An Introduction

Well, let's start off with an introduction, shall we?  First off, how did I get myself into this job-less situation?

Company #1 - I worked for a distribution company as a receptionist.  It was my first job out of college.  I liked the work.  People would call in, you'd start to recognize their voices, and they were friendly.  One thing about working with contractors, they are very friendly and a little rough around the edges.  It made for quite a few laughs.  It took a few months, but eventually, I started to realize that all of the tasks were becoming pretty simple and mundane.  I had a female boss and I started to pick up on the fact that she would throw in little jabs about other employees, or begin to tell gossip about things that I didn't need to know.  As soon as I realized that, things went into a tale spin.  Women are funny creatures, even more so when you start to challenge them.  In short, I interviewed for a different position in the company (with a male supervisor) and got the heck out of dodge! - oh don't worry, my boss did plenty of talking about me as well.  The funny thing about being a nice person, people have your back and watch out for you!

Alas, I was in a new position.  It was at a higher level, higher pay grade, and some stinkin' great benefits (which I learned later how much I should have appreciated)!  I worked for a couple of executives and did a lot of interesting work.  I REALLY developed my skills with Excel and Word and got to know the in's and out's of Corporate America-sometimes more than I wanted to know!  The funny thing is, once you learn your job, you do everything a little bit faster.  It didn't take too long to realize I didn't have enough to do.  My boyfriend (later to become my husband) and I spent much more time than I care to admit writing e-mails back and forth during the work day.  I am a hard worker.  When I'm at work, I like to be AT work.  Despite attempts by my supervisor to find more work for me to do, boredom set in.  On top of that, I started to realize how lonely it is sitting in an office all day while the executives around you are constantly out traveling.  It's a curious thing about me; I love being around people and serving them, but I also don't like to be bothered when I need to concentrate on work.  In the end, boredom and loneliness were no match for the great salary and benefits.  After about a year and a half, I started looking for other jobs.  This was the first (and only) position I left peacefully.  I had the opportunity to work with kids and get a little "better" title (which apparently is a big deal in America) and that was enough for them to send me along happily.

Lessons Learned:
-I realized some people can go to a job, work, and then go home every single day.  They don't need to like or love what they do.  They just go, make money, and use it to buy things so they can enjoy life outside of a job.  I am not one of those people.  40 hours a week is more than I spend anywhere else.  If ANYTHING is going to get 40 hours of my week, it better have some meaning and purpose outside of a salary and benefits!
-Some amount of people interaction is important.
-Female supervisors probably won't work well for me.
-Corporate America is a sterile and systems-driven place.  There is no personalization.  Everything works in the confines of the set-up systems, whether the systems work in every situation or not!  I don't know that it's for me.
-I don't like to be bored at work.  It's a waste of time and life.

Stay tuned for Company #2