On to Bigger and Better!

Last weekend, Nate and I had gone down to spend the weekend with his parents. Sunday afternoon, his mom and I spent a lot of time cooking in the kitchen and we had plenty of time to chat about how things were going for each of us. We started talking about my job, and she asked me if I was still liking it. I told her I do still like it, but I\’m itching to move up because I\’m not where I want to ultimately be. She told me that at this point in my life, it was more important that I was enjoying what I was doing rather than putting up with something I wasn\’t just to get ahead. She reminded me to think about where I was this time last year and to think about how much better I have it now – even if it isn\’t a job I want to be at forever.

This time last year, I lost my job at the marketing research firm I worked at. I was let go because they didn\’t have enough money to keep my position, and so with very little warning, I was out of there. At the time, I was devasted about losing my job. I was scared about what would come next, how I would be able to keeping paying rent and paying for groceries, and how long it would be until I had to start relying on Nate or my parents to help me pay for things.

It didn\’t take me very long to realize that losing my job last summer was actually a blessing in disguise. For weeks before I was let go, I was actively looking for another job, and actively going to interview for other companies. I wasn\’t exactly dissapointed that I had to leave the company I worked for as much as I was dissapointed that I would no longer be bringing in an income. As much as I liked the work at that company (when I actually had any) I did not enjoy the atmosphere, and I wasn\’t a huge fan of the people I worked with. This place made it incredibly difficult to want to get up in the morning and keep going day after day.

When I got this job right out of college, I felt really lucky to have found a good job so quickly. It was in the field I was interested in working in, the pay was good, and at the time, the people seemed to be pretty nice.

In the beginning, I was getting very little work to do, but I figured it was because I was new and it would get better once I had been there for a little while. It didn\’t. I was constantly begging for work to do so I didn\’t have to just sit there fiddling my thumbs all day long. Everyday I would ask my coworkers–who I knew were really busy–if they needed any help, and they would always say no. Frustrated, I finally asked to sit down with my supervisor and the president of the company and find out how I could get more work. They told me I didn\’t have a lot of experience and they wanted to give projects to people who already knew what they were doing. When I asked if they could teach me a few things so I would know how to do them for upcoming projects, they said of course, that sounded like a good idea. Well, whenever we set up a time to get together and go over something, there was always an excuse to push it off until later. So guess what? It never happened. Eventually, I quit trying to set up a meeting because I knew it just wasn\’t in the cards for me. I was really starting to wonder why they even hired me in the first place if they weren\’t going to give me any projects, or teach me how to do new things.

The absolute worst thing about this job was how the owner treated his employees. He was one of those people who thought he knew everything about everything and he was \”never wrong.\” Whenever I had one on one meetings with him, he made it very clear that he did not think I was a smart person because I didn\’t know as much as him. There were multiple occassions where he straight up told me I was stupid. There was one time in particular where he was going over a spreadsheet with me and my supervisor, and he told me: \”Megan, this can be a little difficult, and I know you want to break out in hives every time something gets hard, but you can\’t.\” I just looked at my supervisor like did he really just say that? He thought it was the funniest thing in the world, and I wanted to slap the smile right off his face.

I worked my a$$ off at that job trying to find work for me to do, and trying to teach myself how to do new things because no one else would. By the end, it was clear that my efforts were a pretty big waste of time.

I was in a pretty bad headspace by the time I left that job. I had never considered myself to be a stupid person before working there, but I had been told I was so many times at that point that I started to believe it. I was beginning to doubt myself when I was looking for other jobs, wondering if it was something I was qualified for, or if I’d know how to do it. The last thing I wanted was to end up in the same sitation I just left.

I was only unemployed for about two months, and even though that really isn’t too long, I felt like it took forever to find a new job. I was very lucky that I knew the right people who helped me get my current job at the Department of Energy, because without them, who knows where I would be right now?

Coming from the last job, I forgot how good it feels to say good morning to someone, and they actually look happy to see me. Or being so trusted doing my job, that nobody doubts my abilities or that I know what I am doing. I am not one of those people who looks for praise everytime I do something, but dang it sure does feel good when people tell me I did a good job. I may not always love waking up in the morning and going to work  (let’s be real, waking up early for ANYTHING sucks lol), but before, I would wake up in tears some days because that’s how badly I didn’t want to go to my job. Now, I get up and go and I look forward to having a busy day and seeing my coworkers, and learning new things. This may not be my dream job, or even something I see myself doing more than a few years, but I can’t deny that I am much happier than I was this time last year. And for now, that’s enough for me.

My advice is, don’t get comfortable in miserable situations. I waited too long to start looking for a different job last year (not that it mattered in the end, but you get my point). I hated what I was doing, but I was scared of change, so I put up with a miserable work environment. Life is too short to do this to yourself! You spend 40+ hours a week at your job, at least make sure you enjoy being there, or you are going to waste a significant amount of your life being miserable. Never stop working towards your own happiness! 

Until next time! 

Megan Reiffenberger