you should hook up with some temp agencies.
If there were one piece of advice I would like to get through Chris’s skull, it would be this:
Work sucks. Some people have “careers”. Most of us have “jobs”. Jobs are work and work sucks. But you can’t have a Life without money and you can’t have money without work. Miners don’t like mining. You’re mantra should be “it’s just my job”.
By Tom on Jun 25, 2008
I agree.
By Patrick on Jul 7, 2008
Indeed, work does suck from time to time. That is unavoidable. But you can make it suck less by asserting yourself and letting the dipshits around you know that YOU know you have value. If they continue to step on you, move on. Confrontation sucks, but feeling stuck is far worse. And there is usually someone in every company who actually knows the reality of what’s going on and will appreciate you for your balls…and your work on the job.
This is how you eventually move up to management and get too high for someone else to step on you.
– “Office Space” comes to mind and how the main guy ended up getting promoted. Not too far from reality.
Anyway, don’t settle for any crap job– get the one you want…or at least make them feel sorry if they don’t hire you.
Sorry– my 3 1/2 cents.