Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Decision

So I started posting on this site with a dilemna I had. I didn't know whether or not I should take a promotion at a job that meant absolutely nothing to me. I thought about it, then some more, then some more after that, and ultimately I turned it down as of this past Sunday. Why? Because at the end of the day I just couldn't sell out over another 1.75 an hour and a future at a company that means nothing to me.

It's one thing to have a crappy job. It's another to have a crappy career. That just feels so permanent, and I couldn't have that. Maybe it's me-I'm sure I have commitment issues across the board. But, the thought of being at the same stupid meaningless job a year from now, two, five...it just kills me. I have dreams and goals, and I'm going to try like hell to reach them, and if I fail then I fail, but with 8 days before my 24th birthday I'm just too young to start settling for less.

5 comments:

Bitter with a dash of Humor said...

But taking that promotion doesn't mean anything. I still don't understand why you feel like taking that promotion means you have to stay there. It wasn't like you were going to get a salary or any benefits, or any other advantages that are hallmarks of a career position. It still would've paid hourly and you still could've only worked three or four days a week if you wanted. And as we've seen, it's not like the "training" period really even lasts that long. And it's a chance to put management experience on your resume, and no future employer will ever know how stupid it actually is.

JManganelli said...

There was an emotional investment that I just wasn't willing to pay.
And, taking the commitment when I knew I wasn't going to stay for any long period of time felt wrong to me. Now I'm not going to just run out the door for the first job I see because I'm dissatified, but I'm not going to become a bigger cog in the machine, either. It's all about balance.

Brittany said...

I think that some career is better than no career. I dunno. I don't think you can place enough value on job security. I say this as someone who will be decidedly on the job market at next month's career fair.

JManganelli said...

I'm still waiting on that "Dare to be Great" situation. Even if I never get the career I want, one of these days I gotta happen upon something better than the a boring numbers job that drives most people completely insane within the first three months. I got the time.

Law of averages, really...

Jono said...

I guess I'm wrestling on both sides of this. On the one hand, there's definitely a need in all of us to make sure our lives are both true to ourselves and approaching something we want to be; on the other hand, there's always a need for cash, right?

I like to think I've made a compromise I can live with; I can't survive alone on writing right now, so I trained myself to be an arts manager, which provides a decent living.

Maybe that's the trick, I guess--I mean, that's what we go to college for, right? To learn skills that will make us marketable in a career path of our choosing.

Then again, maybe the whole point of this blog is that the rules we were taught no longer apply.