But there comes a point where you sit and wonder. Why does it seem like sometimes, no matter how hard you try, how hard you work, you just can’t come out on top?
My boyfriend, Gabe, has spent most of the last 10 years working hard. He’s had many different positions at this company, he was even a manager at one point, and almost quit on several occasions. Most of the time there (remember, 10 years…) has been spent in positions that he didn’t like or, in some cases, really, really didn’t like. He’s stuck with it and put up with it because it’s his way of providing for his family.
Lately, he’s been talking about this project he’s working on. And for the first time in literally years, he’s excited about it. He comes home talking about his ideas and what the next steps are. It’s like someone’s lit a fire within him and he’s ready to go. I think to myself, he’s finally going to get what he deserves – a job he enjoys doing after so long.
And then, when the project’s not even out of its infant stages, we find out that someone’s been hired to do what he’s working on. What he’s been so excited about. I have to wonder if it’s “someone’s” way of saying “you deserve what you get.” Does he deserve to come up with really good ideas only to have the implementation of them snatched away by someone who knows nothing about them? Does he deserve to only work on things or with people he doesn’t like? I certainly don’t think so, but I may be biased. I think that after so long of making the decision to put up with unpleasantness, he deserves some smidgen of happiness in the workplace.
Now, like I started off with, my parents have always been hard workers. My mom, after my parents got divorced, put herself through college – while taking care of my infant sister – to get her Master’s degree. Yup. A Master’s degree while working full-time and having a newborn baby. That’s determination right there. Now, it’s been some 20 years since that particular instance, but she has kept working, kept trying to improve her life, and worked hard to try and get somewhere.
Well, this is where it’s gotten her: a different job every few years for the past 10 because every time she finds a job, not necessarily one she likes either, that uses the knowledge that she’s rightfully earned, the place has closed down or had cut backs or something similar and, since it seems to happen every couple years, she is typically lowest on the pole and first to leave. She has gone from owning a house (a couple times) to having to sell it because of layoffs. She has no savings or pension or retirement income – and to top it off, she’s in her 50s. She doesn’t have any cushion of income because she’s had to use it to live and pay bills or rent in situations where she didn’t have a job.
Right now, she’s worried that tomorrow she might lose her job – again.
Now tell me, does it sound like she’s getting what she deserves? Someone who’s worked a hell of a lot harder than some and has worked to keep herself off of any government aid constantly and consistently? And she gets nothing for it but a headache.
Man, sometimes I can see how it would be so much easier to just give up and let others take care of you. Why put so much effort into something when the result can be something like this? But, I can’t do it. I can’t just give up. I guess, even if I end up working my ass off and getting nothing for it, I’ll still keep trying – like my mom and my boyfriend.
And then, when the project’s not even out of its infant stages, we find out that someone’s been hired to do what he’s working on. What he’s been so excited about. I have to wonder if it’s “someone’s” way of saying “you deserve what you get.” Does he deserve to come up with really good ideas only to have the implementation of them snatched away by someone who knows nothing about them? Does he deserve to only work on things or with people he doesn’t like? I certainly don’t think so, but I may be biased. I think that after so long of making the decision to put up with unpleasantness, he deserves some smidgen of happiness in the workplace.
Now, like I started off with, my parents have always been hard workers. My mom, after my parents got divorced, put herself through college – while taking care of my infant sister – to get her Master’s degree. Yup. A Master’s degree while working full-time and having a newborn baby. That’s determination right there. Now, it’s been some 20 years since that particular instance, but she has kept working, kept trying to improve her life, and worked hard to try and get somewhere.
Well, this is where it’s gotten her: a different job every few years for the past 10 because every time she finds a job, not necessarily one she likes either, that uses the knowledge that she’s rightfully earned, the place has closed down or had cut backs or something similar and, since it seems to happen every couple years, she is typically lowest on the pole and first to leave. She has gone from owning a house (a couple times) to having to sell it because of layoffs. She has no savings or pension or retirement income – and to top it off, she’s in her 50s. She doesn’t have any cushion of income because she’s had to use it to live and pay bills or rent in situations where she didn’t have a job.
Right now, she’s worried that tomorrow she might lose her job – again.
Now tell me, does it sound like she’s getting what she deserves? Someone who’s worked a hell of a lot harder than some and has worked to keep herself off of any government aid constantly and consistently? And she gets nothing for it but a headache.
Man, sometimes I can see how it would be so much easier to just give up and let others take care of you. Why put so much effort into something when the result can be something like this? But, I can’t do it. I can’t just give up. I guess, even if I end up working my ass off and getting nothing for it, I’ll still keep trying – like my mom and my boyfriend.
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