Well, I have been at my present position since May 31, 2005.  I truly believe that when you chase the dollar, things don't always turn out the way you would like.  As the old saying goes...money isn't everything.  The organization was just a baby when I started.  The foundation was building a new museum and I was to help raise money for the exhibit.  I handle the donor database and all that that entails.  I won't go into details, but in a fledgling organization managing the donors we have is not a full-time job.  So, I picked up some other duties along the way. 

I started to handle their computer needs, email problems, software purchases, networking and the like.  I also took on updating their website.  I love working with websites.  Anyway, my creative side picked up the tasks of designing invitations, program flyers and postcards, etc.  Well you get the picture.

 

Recently we have hired a new president.  She sat down with me to try and define what I do at the organization.  Since I do so many things, she couldn't really pigeon-hole my job to any one department.  The president is looking to decrease the budget for FY2009 and it started to look like she was trying to do this by eliminating my position.  She said that..."no, no, that wasn't it, she just wants to get a better overall view of how the organization functions.  Hmmm, sounded like double talk to me.

 

Now I was very calm about the whole meeting and told her that if she was considering letting me go that I would hope she would give me a lot of notice.  She said of course she would, but we aren't there yet.  What does that mean?

 

I left the meeting not sure where I sat.  I did tell her at the end of our meeting..."if a staff member in our organization wants a job done right they usually bring it to me."  She said that is what she had been hearing from other staff.

 

Well, as you can imagine, I have started looking for new employment.  I did mention the content of my meeting with the new president to my immediate supervisor, the director of development.  She said that is crazy, they wouldn't get rid of me.  Famous lasts words.  I said the same thing about the former president leaving.  I mentioned to a co-worker before he left that he wouldn't leave in a million years....well, in a months time he had resigned. 

 

The only constant is change.

 

I don't really want to look for a new job, but sometimes these things are out of our control.  Maybe it's time.  I haven't been very happy here, so maybe this is destiny's way of giving me a little shove.  What I want to say is..."quit pushing already, I am going". 

 

Since my meeting a week ago, things have calmed down a bit, but no news concerning my position.  I am not worried.  I can always find a job.

 

For those people who say they can't find a job, I find that hard to believe.  We may not always find a job that pays what we want, but that may come later.  Several jobs I have had led to better positions within the organization.  You never know what you may find.  And appearances can be deceiving.  I have learned that much in my 36 years in the workforce.

 

monster.com here I come.

 

 

I don't often talk about work, but today it's been on my mind.  A little background on my working history.  I started working when I was 15 years old as a carhop at the local A(and)W...yes, a carhop.  Baby root beers, mammaburgers, pappaburgers, baby burgers and the ever popular teenburger (I believe it had bacon on it).  Anyway, from there I worked at a factory for three months before my freshman year of college.  I went to the University of Wisconsin (Madison) for two years.  I worked part time at my mom's place of work while in college.  General office work.  This was pre-personal computers.  We used a Burroughs* machine to write checks to pay bills.  They had one of those large computers that used punch cards to run the programs.  You youngsters wouldn't have a clue what I am talking about.  But I digress.

 

My next job was working at an industrial distributorship in a suburb of Milwaukee.  That's right, beer, bratz, and cheese that Milwaukee, the whole nine yards.  I worked there two years and moved to an office job at a manufacturing company that made closures.  Boring I won't go into details.  I was lucky enough to get laid off after two or so years.  Lucky because I have always wondered what it would be like not to work and still get paid.  Cool for awhile, but I did feel like a deadbeat a lot of the time.  I took a job as a waitress to tide me over.

 

In 1981 I  landed a full-time job at the corporate headquarters of a midwest hotel chain.  I worked as an accounts payable clerk.

 

Anyway back to my job history.  I loved working at the hotel chain.  Employees received complimentary rooms at any of the hotels as long as they weren't at full-occupancy.  I stayed in a hotel right next to Lambeau field in Green Bay in February when it was 25 below zero.  That's Fahrenheit.  But again I digress.  I worked at the hotel chain for seven years, from 1981 to 1988.  One time I stepped into the elevator to get to my 6th floor office and who steps in with me...Bart Starr.  Now unless you are a Packer fan or a really diehard football fan you might not know who he is.  Well, he was none other than the most famous quarterback to ever play with the Green Bay Packers before Bret Favre came along.  He was very tall and handsome, he turned to me and said hi.  I just smiled back and said hi.  He is very tall.

 

I remember reading in someone's blog about setting goals and writing them down.  Well, I decided way back then to write down my long-term lifetime goals.  I kept the list with me where ever I went and pulled it out from time-to-time to remind myself what my goals ultimately were.  One of my goals was to finish my college degree.  Well, in 1988, January to be exact, I decided I had finally had it.  I quit my job, asked my parents if I could move back in with them and returned to college full-time.  My parents are wonderful and their response was..."you know you can always come home".  Wonderful parents...but that's another story.

 

I headed back to college, I applied to the University of Wisconsin extension close to where I was living and got accepted.  I majored in Math and got my teaching degree in three years.  Not too bad considering I hadn't been in college for 11 years.  I worked part-time at a local grocery store while in college.  I graduated in 1990 and found a teaching job six months after graduation.  I taught two years at a public school and then took a teaching position at a private military academy closer to my family in 1993.  I spent three years teaching at the military school.

 

This is taking longer than I thought...I just wanted to talk about a problem I am having at work and this has turned into Damselfly--This is Your Life.  Gosh I loved that show with Ralph Edwards.  I know I am again dating myself.

 

Anyhow, I met my husband the second year I was teaching at the military school.  He was another teacher at the school.  He taught History.  We met and fell madly in love :).  As close as you can get anyway.  He decided to apply to graduate school during his 2nd year and my 3rd year at the school.  He asked me to marry him and move to the town where he would be going to graduate school.  I said yes and off we both went.  To Indiana of all places.  While in Indiana I found a job at a local high school...not teaching but working in the front office as Secretary/Treasurer.  I loved that job, but the pay was pitiful...and I mean P-I-T-I-F-U-L.  I made $15,000/year, which my husband and I lived on for two years.  Did I mention that I loved that job.

 

Then my husband took a position (did you notice how I elevated it to 'position' instead of 'job', much classier given his graduate degree status) in a neighboring state.  I am not going to tell you which one, because that is getting a little too close to my current living area.  Anyhow, he took a position with the state in historic preservation.  I  found a job in the development office of the local university.  I loved that job also, it also had a pitiful salary, but my husband was working now, so it wasn't as bad.  I worked as the secretary for the alumni house.  Fun job.  We spent three years in this state and then my husband took another job in a neighboring state doing the same thing working for the state in a historic preservation capacity.  I decided to return to teaching.  I was excited to be teaching again, but a lot had changed.  One thing I noticed, the students were getting more and more disrespectful to the teachers...what's up with that?  I just couldn't stomach it, so I quit teaching and took a job working for an adoption agency.  You guessed it...I loved the job.  I was the assistant to the Executive Director as well as the office manager.  Such a great place to work and the leave time per year was phenomenal.  I worked at the agency for four years and made a hugh mistake.  I left the agency to take a position that offered me more money...and now we are at my present place of employment.  I have been working her one month shy of three years.  I am a development assistant.  Well that's not my title...

 

To be continued...

 

P.S. I hate it when people continue a story, but this is getting way too long.  Have heart I will finish it.