Friday, June 3, 2011

Roll With It or Get Rolled Over

So, lots and lots of happening out there in the world today.

My friend of 15 years was just told today that the President of the small company she works for has decided to retire and the company will be closing in about a month's time. She was crying when she told me as she totaled up the credit card bills she was stuck with after her divorce, the lawyer she's still paying to finalize her divorce, the rent she is still obligated to pay each month, the huge amount of money she still owes her sister, and an insane student loan that is looming near for the classes she has been taking at NYU.

I have no love for this company except that it was my first "city job" in an office where I had to dress in a suit each day. It was my 2nd job EVER, and those fuckers only paid me 20 grand a year when I started. (My first year's bonus was $5,000.) However, I met Cecille (the undercover muff diver) who hooked me up with my first apartment that was all my own in Astoria. She took me all over the place with her girly crew and pretty much introduced me to drinking too much, gambling more than I had, and shopping until my creditors came knocking at my locked door. I met Candy who was my sister from another mister, and we've kept close ever since. I feel for her and a handful of other employees who have been there for over 25 years. Candy has a Bachelors under her belt, a good head on her shoulders, and the kind of personality that will hopefully land her a new job fast. The other people- well, they've been there for almost 30 years, are getting paid dick, and will probably have a terrible time finding something "comfortable" like this at their age in this poor job market.

Me? My contract is solid for another year and probably longer. I've just been given an award for completing some government project awesomely. Yeah, I know, it surprised me as much as it's probably surprising all of you! I got a small raise. My employee and I just kicked ass at our company's team building exercise. And, I must say, I'm so proud of that little feet that I must write about i!t!

Besides the power point boring slide bullshit and some lecture about teamwork, me, my employee C, and the 5 other employees I used to work with across the hall were all give kits and asked to take out the puzzles. It was a simple 24 piece but they had all been opened already which made it obvious that the pieces must be messed up some how. The goal given to us was that all the puzzles had to be completed. The timer started. I finished mine in under a minute, with C finishing about 30 seconds after me. We had someone else's piece and they had ours. We went over to the other people, took our pieces, and gave them theirs. Just because we were done, the exercise wasn't over.We had to make sure everyone finished the fucking puzzle, and as I looked around, it was clear that this bunch was not the puzzle-solving types. C went over to someone and started to help them. The problem was that there are 2 of us capable minds and 5 of them slower minds. I clapped my hands like an obnoxious teacher, told them all to stop and to listen to me. Their Task Manager, whom I refer to as the Troll glared at me with the "How dare you!" face, but every single one of them stopped. I told them to turn each piece over so that the top faced up. I told them to sort out all the borders. Then I told them to find the corners, and go from there. Two of the five got it and went to task. C and I ended up hand-holding the other three until the task was complete. When I looked at the HR staff who put this farce together, they were awe-struck. They said it didn't even occur to them that someone give direction to everyone at the same time, thus cutting the hand-holding time down to a minimum. I passed that class and got an award for "Top Honors" or some shit like that. I then told them C and I had an important meeting to attend, and we skipped out on the rest of the presentation. (It was all powerpoint stuff anyway.)

Two awards in the course of one day. Not bad, right?

I bitch PLENTY about the day job because it's boring, it's not where I want to be, and it takes time away from my cake making. However, I have 30% of my customers located at my day job, the paycheck is steady, the benefits are appreciated, and I am in a better place than many other jobless folks out there.

The next time I want to grumble about this job, I need to stop and kick myself in the ass. I'm very lucky to be in the position that I'm in. Instead of looking at it as a detriment to my own business, I need to see it as an asset. Steady funding when I need it, fresh customers conveniently located in one place, and benefits. Damn, you can't forget those benefits. The downtime leaves me a lot of opportunity to work on my own things, as well. So, I'm getting paid to grow my business.

I'm in a lucky position, and I can't forget to remind myself that.

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