The Beginning of Humility

So I am increasingly becoming more and more irritated with the generation that is behind mine. The Generation Y Bratz, as I like to affectionately call them, are absolutely the most spoiled, self-indulgent, naïve generation that we have seen yet! ~ This is of course a generalization, there are always exceptions to the rules, but all of my former employees belong to this generation, so I sort of have first hand experience in regards to my rantings!!

The Generation Y, or should I say ‘Cry’, as in they are so whiny and useless – and they have NO ambition!! So of course their expectations of the job market are ridiculous and it irritates me that I have to compete with them!! UGH! I'm seriously going to have to do a blog dedicated to how catering to this generation is NOT going to help America in the global economy!! But I digress...

As I was thinking about the above subject it dawned on me that I need to start laying some of the back story for my job hunting and the lessons learned during my transition from business owner back to employee. And since part of this blog is supposed to be like a memoir I thought this would be a good time to begin the story of my current job and how it came to be.

After the fall of my business this past June - I took a few months off - went to Mexico, hid out and pretty much surrounded myself with only my most trusted friends, as I was emotionally unstable (to put it nicely) and my goal was to make it through one day at a time without falling completely apart. I was so numb from all of the chaos, confusion and betrayal, that it took me quite a while to process the events and my reality. I slowly regained my ability to ‘feel’ and think as I repaired my mental strength and regained my bearings. I literally was recuperating from having the wind knocked out of my soul.

One day enough of the fog had cleared that my brain began to realize that Donald Trump was not aware of my availability and therefore I was going to need to figure out some income options pretty fast while I looked for a new career. So I swallowed what ounce of pride I had left and went to the Temp Agency.

So there I am; sitting across the desk from a girl in her late 20s, sporting braces, trying to explain my situation. Which frankly at the time felt like the most humiliating moment (little did I know what was in store... anyways...). Although my brain knew I had nothing to be ashamed of - I couldn't help but feel so small, like I was 24 all over again.

But it was worse than being 24 and straight out of college, because instead of an exciting outlook filled with hope and opportunity, it was desperation and humility. It was all I could do to keep from crying - trying to explain in my professional attitude that "Hey, it's a fact of life. I tried and I didn't succeed. It happens everyday to millions of people. And I am ready to move on..."

In reality that didn't make me feel any better. I couldn't help thinking to myself through the entire appointment... "This chick is someone that just 6 months ago, I would have been interviewing and managing. And now I'm sitting here trying to convince her that I'm not a complete failure and somehow 'spin' my value and plans to move on (almost as if I was selling it to myself).

So there I am sitting in this small very uninteresting office with cheap poorly framed print knock-offs, that Wal-Mart wouldn't even sell, hanging on the walls and trying to paint a picture of my professional future to some clueless girl who can't even imagine what true stress is.

She has no idea who I am, nor could she possible comprehend what I have been through or am going through; and yet I appeal to her as a hardworking single mom who is starting over and I need a good temporary job to keep me a float while I try to start my life over.

We have a nice conversation to which she mentions several times how overqualified I am (meanwhile I am squelching the response of "I may be overqualified but that doesn't pay my bills Einstein! Just give me a freakin' job and stop telling me about the reality that I run into every freaking morning when I wake up!) And so I smile and say 'Thanks', as I mention politely that "I do need to keep my skills sharp while I'm looking for a new job. So anything that you might have available would be very helpful." (God - please take me now!)

To her credit she calls me about 2 days later and with a temp to hire position (meaning they want to test you out and if you are normal they will offer you a permanent job - which is not what I was wanting), however she rarely gets positions that pay as well as this one does, she infoms me. Apparently she did understand the depths of my despair ~ because she knew it wasn't something permanent for me - but rather an ends to a mean. God - had stepped in and presented me with a short term solution; and I gladly accepted it.