Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Broken Resolutions

One of my new year resolutions was to curse less. A lot less. Well, I’m here to admit I have broken that one already and by a long shot.

Our agency is moving to 2 different buildings. Currently, the agency is housed in 2 separate buildings, one in South Jackson, and one downtown, across from the Federal Building. This time, both buildings are downtown, and from what I hear, much nicer too.


Those of us who were lucky enough to be in the downtown building had very nice offices. At least mine was. Corner office, 3 large windows, plenty of room for the pictures of the kids, diplomas, etc. That is ending soon, way too soon. As of next month, we will no longer have offices, we’ll have work stations.

Unless you are a manager, you will not have a real office. You will have a workstation (we have been instructed NOT to call them cubicles).

Did I mention I hate packing and moving? Yes, I have a phobia of sorts when it comes to moving. You could say it stems from moving a lot when I was growing up. All I know is I hate packing/unpacking, even if it’s just for a short trip. I’m one of those “last minute packers”, not because I’m a procrastinator, but because I dread the thought of packing.

I have issues. Not only do I have to pack my nice office, I’m having to downsize quite a bit. My diploma, the pictures of my kids, my plant, they are all going home because plants are not allowed in the new building, we can’t hang stuff from the walls of our cubiCELLs, and the work space is so small we won't have room for pictures.

And the move is bringing up other issues, among them, the fact I was passed over for a promotion to management last year. Someone less qualified was given the job, even though I was doing technically doing the work while they hired a replacement. Do I have to tell you why he was hired? Let’s just say he had something I didn’t, and it had nothing to do with qualifications. Enough said.

Throw all that in the mix and you have a very cranky me. Woe is me.

It’s not to say I have issues with change. I don’t think I do. God knows I have had to adapt to different situations many times in my life. I think my issues with this move have less to do with the physical part of it, and more to do with the fact some other person is getting a nice office, and he doesn’t deserve it.


Yet I have to continue to smile, and be nice to this person, because maybe, one day in the future, he will be in upper management and I don’t want to have enemies in upper management. I’m not very good at being a hypocrite.

One good thing about this move, it is giving me a chance to reevaluate my career. Am I in the place I wanted to be 10 yrs ago? Am I headed in the right direction? I’m not sure. I’m staying here for now, putting my name in as many leadership “hats” as possible, and waiting. There is always law school, specially now that MC is offering a 5 yr program for people who work full time. We’ll see. At least there are other options out there.

In the meantime, I will continue to pack, and dread the move. And yes, probably continue to curse while I’m doing it.