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End of an Era
Jun. 7th, 2004 08:00 amFriday was my last day working at the Citadel of Despair! I wasn't broadcasting my departure, so many people didn't know it was my last day until they saw the obligatory "Good Luck" cake. Some of the reactions I got included the typical "quitter" or "rat leaving a sinking ship" remarks, a couple of "you'll be a good teacher" comments, someone trying to tell me that Tallahassee has 'colder' weather (to which I answered that I'm from Ohio, and that I'm fairly certain I can handle it), and one accusation that I was going off to become a 'liberal' professor who would hound her students about politics.
That last one really threw me, even though I believe he made the comment in jest. The guy who made the remark should have known me better. I rarely talk about politics at work because I frankly despise the subject; I equally dislike politicians of either persuasion. And since there's a couple of management-type guys there who send out religious and Republican-leaning e-mails on a fairly regular basis there, I know what it's like to feel pressure to conform one's opinions to that of the "higher-ups", and I wouldn't do that to anybody. So I straightened him out on that account.
I've been wondering lately if it was the craziness of the Citadel of Despair that drove me into academia, or if I've finally realized that I'm not designed for an office environment. Prior to the citadel, I've encountered other bad workplaces. There was the small office that turned into a singles' bar once the managing partner started dating one of his sales people (plus they stopped their advertising and marketing efforts, leaving me with nothing to do). Before that was the family-owned business with astounding cheapness that caused bad judgments. I was their trainer, so I traveled a lot for them. They refused to get me a company credit card, and since I was fairly young, I didn't have one of my own. This meant I couldn't rent a car, so I had to hitch a ride from the customers I was training! I had to pay for my hotel rooms with a check, and they put me in the seediest places in town. Oh, and I had to travel on the weekends because the airfare was cheaper. Things reached crisis level when a customer tried to get frisky with me - once I returned home, I had all the ammunition I needed to get my employer to start thinking outside the bottom line.
The group I worked with at the Citadel was great! It wasn't them, but the upper-level management that made life unbearable for us all. I will keep in touch with them and hope that they are all able to make their successful escapes as I did.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
harmonyfb and I didn't bother to say good-bye, since we'll be staying in touch via Live Journal and the SCA.
That last one really threw me, even though I believe he made the comment in jest. The guy who made the remark should have known me better. I rarely talk about politics at work because I frankly despise the subject; I equally dislike politicians of either persuasion. And since there's a couple of management-type guys there who send out religious and Republican-leaning e-mails on a fairly regular basis there, I know what it's like to feel pressure to conform one's opinions to that of the "higher-ups", and I wouldn't do that to anybody. So I straightened him out on that account.
I've been wondering lately if it was the craziness of the Citadel of Despair that drove me into academia, or if I've finally realized that I'm not designed for an office environment. Prior to the citadel, I've encountered other bad workplaces. There was the small office that turned into a singles' bar once the managing partner started dating one of his sales people (plus they stopped their advertising and marketing efforts, leaving me with nothing to do). Before that was the family-owned business with astounding cheapness that caused bad judgments. I was their trainer, so I traveled a lot for them. They refused to get me a company credit card, and since I was fairly young, I didn't have one of my own. This meant I couldn't rent a car, so I had to hitch a ride from the customers I was training! I had to pay for my hotel rooms with a check, and they put me in the seediest places in town. Oh, and I had to travel on the weekends because the airfare was cheaper. Things reached crisis level when a customer tried to get frisky with me - once I returned home, I had all the ammunition I needed to get my employer to start thinking outside the bottom line.
The group I worked with at the Citadel was great! It wasn't them, but the upper-level management that made life unbearable for us all. I will keep in touch with them and hope that they are all able to make their successful escapes as I did.
harmonyfb and I didn't bother to say good-bye, since we'll be staying in touch via Live Journal and the SCA.