Jimperfections

When I got hired for the position I am currently in, I was an assistant manager in the main store of a group of corporate owned locations. It was good, but I wanted a change desperately. So, this was ideal and actually fulfilled somewhat of a dream.

Growing up, my parents had various friends and family that had jobs that afforded them company cars, travel and all manner of perks. This appealed to me back then, and I secretly thought it would be cool to have that. With this job, I did!

As an aside, I want to add that I have no college degree at all. The full story on that will have to wait for another day. But despite this, I was hired on into a sales/IT position. I had a ton to learn. I have always picked up things quickly, however, and I made progress right away.

The first handful of years I really enjoyed. I got to drive all over my territory, visiting both corporate and independently owned stores. I’d install equipment, train them on new software, help maintaining the equipment and of course, sell them new stuff when needed. And because I was good at it, I was often asked to travel outside of my territory. Mostly to do training in territories where the guy or girl there wasn’t as knowledgeable.

After a while, I was itching for a change again. As luck would have it, someone was retiring. The colleague who trained me and was now in a position under the retiree was all lined up to take over for him. I would then move into his role. Unfortunately, the powers that be decided that the position would not be refilled, and we were both left disappointed.

I continued on. And a couple of years later, another position came up. I threw my name into the hat and it looked good that I would get it. Then, for the first time ever in the history of the company, they decided to offer early retirement packages. Many people took advantage of this. One of them would have been my new boss. Again, the decision was made to not backfill most of the positions that were vacated. Back to the grind I went.

Then Covid hit. I, along with all but three of my colleagues, were furloughed for three months. To be honest, it was wonderful. Because of the government assistance along with my unemployment benefits, I was making more money than when I was working. And I had almost no stress. Of course, this was not to last.

Near the end of the three months, we were asked to attend a Teams call about our jobs. We speculated that maybe they would only bring back a few of us initially, then the rest later. Nope. We all got fired. Well, that is except the original three that weren’t furloughed and three others. I was one of the three others. I was miserable.

The “new” position changed dramatically. We still pretty much did the same job, but completely remote. No travel at all. I almost told them thanks but no thanks and took my chances. I was convinced to stick it out for at least a month by my boss’s boss. Oh… and they bumped my pay about $5K a year. Yay, I guess. So, I muddled through and am still here now.

During the first few months, I was getting more discouraged, but did my best to do the job. Fast forward some and yet another position opens up. Again I put my name in. I even got an interview this time! Then I heard nothing for a while. After talking with my colleague whose job I was up for many years before about it, he convinced me to ask. So, I reached out to the two folks that interviewed me. Guess what?? Oh, sorry. We have decided to not fill that position.

Shit!

I’m still doing the same job, from my office at home (a whole other matter that I might delve into another time) and am still pretty miserable. So, you ask, why don’t I look for other work? I’ve tried here and there. But I really don’t want to do this same thing. Besides, I really only know this company’s IT stuff. I’d be pretty lost elsewhere. I can’t code. I only know enough networking stuff to be dangerous. And I don’t necessarily want to sell things anymore either.

As I mentioned before, I have no degree. And as much as I think it is BS, a lot of places require one. But probably the biggest thing is that I have kind of painted myself into a corner salary wise. I’m making a bunch of money now. More than I ever have. To make a move would mean starting at the bottom again. I am the sole breadwinner. And while we aren’t the best with money, we aren’t frivolous with it either. But in order to, as a cousin would always say, maintain a lifestyle with which we have become accustomed, I couldn’t take a drastic pay cut.

So, what keeps me hanging on? Well despite all the negative I tend to bring up, there are positives. For example, the aforementioned company car. Yes, they let us keep them. No idea why since we really don’t go anywhere. But we all keep our mouths shut about it lest they wise up and take them away. The benefits aren’t terrible either. I get five weeks of vacation plus the all major holidays and my birthday off with pay. And my boss is in Arizona. His boss is in Atlanta. No one bugs me. So, as long as it appears you are doing something, you’re golden. Lastly, I’ve been with the company now almost 23 years. I have a pension and 401K. It is highly corporate and full of BS, but it also isn’t a terrible company to work for.

So, I really don’t know what to do. A job that can pay me close to what I make and that I would enjoy doing isn’t going to fall out of the sky. But I also don’t know if I can muddle my way through this until I reach retirement age. Quite the conundrum.