Saturday, February 10, 2007

What next?

So lately I've been experiencing an unfamiliar feeling. I'm not even sure what to call it. Let me attempt to describe it, by giving you the background. When my old job that I loved "left me" and moved to a different city, I had some time to think about what kind of a job I wanted to get. I'm not talking fantasy dream jobs, I was a single mom, and have a great need for stability, so I was thinking practically. I thought about what I loved at my old job, what I didn't love as much, what talents and skills I had, adn what the opportunities in my town were. The biggest thing I didn't love at my old job (and also was one of the things I loved the most) was the work hours. You decided that yourself. A lot of times it was completely awesome, you didn't have to punch a timeclock, fill out leave slips, ask permission to leave, decide to take a long lunch when you weren't that busy, or even go garage sale-ing on Friday mornings like my former boss would do. (After she checked in, and made sure there was nothing pressing, if there was an issue that needed taking care of, of course she'd skip the garage sales that day.) Other times, it wasn't as much fun. If your project had to be done by a certain date and time, you had to figure out how to make that deadline, and some things in your timeline were based on factors you couldn't control, so sometimes you might need to work on a weekend or evening to meet your deadline. Because there was no official time off, you might feel obligated to work on a holiday that most people had off. I also kinda messed up myself, vacation-wise, and only once did I actually take a whole week off at the same time, and I was there for 6 years. That was my own fault, and I took plenty of random days off, like snow days with the kids.
Anyway, I decided, in that time of thinking about what to do next, that I wanted a regular 9-5 job, that I wouldn't have to work any weekends or holidays or evenings. Part of this decision was based on the fact that there are hardly any other businesses out there like my old job that I loved, in the work hours catagory. (Or any other catagory, for that matter) I decided that I wanted good benefits, and lots of time off. Work-wise, I was pretty flexible, I have done many things in my work life. I wanted something that would be interesting, challenging, and pay well. I decided to look for a job with the state for the benefits part, and lean toward office work for starters. Working with people I could stand was a given, I didn't even put that on my list.
My first state job was as a secretary. Not that exciting, but pretty good after being unemployed for nine months. Not great pay, not even good pay, really, but it was a start. No bringing work home with me. I did however, bring other things home from work, like bad vibes! Most of the people I worked with, including my boss, and other superiors, were great people. Problem was, I was stuck in a room with another secretary. And she was passive-aggressive, bossy, rude, uber conservitive, opinionated, and down-right crazy. I couldn't get out of there fast enough!!
I moved on after just over a year, to a staff assistant position. The title and pay were better, but I was still a secretary, basically. Not terrible, but not challenging enough, and not good enough pay. Love most of the people. I say love not loved because I'm still with the same people, in a different position. It's been not quite two months so far. It's challenging, pay is very good, great co-workers, quiet (as apposed to answering 4 lines all day), and I'm in a different part of the building where I can actually get my favorite local radio station, KZUM!! (you can listen on-line, so check them out)
So now, I appear to have met said job goal. And it's giving me this weird feeling, that I don't know how to describe...