Take This Job and Shove It-6

Blink. Blink. Blink.

Ugh!

Fever.

Sweats.

Blink. Blink. Blink.

Getting emergency calls from all over the territory. Got like 15 requests in a couple of days time.

I was freakin’ starting to lose my shit.

How could I be expected to work when I felt so sick? Why couldn’t I have a couple of sick days? Is this how it works when you work from home? Well or ill, you work?

And how can I be expected to take planes to these towns in a couple of days? How do I make it stop?

It’s not like a regular job. You’re sick. You stay home and watch TV for a couple of days until your fever goes down. Then you drag your sorry ass to work and shlep for the rest of the week.

No. Me? In order for me to go back to work, I have to take a flight to the Podunk town and hope I can fix whatever fucokta problem these people are having. No shlepping for me. No. I can’t just take the friggin’ subway to work, I have to take a plane!

As I lied in bed in my puddle of shvitz, I thought more and more about these things. And I really started to freak out.

Take This Job and Shove It-5

The last time I’d spoken to my boss we had talked about a company meeting on the west coast. That I didn’t mind. But I also needed to be back in New York early the following day. How was I going to be at both places? She wanted me to take the red eye night before. Now, I tried the red eye a couple of months ago. I really didn’t like didn’t like it. It actually made me a little crazy. Because it’s late. You’re tired. The lights are off and everyone’s sleeping on the plane. But me! There’s no good position to be in to sleep. Then, I’m good for nothing the next day. I just slept all day from not sleeping all night.

When my boss “suggested” I take the red eye, it made me very upset. Why couldn’t I just leave the west coast earlier? No. That was not an option. It really pissed me off.

It may have been the last straw.

Take This Job and Shove It -4

I thought it would get better.

It didn’t.

I thought that once I became more experienced it would get easier.

It didn’t.

I thought I’d give it a year and then quit.

But then I got the flu.

I was feeling pretty horrible. My boss knew I was sick. But the Blackberry kept buzzing and blinking and the phone continued ringing. I had fever and sweats. Blackberry beside me. I became more and more ill with each vibration.

Blink. Blink. Blink.

I turned the phone over and turned on ‘silent’. Every couple of hours I would turn it back over.

Blink. Blink. Blink.

Yipes!

Blink. Blink. Blink.

No!

I looked at the mail. It was growing.

Oh no!

Turn it back over.

I was sick. I couldn’t keep up.

I Have Good Socks in the City

Since I broke up with my job, I’ve been staying at Mom’s in Long Island. I have a whole wardrobe there…here, so it’s comfortable. But my good clothes are in Manhattan.

I’ve noticed, though, since I’ve been here (in LI) that my clothes here are really a lot worse than I originally thought. My LI closets are usually where I bring my city stuff to die. If I’m not wearing the clothes in the city, I take it to LI. Then I think about it for a couple of years, until I donate them.

Problem is, I look like crap when I’m staying in LI.

Everything I’ve worn in the past two weeks is either too short, too tight, or too holy. And I don’t mean the religious kind.

I put on a T-shirt. It’s a belly shirt.

I put on a pair of jeans. They’re mom jeans.

I put on a robe. There’s a huge hole in the but.

I go to put on some socks. My big toe pops out. Or I wear them and they end up off my foot in my shoes after I walk a couple of steps. Ugh! They’re too loose, too tight, too polyester and make my feet freeze.

I have good socks in the city!

Take This Job and Shove It-3

Number one: I was still poor. Once I started the job, I find out I’m not going to get the scratch until I complete a three to four month training. So, instead of making mucho dinero, I was losing cash. I didn’t get a paycheck for the first few weeks of working AND I had to pay out-of-pocket for hotel and food bills I racked up with all the traveling that was required. So I had to dip into my savings to keep up.

Half my salary was commission on a product. Three months in the product was recalled. There went half my salary.

Number two: Working from home was lonely. There was nobody there to ask a question or run anything by. I would work all day. From morning to night. It was difficult to put time limits on myself to just stop.

Number three: The Blackberry blew up day and night. 24/7. Ten o’clock at night to 8 am on Sunday. Since the job paid for the phone, I figured I’d use it for business and personal. Wrong. It got to the point where I startled every time it buzzed. And it buzzed constantly.

Number four: I hated my territory. It was horrible podunk towns in the boonies, which I had to fly to, or drive five hours to. I was going to have to visit these places a lot more than expected. I began to dread it.

Number five: I know the job was providing support for those who needed it. But once the recall hit, customers called and emailed cranky and angry. They all wanted me to come to their podunk town to solve all their problems.

Why me?

What have I done?

Take This Job and Shove It-2

I’ve been so crazy busy that I haven’t had my hair trimmed, my legs waxed, my eyebrows threaded, my Mani Pedi for the past seven months.

Is that gross?

I missed my mammo appointment, gyno appointment, teeth cleaning, flu shot. I just hope and pray there’s nothing strange growing where it’s not supposed to be. It would really suck to miss something like that because of a stupid job.

So, needless to say, I’ve had no time for blogging.

But I really tried hard to make the job work.

I really did.

But I had to do it. I had to quit.

It was making me crazy.

A basket case in fact.

Let me break it down.

I took the job pretty much for the money. The dinero. The scratch. Paper. Dolla’ bills y’all.

I was working from home. Had a company computer and company Blackberry, which co-workers and customers would contact me on. I had a territory to cover. People contacted me if they needed help with something.

Ok. Not too bad. I can do this.

Not so much.

Take This Job and Shove It

Well, that job. The one I had a 12-hour interview for. The one I was excited about. The one I have been traveling for, for the past seven months.

I quit.

I just up and quit.

Omg.

Can you believe it?

So, if you’ve been wondering where the heck I’ve been for the past couple of months. I’ve been working. And working. And working.

And miserable.

For every second of it.

So, Happy New Year…

… To me.