I should probably warn you guys before we even start that this is a post bitching about my job. I think by the end I should have some insightful things to say, you'll just have to be patient to read them. Or you could just scroll down to the bottom. Either way, I'm good.
As I've mentioned before, I'm a real estate agent and a mortgage broker. The thought process was that doing both would help elevate me above my competition. If I could do both, I thought, wouldn't that make me better? Wouldn't you just love to use me?
While I still think the idea is sound, there's a new stumbling block getting in the way of my success as a real estate/mortgage agent:
I just don't give a shit.
I wake up in the morning and I just don't care about going to work. I have meetings with my boss and really don't care what he thinks. I constantly look for excuses to leave the office in the mid-afternoon. I don't follow up with people I know I should be calling. I have simply lost the desire to succeed.
Why is that? I'm not willing to do what it takes to be a superstar agent. I'm not willing to cold call people. I'm not willing to knock on their door and ask for their business. I'm not nearly aggressive enough to become someone who sells a lot of real estate.
There's two other things as well. The first is the constant pressure from everyone. I can't win. If I don't do a lot of business, then my boss is angry at me for not trying. If I do more, then I get rushed and make mistakes and my clients are angry at me. The other thing is the realization that I'll never be really good at this. I'll just muddle along as a middle of the road agent.
So the conclusion has been made. I'm leaving. Now what to do with my life?
My first option is going back to the former job I had as a merchandiser for a soft drink company. The pay was decent, the work was easy and I really enjoyed the independence. It's something I enjoyed doing and could enjoy doing again.
Why did I quit it in the first place then? I had dated my (now ex) girlfriend for a year and a half at the time and I was thinking about getting serious with her. Because of this, I decided that I needed a "real" job. A new real estate company was hiring and I got a position. I went to school for two months and then was promptly dumped when I completed my course.
Bitch.
Anyway, I have many options in the grocery business. I have a great deal of experience there and have options at any grocery store in my town. Hell, I could even leave town and get a job somewhere else if I had to. So I could do that as well. I guess the point is that I'm hardly screwed.
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Okay, onto the part that actually makes you think. I have a buddy who works produce in a local grocery store. He dates a teacher. They're both great people who I always have a lot of fun with when I hang out with them.
He feels almost constant pressure from both her and her family about his job. When is he going to go get a real job? When is he going to leave that dead end job at the grocery store? Doesn't he know he has a girl to take care of? He can't understand what the big deal is and neither can I. So I'll pose the question to my readers:
What the hell's wrong with working at a grocery store?
Sure, the pay isn't the greatest. And it probably isn't the most rewarding or challenging career either. But who the hell cares? As long as the guy is happy, isn't that enough? What else should matter? And why does society look down their nose at the guy who does this kind of thing for a living?
The best reason I can come up with is a 'keeping up with the Joneses' mentality. What do you people think?
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3 comments:
There's nothing wrong with honest work.
If your girl won't accept you on those terms, then adios.
Be happy. It's your right.
If she is fine with him working at a grocery store, I don't think it matters. Period. Thus, the rest of what I'm going to say is purely mental drivel.
But at the end of the day I think that most people don't see that as a "long term" job because there is no challenge to it. I love my job because every day I go in and there is something new to do, to learn, and to experience. I don't make a whole lot of money (right now), but I would work on this salary for the rest of my life just to be able to come in every day and have the privilege of getting to be involved in such an awesome field with such great people.
I would NEVER be able to do a job where I came in and did the same thing over and over, and I certainly wouldn't want to be in a job where after 10 years of doing it I would only be qualified to do JUST THAT JOB. And I think that is what worries your friend's girlfriend's family.
That said, some people don't NEED that in a job. They want a job to pay for the things that they do outside of work. And I completely understand that mentality. It just isn't mine, necessarily. And it is funny, because those same parents of hers would probably complain if he was a work-a-holic as well.
Anyway, if you hate your job you should leave, and it seems like you weren't getting in to it for the right reasons anyway. I have a feeling that after a few months at the grocery store you may change your tune, because while you can go back you can never really go back. But it is obvious that real estate is not the right job for you.
Faith- That's the kind of I was looking for when I wrote this post. Nice comment, it got me thinking.
My buddy is a guy who just wants to put in his time and then go home, have a beer and watch the ball game. It's not that he doesn't care about his job, it's just become a means for him to make enough to exist, and he seems happy with that.
So does that make him a bad guy because of his lack of ambition? Or is he allowed to be happy as some shithead who stocks bananas? I think you could answer both of those questions with both a yes and a no. That's what makes this such a fascinating issue with me.
Geez, speaking of mental drivel...
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