A More Satisfying Work Environment

                If you’re like 99.9% of everyone out there chances are you are not satisfied with your current job. Whether it is because you don’t like what you are doing or just because you hate your commute/boss/associates/dress or any number of things associated

with your job you just generally do not find any satisfaction in your vocation. I know it’s hard to picture ever being happy at your job. I think the vast majority of us will never get to truly get to do what we like/love in our lifetime. Things just happen. Families and life in general get in the way of you being able to make choices of the heart and we instead have to make choices that will allow us to do things like take care of our families and provide for them.

Just as an example I have never been lucky enough to ever say I want to do this or that and be pulled in one particular direction. It is why I envy people like my girlfriend and the Chef who either know what they want to do with their lives or are currently doing something they love. Unfortunately for me ever since I have been in college I have never wanted to be, well, anything. And I’m getting to that age where if I don’t decide/gravitate toward something I probably won’t have a choice and have to stay at whatever job I might have at the time. 

That’s not to say I hate my current job. I work as an assistant manager at Macy’s Herald Square in the women’s shoe department. While I have many duties my main job is I am in charge of the inventory of the entire department which is around 160,000 units right now. Needless to say it’s a huge job.

Now my Macy’s is not just any Macy’s, it is THE Macy’s. You may go to your local Macy’s and think it is pretty big. My Macy’s is 10 Macy’s stacked on top of each other. It is a 24/7 building of non-stop events, happenings, goings-on. I have to say that after working their I could never really picture myself working at a smaller Macy’s. It would be the going from the penthouse to the outhouse. I do more in my day then they probably do at a local Macy’s in a week.

I have been with the company for four years now and have become quite well known within my company. I was recently honored at the company’s year-end party where they honor the best workers in each department. I was happy flattered that several people came up to me and not only knew my name but had heard about my reputation as a worker. It is something I pride myself in having is a tireless work ethic. This was instilled in me by my first manager at the company who just recently left. At the time when he hired me as his assistant manager he saw that I was not giving him what he needed. There would be days I would just hate coming to work because I thought he was working me too hard or I just didn’t like his attitude and would not finish the job right. One day he pulled me to the side and said to me “Listen some of the lessons I’m teaching you now you aren’t going to understand right now but will in the future”. And darn if the man was not Nostradamus himself. One day the things he said to me just clicked and I became the worker I am today much in the image of what he is. I can look back at the times he told me these things and smile and laugh about it cause he was 100% right. I learned those lessons only when I was ready for them. But the point is I did learn.

So that is a little about me and what I currently do but what I want to talk about is ways you can be happier at your job. I know it sometimes seems like an impossible task but I think it matters how you look at your job. So here are a couple of ways that you can make (or try to make) your work environment a better place for you.

First you can take personal pride in your work. No matter if I was making $8 an hour or substantially more than that I have always been motivated first and foremost by my want to do my job to the best of my ability. I know it seems silly that we should all want to do what we are paid to do to the best of our ability cause I know I would hate to be short-changed by someone when I go to eat and a waiter doesn’t want to give me the best service possible. Or if I fly with someone and they decide to not vacuum my seat and I wind up sitting on some kid’s gum. I see everyday people who walk onto the floor of my department and just plain tell people they plan on half-assing it today. That is certainly not fair to yourself or your fellow co-worker who now has to pick up the slack for you because you don’t want to do your job. Every single day I go to work with the want and need to work as hard as I can not just for the company who pays me but for myself because I would be disappointed in myself if I did not give it my all every single day I go to work. It is why I am where I am and the people who complain about not getting promoted don’t get promoted. Cause they don’t show they want it more than I do. That is why they get passed over and I move up to bigger and better things.

Secondly, many people’s number one motivation is money. My mantra has always been that money does not matter to me at all. As long as I am happy at what I do that was enough for me for the longest time. Not anymore. I came to this realization several months ago kind of randomly. I was just at work one day and people always complain about how little they make, because of course nobody makes what they feel they should make. But hearing them talk about it led me to realize that the way you show appreciation for a good job is money. I get a ton of “great jobs” and “way to be a leader thank you for staying extra late the other day to finish up that project”. But not a single pat on the back will ever pay your phone bill or put food on your table. Having money to spend on things like Buffalo Wild Wings or seeing Muse, not once, but twice is why we work so hard in the first place.

You could also be happy by getting a second job. Maybe you really like comic books but know you can’t work at a store and make enough money to live. But you get to moonlight there once or twice a week because it is a subject matter that you really enjoy. Or you can be like the Chef and enjoy being an actual chef so much you do it every time you aren’t working for the man.

And finally I think if you really want to enjoy your job you should drink. Drink A LOT. It really helps.

                

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Drinking a lot really does help. Lots. Really. All kinds of alcohol makes the pain go away...at least for a little while.

J is very generous with his compliments about my career, but let's face it. If I was as successful as I've worked as hard to be, I wouldn't be writing this post from a government cube, trying my best not to hang myself from the nearest doorway, using a noose made up of linked paper clips.

I come to work everyday. (Almost everyday.) I have a two hour commute from the shithole I call "home" in the 'burbs. I'm late. I'm ALWAYS late. If I'm early, it's like the whole day is thrown off because I haven't been on time or early at this job in nearly 5 years. It's a wonder I even still have it. 

But, I have it because I'm fucking awesome at what I do. While confidentiality forbids me from going into details about my work, I will say that I work with a lot of legal documents about top-secret places and spaces, and I make sure we are paying and collecting every red cent under the letter of the law. It's boring. I hate it. I want to gather up most of the people I work with and stuff them in a sealed garage with a Prius running, but it pays my many extensive bills.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those with GOOD credit and those with BAD credit. I am somewhere in the middle- having come from bad and slowly inching my way towards good. My shitty day job helps me do that. 

