Wednesday, May 05, 2004
"small town perceptions"
yesterday was a long day. took sierra to storytime at the local library and then hung out with sierra's friend and her mom the rest of the day. at the playground, we ran into my 6th grade teacher. I'm sure many of you had a teacher like this - she was 21 when i knew her, fresh out of school, all the kids loved her because she was so cool and young and all the other teachers were probably jealous. well it turns out she is married to the guy who did our HVAC work. The HVAC work that cost us $12,000 and then due to a problem with the condensate line being installed improperly and freezing, left us with no heat on Christmas 2001, but i digress :-) teach is now 39, pregnant - her first daughter is 6. I never would have imagined in 6th grade that I would have a baby around the same time as my teacher...strange.
She remembered me immediately and I told her what I had been up to the past few years. She seemed surprised that I went into IT. Almost disappointed, which for me was strange. She wasn't really supportive, she just kept saying "yuuuuuck, yuuuuuck" any time i mentioned software, computers, web design. Anywhere else, that would be a normal job, an "acceptable" job. but here, i can actually be judged for being too "progressive," if you will...ugh. This is why i'm sometimes sick at the thought of sending Sierra to school here. [I could really use those promised private school funds from the ol' MBD right now :-) ] I, thankfully, was able to escape some of these small-town mentalities, but I think it has gotten a lot worse since i lived here as a child. In fact, my teacher that I once thought was "so cool" hasn't changed or grown up a bit. I guess I'm the one that's changed.
She did say one thing that made me think - "you were such a people person, i just can't picture you in that kind of job." I guess in some ways I am a definite people person. when I go out with friends, I have a great time, but in a work environment, I honestly get sick of "talking the talk" after a while. Believe me, I've done it for years. You could go to any of my former teachers, professors, bosses and I can pretty much guarantee they would say how nice and cheerful and agreeable I was all of the time. But all of the beaurocracy and ass-kissing really wears me down sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I can do it when I have to, but I'd much rather not. Chatting with co-workers, on the other hand, could be a great full time job for me. But trying to impress that man at the top I could care less about. (Hello future employers, see how motivated and positive I am? Hire me :-P ) And I don't think I could ever even THINK of doing any type of sales. I'm already having the time of my life fending off some multilevel marketing guy that attacked me at Wal-Mart and I definitely don't want to do anything close to what he is doing...it's all sales, the product just varies. And I remember my telemarketing days as a teenager were the worst!! I eventually gave up trying to book the timeshare properties, but instead had a list of the nicest people from past calls and would call them up to chat instead. And I didn't feel guilty at all because it was commission only :-)
So here I am, convinced that I will find a unique job at some point in my life. One that I'm both proud of and happy with. And if not, then just making lots of money might be a great substitute :-)
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yesterday was a long day. took sierra to storytime at the local library and then hung out with sierra's friend and her mom the rest of the day. at the playground, we ran into my 6th grade teacher. I'm sure many of you had a teacher like this - she was 21 when i knew her, fresh out of school, all the kids loved her because she was so cool and young and all the other teachers were probably jealous. well it turns out she is married to the guy who did our HVAC work. The HVAC work that cost us $12,000 and then due to a problem with the condensate line being installed improperly and freezing, left us with no heat on Christmas 2001, but i digress :-) teach is now 39, pregnant - her first daughter is 6. I never would have imagined in 6th grade that I would have a baby around the same time as my teacher...strange.
She remembered me immediately and I told her what I had been up to the past few years. She seemed surprised that I went into IT. Almost disappointed, which for me was strange. She wasn't really supportive, she just kept saying "yuuuuuck, yuuuuuck" any time i mentioned software, computers, web design. Anywhere else, that would be a normal job, an "acceptable" job. but here, i can actually be judged for being too "progressive," if you will...ugh. This is why i'm sometimes sick at the thought of sending Sierra to school here. [I could really use those promised private school funds from the ol' MBD right now :-) ] I, thankfully, was able to escape some of these small-town mentalities, but I think it has gotten a lot worse since i lived here as a child. In fact, my teacher that I once thought was "so cool" hasn't changed or grown up a bit. I guess I'm the one that's changed.
She did say one thing that made me think - "you were such a people person, i just can't picture you in that kind of job." I guess in some ways I am a definite people person. when I go out with friends, I have a great time, but in a work environment, I honestly get sick of "talking the talk" after a while. Believe me, I've done it for years. You could go to any of my former teachers, professors, bosses and I can pretty much guarantee they would say how nice and cheerful and agreeable I was all of the time. But all of the beaurocracy and ass-kissing really wears me down sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I can do it when I have to, but I'd much rather not. Chatting with co-workers, on the other hand, could be a great full time job for me. But trying to impress that man at the top I could care less about. (Hello future employers, see how motivated and positive I am? Hire me :-P ) And I don't think I could ever even THINK of doing any type of sales. I'm already having the time of my life fending off some multilevel marketing guy that attacked me at Wal-Mart and I definitely don't want to do anything close to what he is doing...it's all sales, the product just varies. And I remember my telemarketing days as a teenager were the worst!! I eventually gave up trying to book the timeshare properties, but instead had a list of the nicest people from past calls and would call them up to chat instead. And I didn't feel guilty at all because it was commission only :-)
So here I am, convinced that I will find a unique job at some point in my life. One that I'm both proud of and happy with. And if not, then just making lots of money might be a great substitute :-)
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