The passion of a paycheck
The Conference Board, a nonprofit business membership and research organization, reports that 53 percent of Americans are currently unhappy at work. That is a very high, alarming and sad statistic.
I was exposed to this first hand recently when I went into a local sandwich shop to pick up a sandwich for my daughter. When I walked in the clerk was sitting at one of the tables with her head down appearing to be napping.
The door chimed as I walked in and I could see her startle awake and begin to make her way back behind the counter.
From the look on her face and the interaction we had as I was placing my order you could tell she was not happy. When she told me the price and I handed her a
$20 to pay she began to mumble under her breath and search under the counter for her change bag in order to get the proper change put into the register to conduct business.
This young lady was not just unhappy with her work but I would go so far as to say she looked miserable in her work. I could just sense her extreme displeasure with her current role. I actually felt empathy for her so I dropped a couple of dollars in the tip jar and wished her a great day. She said nothing in reply.
The reason I can empathize with this young lady is there was a time in my life when I was also miserable in my work life. I worked for a large soft drink company in sales and I can honestly say I hated every minute of my workday. I was under constant pressure from my bosses to produce and also had to deal with store managers who had better things to do than deal with a kid trying to sell them sugar water.
I had a rather larger territory to cover every day and I had to electronically key in orders for each stop daily. This made for very long days mostly
10 to 12 hours per day, six days per week. Each and every Friday night it was mandatory that we attend a local ballgame, event or concert and talk to them about getting their concession business. Again, this probably wasn’t the best time to try to talk to them because they were busy with the event and didn’t have time to talk. But it was a requirement from our company and if it wasn’t done you would be reprimanded.
I eventually got fed up with what I deemed a difficult job and quit one day. I was 23 years old and it felt really good to tell my boss “I quit.” The thing I didn’t count on was not having another job lined up to go to. This put me in a quandary because I had bills to pay and the last time I looked the electric company didn’t care that I was attempting to find my passion and needed to take a little hiatus from working in order to find myself. The electric company, water company, telephone company and auto lender still demanded to be paid. Oh, and let’s not forget about rent. Landlords like to be paid, too.
So the pressure and depression I thought I felt when doing my job was suddenly very minimal compared to the stress and downright panic I was experiencing from being unemployed. I proceeded to stagger through a couple of different career paths. I worked for The United States Chamber of Commerce for a brief time. That wasn’t for me. I then entered the car sales field. I did that for about two years and that taught me a whole lot but it was a very difficult job with a unique set of stressors. Topping that list was the fact that if you didn’t sell something you didn’t get paid. Let’s just say that I became well acquainted with pawnshops and payday check advances working that job. Again, I hadn’t found my calling in the automobile business.
Fortunately for me, the dealership went out of business and I was forced to move on in my career search. That is when I found the newspaper business. I can honestly say this is what I was meant to do and I have been fortunate enough to be able to do it for the past 27 years. I thoroughly enjoy my work and believe in what we do.
I will tell all the folks out there who are less than happy in their jobs to keep your head up. If you keep searching you will find something you like doing. Now, will you love each and every moment of each day? Absolutely not. But there are jobs out there that will bring you more happiness than pain.
Maybe if you take a second look at your current career you will find some positive things about it. A least you are getting paid and even though it may not be as much as you think you deserve it is better than nothing.
Maybe your boss is a jerk but at least he understands when your kids are sick and doesn’t give you too hard of a time about taking off to go with them to the doctor.
Maybe you think you work too much but at least there are those two glorious weeks of paid vacation each year.
There is usually something to be happy about if you look hard enough. My only other piece of advice would be don’t make the same mistake I made by quitting a job without having another job already lined up. That was by far the most stressful time in my life. But it also taught me some very valuable lessons that I have carried with me to this day.
It is great to want to pursue your passion and find fulfillment in your work. Just remember that pursuing passion won’t pay the rent and finding fulfillment won’t feed you. There is a reason it is called work and the sooner you learn that lesson the sooner you will be able to quantify your career aspirations.