My path is not the
Straight and narrow
Of your ken…
You say you understand,
My brain isn’t wired like yours.
And yet,
Every time,
Everyday,
I have to fight for the
Simple right
To be
Who
I
Am.
If I had autism
I’d fit in your b
ox.
If I had ADD
You’d feel better
Putting pills
In my mouth.
It’s not my fault
You choose not
to see….
There are no boxes
For souls
And mine is beautiful
Even if you choose
Not
to
See.
The princeling and I often talk about stories. Last weekend, I listened to him try to rewrite all of my stories. Every single one.
While cleaning up some papers, I came across a poem we had started together. I remembered the first line, but had forgotten he had written the second. And now I know why he and I don’t work poetry much. He’s 11. And a boy. And I shouldn’t have been suprised….
Here goes…..
If I had a robot heart,
Would I be able to fart.
Yup, my son has mad rhyming skills.
I’m good at what I do. I enjoy the hell out of my job, now that I’ve gotten away from my crazy abusive boss. I have a great boss now, he’s not only fair he realizes that by giving me the tools and support I need to do my job…. his company succeeds. He isn’t afraid or hesitant to support me when customers are angry with me, and it’s generally like night and day compared to my previous job.
The only thing I missed from my old job were my coworkers. One retired, and I still see him and his wife from time to time. My son loves comparing phone games with her. Another does my taxes every year. One of the latter hires and I still talk on the phone from time to time.
There was one coworker whom I talked with everyday but I haven’t since I left. I’m on the left coast, and she’s on the right coast.
I’ve talked to her every day this week.
She is now a part of our team and I love it.
I am hyper competitive and we are now a sales team of 2. Before, I was checking my numbers against the Florida warehouse and I was ok with it. Since I’m not on commission, I feel like I should take care of all of our customers. No lie, keeping up with all the aspects of all the customers keep me on my toes. As I’m bored easily, it’s perfect.
Perfect!
However I’m hyper competitive. This is not something my boss puts onto me, though he likes it. No one is pressuring me. I’m not in commission, because I turned it down. I’d rather work on salary as I have the princeling. It also frees me up to answer phones and help everyone.
But she… she’s good. She’s very good. And my competitive gene kicked in. And things starting building up…… so that by Friday morning I had a melt down.
A minor one. And all from internal pressure.
I understand and applaud putting customers who were under my rep number going over to hers if they will buy more. Every once in a while tho, one will come through that a different person reentered under their own number that was mine. My boss fixes it everytime. But one came through yesterday that was completely accidental and I lost it.
Thank God the boss man wasn’t there because I was so frustrated I cried when telling my coworker. Argh I hate that. But by talking it over with L I was able to calm down enough to email what had happened to the boss man.
I think L. may have talked to the boss man.
Cool.
(And please be aware, my frustration had nothing to do with C.. I have always wanted nothing but to support her and make her life and transition easier. I like her. A lot. I love working with her. We worked together and talked almost everyday for 8 years. I’ve met her in person once, and had blast. We used to joke wed take over the old company if we ever got together and that’s why we were only in the same place once.)
Later in the day, right before closing, he gave me words of encouragement. Something to the effect of C. being hired doesn’t take away from what I do. That I’m great at what I do and he’s happy with my work. He hired her to be a me on the other coast.
“It’s just I’m so competitive..”
“I know.” I’m pretty sure he said he like it too. I know he does.
“It’s just… I have my sales number to track, but I take care of everyone. House accounts, anthony, mine…”
And he gets it. He doesn’t try to make me feel less. He let’s me know he sees everything I do, and he likes it. I am good at what I do… even when I’m competing in my own head. Instead of being strung out and worried all weekend, I was able to leave work feeling great. It carried me through a crappie drive home. It stays with me everytime I get in the car at butt o’clock in the morning. I’m gone from 6:15am to 5pm and I more than ok with it.
I used to say that my boss from my first job after college was the best boss I’d ever had. Tough, but fair and would always support me if I told him what was going on BEFORE the caca hit the fan. That has been changed.
I’ll still be competitive. I won’t let that go. It’s all in my own brain, anyways.
But for work, I think I’m going to focus my competitiveness outside the company. Show the industry what happens when women in the work place are valued and supported.
Yah. We can do that.
The stars were crisp and clear
in the night sky.
Tree tops reached,
trying to touch the tiny dancers,
but they spun away,
too and fro,
in a dance only
a master can teach.
Did they spin to and fro,
or was the world
spinning in its own dance?
Or did I finally
Finally
have a chance to see
Night in all her glory
and breathe?
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