ruminations on a thursday morning...
I woke up this morning dreading the office.
This is true most mornings, but I feel compelled to write out my feelings today.
I like my job generally. I am good at what I do. I have a damn fine professional reputation.
Lately though, I feel rather at odds about the amount of negativity coming my way from my clients. I know that as essentially a customer service rep (I have had nice titles over the years: account exec, scheduler, client manager, but I am just a customer service rep-nicely paid though) it is my job to make clients happy. I know that.
But I am too old to continue being this nice to mean and demanding people or maybe I've had too much of it. I've been doing this for like 15 years, and before that I was in a receptionist position where you have to be nice to everyone.
Don't get me wrong, I am a nice person. I try to be kind to strangers. I hold doors open. I say thank you and may I. It's just...I get tired of being nice.
And you know I get tired of being nice to my insane co-workers too. Colleagues who speak too loudly in common areas, colleagues who give you attitude when you have given them NONE to begin with, men who speak down to you because they think they can, and, most importantly, those that don't give a shit about their jobs so they give a half-assed performance.
There is a huge difference in my industry from when I began. There are less parties, less lunches, less gifts, less kindness. The company I work for isn't all that bad. They are fairly decent to employees, but the amount of negativity directed at my company for being nincompoops (sometimes it's appropriate) is disproportionate to the amount of work we do get right.
The last two weeks of the year were a tremendous suck on my energy, my goodwill, and my sense of humor. The beginning of the year hasn't been all that great either. How am I ever going to make it through 51 more weeks of this?
Sorry for the disjointed, not at all thematic blog. I really don't even feel like I can go back and read this for fear I'll just get even more upset about having to go into work.
In fact, don't read this. It's too negative a blog. Although I should have probably put that in the first line.
Sorry.
This is true most mornings, but I feel compelled to write out my feelings today.
I like my job generally. I am good at what I do. I have a damn fine professional reputation.
Lately though, I feel rather at odds about the amount of negativity coming my way from my clients. I know that as essentially a customer service rep (I have had nice titles over the years: account exec, scheduler, client manager, but I am just a customer service rep-nicely paid though) it is my job to make clients happy. I know that.
But I am too old to continue being this nice to mean and demanding people or maybe I've had too much of it. I've been doing this for like 15 years, and before that I was in a receptionist position where you have to be nice to everyone.
Don't get me wrong, I am a nice person. I try to be kind to strangers. I hold doors open. I say thank you and may I. It's just...I get tired of being nice.
And you know I get tired of being nice to my insane co-workers too. Colleagues who speak too loudly in common areas, colleagues who give you attitude when you have given them NONE to begin with, men who speak down to you because they think they can, and, most importantly, those that don't give a shit about their jobs so they give a half-assed performance.
There is a huge difference in my industry from when I began. There are less parties, less lunches, less gifts, less kindness. The company I work for isn't all that bad. They are fairly decent to employees, but the amount of negativity directed at my company for being nincompoops (sometimes it's appropriate) is disproportionate to the amount of work we do get right.
The last two weeks of the year were a tremendous suck on my energy, my goodwill, and my sense of humor. The beginning of the year hasn't been all that great either. How am I ever going to make it through 51 more weeks of this?
Sorry for the disjointed, not at all thematic blog. I really don't even feel like I can go back and read this for fear I'll just get even more upset about having to go into work.
In fact, don't read this. It's too negative a blog. Although I should have probably put that in the first line.
Sorry.
