What to Do When Your Job Kicks Your Teeth In
Get a secure job. Work yourself to the bone. Be loyal, trustworthy and responsible to your employer – and you’ll be rewarded in the end.
And if you believe all that, I got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
Perhaps the first inkling that all of the above was not necessarily true was watching the end of my dad’s decades-long career. He had been the most steadfast and dedicated employee from the moment he accepted the computer systems analyst job at General Motors.
Even when the company was sold out from under everyone – twice. Even when his workload tripled and expanded to include things like 2 a.m. calls from executives in India. Even when he was shuttled and shifted and shuffled around in the hopes that he’d get fed up and retire early so they could hire on someone else at about one-third of his pay.
When he finally did retire, I think they gave him a Lucite paperweight. Thanks for your service.
Since I wasn’t a computer systems analyst working for General Motors in Detroit, I figured something like that wouldn’t happen to me. Until it did.
I had finally landed my dream career at a daily newspaper in Arizona. Reporting on Tucson crime and oddball stories that no one else wanted. Writing an award-winning feature column. Loving my coworkers and even being allowed to once bring my dogs to work when the home air conditioner broke.
Although my dogs were never allowed back after their first-visit antics, I still adored everything about the gig. So much so, I bought a house. Planned my retirement. Expected to live in the scorching desert forever, merrily chasing down strange stories while growing old amongst the saguaro.
Until a bigwig from the newspaper’s parent company swooped into the office one day on the way to his golf game and told us they were shutting us down. The paper was still making money, sure. But not enough money.
“So you’ll all be out of a job,” he told the dozens of journalists crowded in the lobby. “Any questions, ask your managing editor. I have to run. I’m late for my game.”
And with that, the oldest newspaper in the state of Arizona officially became extinct. Right along with all my dreams of a lifelong journalism career amongst the cactus. Thanks for your service.
Moving our attention to New York City, and the same kind of game is being played – but this time with municipal retirees and Transit employees. In the case of the retirees, the city is attempting to replace no-cost Medicare with a privatized paid health plan.
As for the Transit workers, they’ve long been on the receiving end of a shrinking police presence in the stations. The policing has now become miniscule enough for slashed necks, broken eye sockets and other assaults on workers to become a regular part of the job.
While the individuals, locations and careers are all different, all these stories share a central theme: Greed. Greed. Greed. Big entities shoveling their faces full of dollars while steamrolling anyone and everyone beneath them. Money over everything – never mind the trampled souls.
Greed isn’t the only common factor in the situations, either. Feelings of betrayal. Exploitation. Fear. The swirl of all these emotions fueling a volcano of anger so inflamed you have no choice but to stand up and fight.
Standing up for what you believe is good. So good. Coming together as a united force in the hopes of changing what needs to be changed can be a powerful persuader. But, alas, it doesn’t always work.
And it’s really only a stopgap that doesn’t address the underlying problem. The real problem is the system and our penchant for relying on anything run by humans, especially when it comes to our feelings of security, happiness and success.
How many times have we heard that security only comes with a lifelong career and bulging retirement plan? Or that happiness and success can only be found in new cars, clothes and designer dog leashes?
Too many to count. That’s the way we’ve been trained throughout our entire lives. And when that cookie crumbles, man, does it crumble with a vengeance. So, we can sit in the crumbles and stew – or realize that feelings of security, happiness and success can be had no matter what the outer world and all its humanness sends our way.
It would do us well to also remember we are responsible for our effort – not the outcome. Life throws curveballs all the time. We can duck. We can get mad and throw a batch of balls back. We can drive ourselves batty trying to hit them (pun not intended).
Or we can step to the side, let them bounce as they may, and know that every single thing about those human-thrown curveballs is beyond our control. All we can control is our response to all the mayhem. Stand up when we need to fight it. Sit down when we need to accept it. And when all else fails, go take a nap.
We can also do ourselves a favor by changing the mantra. Let’s nix this one: Get a secure job. Work yourself to the bone. Be loyal, trustworthy and responsible to your employer – and you’ll be rewarded in the end.
Let’s instill this one: Be secure in your belief in yourself. Do your best at whatever you’re doing. Be loyal, trustworthy and responsible to the bright shining spirit within.
With this kind of mindset, you don’t have to wait until some “end” to be rewarded. You actually get rewarded daily, no matter what this outer world throws your way. And you can bet the rewards are a zillion times better than a career in the desert – or even a Lucite paperweight.
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Ryn Gargulinski is an award-winning author, artist and Reiki master who has since traded the joy of the desert for the bigger joy of the subtropics. Check out her book: “How to Get Through Hell on Earth without Drinking a Keg or Kicking a Garden Gnome.” Get your copy or learn more at RynskiLife.com.