I didn't go to college. Well, I went for almost a full semester before my asshole parents decided to see what would happen if they kicked this little bird out of their nest while she wasn't looking. I hit a couple of branches on the way down, but I flew.  

So, fuck you, Mr. & Mrs. D! Thanks for NOTHING. 

 After marrying the most horrible human being in the world and learning that I was much too smart and talented to be working at the places I worked, I hit a stroke of luck and found myself in culinary school. I never worked so hard in my life to earn that "free' tuition. Not only did I still work my full time day job for the government, but I worked at the school for another 38-45 hours a week at nights and on the weekends. Two years later, I was sitting in a kitchen, ready to learn my knife skills just like the students who shelled out 40 grand to be there. 

When I finished classes and started my externships in real NYC restaurants, I found out all the horror stories I heard were not far off from being true. I was harassed, groped, fondled, picked on, yelled at, and ignored by various kitchen staff. At the upscale restaurant I worked at downtown, the Chef all but laughed me off the line and shuffled me into pastry after my first night. I wasn't fast enough, the tickets coming out of the machine at a breakneck speed frazzled me, and I had a hard time keeping up. I was on apps. I couldn't fall behind because it would start the entire night off badly for everyone. And the NY Jets were dining there that evening. Great. It was a disaster. I wanted to cry. I hid out in the walk-in trying to choke back my tears until the Chef found me.

"There is no crying in the kitchen! Get back out there now before I kick your ass!"

If he wasn't such a douchebag, I would credit him for one of my most favorite terms in the world. There really is NO crying in the kitchen. If there is a disaster; handle it. If there is a mess; clean it. If you burn something; toss it and start over. YOU DO NOT STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO HAVE A GOOD CRY.

I stop and make myself remember this anytime my cakes are not coming out right. There is no crying in the kitchen.  Ever.

As much as I wanted to be a rogue pirate chef, smoking out front with the other line cooks before the start of a shift, our aprons a hot mess and our chef jackets pristine; I learned very quickly that the life of a food artist is not as rebel glamorous as I thought it would be nor does it pay very well. My Debt Monster that I inherited from my divorce wouldn't allow me to quit my day job to live the life of an underpaid line cook. 

My partner at the time, being very hard working and very enterprising, found us work. We catered small parties and made a killing doing it. Then, he went out and started finding me cake customers. I was not very good in those early days. I never took formal cake decorating classes. I had pastry classes and ONE cake decorating unit in school, but not the formal (and very expensive) wedding cake course I had wanted to take. My first year of cakes were laughable and I can't believe people paid me for those cakes! But those same people STILL order from me today, so I am grateful for having started out with such fantastic support and loyal customers.

I still hate coming to work every morning, but I do it. I hate having a two hour commute home, and then having to stay up all night baking and decorating after my long day at the office, but I do it. I don't sleep much anymore. I haven't for years. When I have a rare opportunity for a full night's rest, I'm out like the dead. 

I'm still not nearly ready to take the pay cut by quitting the day job and doing the cakes fulltime. I'm getting there, though. Until then, I'll keep doing what I'm doing.

How to Endure A Shitty Job:

Make your space comfortable and personal. Granted, my cube is a hot mess. I'm cluttered and disorganized and I have stuff all over the place. Still, it's MY cube. It's important that you try and make your environment a place you want to be, despite you not really wanting to be there.  

These are the things I stare directly at every single day. There are Thank You notes I've received from happy customers, my POP! toys and my gecko (also Thank You gifts from my customers). These are just random things that remind me that there are people out there who appreciate what I do, and I shouldn't give up.

Have some fucking Pride in your reputation. I can curse the day job from sun up till sunset, but the fact remains that I am being paid to do my job, and to do it well. I fucking KICK ASS doing what I do. I am recognized for the work I do, and I've been awarded handsomely (and not-so-handsomely) for my work. If your name is on it, you better make sure you can stand behind it. I don't really respect anyone who shows up and punches a clock for the sake of collecting a check. Your job is a contract. You are giving them your services for a price. Whether or not you agree with that price is irrelevent. If you don't like what you're being paid, then do something about it. If you're too lazy to do anything about it, then shut the fuck up about it. I don't want to hear it. And, trust me, neither does anyone else.

These are some of my awards. I had to crop out the stuff you're not allowed to see on my very messy desk. As you can see, as much as I hate this job, I still do it well.


Finally: ALCOHOL. Lots and lots and lots of delicious ALCOHOL. It will numb the pain, I swear it will! (A couple of good drinking buddies doesn't hurt, either!)

With the new internet laws being pitched out there, people are scared shitless that their job will require their social network passwords and all their red cup photos will be exposed for the boss to see. I could give a shit who see's me drinking. I like drinking. Therefore; I drink. I'm not going to pretend that I don't. I don't care who see's me drinking, as long as I don't act a fool while I'm tipsy. So, here you go. ALL my drinking photos LOUD and PROUD. 

This is why I am working towards working for myself. I will NEVER allow an overlord to dictate my choices or my lifestyle. If you're scared to live because you're afraid your employer won't approve of it, you're either doing something you shouldn't be doing or you're working for the wrong place. A little common sense will go a long way.

Dammit, who wouldn't love alcohol? Just look how friggin' HAPPY I look over the years with a cocktail in my hand!!
  

 AHHHHHH! Cheers!!