Dear young woman (I assume) who searched “everything is not equal in my job” and got to this blog (or, advice I’d give my 10-year-old self as an almost-26-year-old):
Stand up for yourself. Call your human resources person, make a stink. Because you know what I’ve learned, sometimes you actually get more with vinegar than you do with sugar or honey or whatever the saying is. Example: The first time there was a hold on my unemployment check I bitched, cried, snotted, complained, called everyone in the dang state office that would listen and within three days, I had a check. This time, I’ve let it go, I’m waiting my “21 or more days” for a phone call and you know what? It’s been two fricken weeks and I have no fricken money. Which leads me to the next piece of advice: Buy yourself a birthday dress. Even if you are broke and don’t have a job, you deserve that dress. After all, it is your birthday. So I did.
Ask questions. You are entitled to them. Don’t take “I don’t know for an answer.” Which is exactly what I did when I got fired. I took “I don’t know” for an answer and 12 weeks later, I don’t know why I lost my job. Not for real anyway. I know what it says on the piece of paper, I know what they told me, I have the statement they gave to the unemployment people, but none of it matches up. When I asked for more of an explanation and got “I don’t know” I settled. Don’t do that. If the person who should be able to help you isn’t, go over their head.
Do not quit that job. The job market sucks. Don’t follow a dream, or make decisions on a whim. Stay in your crummy job and look for another one. Go to college. Do your research, ask questions and take that “follow your dreams” crap with a grain of salt. Dreams die.
Consider a career in something technical or a trade. The world will always need plumbers and mechanics.
Pick up the phone and call somebody. It’s hard to follow this advice, especially when you can totally just send an e-mail. But at the end of the day, we’re all humans and being on the phone always makes human instinct kick in and holds people a little more accountable.
Don’t let your career define who you are.
Get involved with a group of kids, or residents at an old folks home, even just do a stint at a booth somewhere. I am so sick of people complaining about their surroundings, politics, the state of the world and society in general. Because the truth is, unless you give back – attend that community fundraiser, buy those cookies you don’t really need, write a check to an organization in your community you believe in – you have no right. Everything comes full circle; you get what you give.
That’s probably all the advice a girl approaching 26 with a chip on her shoulder should give. But there you have it, hopefully you Miss “everything is not equal in my job” can pull something from all this nonesense. Good luck to you (and I mean that).
Best,
Mandy
