Something I never realized was good for me until I did it was the moment I quit my job. Let’s face it, no one really likes to work unless you already have your dream job. But as a college student, this was not the case for me and a lot of us women.
I used to work retail, which in my opinion, was the absolute worst. I would always be on call on days that would appear that I was off, but really, I couldn’t plan my day because I wasn’t sure if I’d work. Working the weekends literally hurt my soul seeing all of my friends going out on Saturday night or brunching on Sunday morning. And even if I was available, I’d always be too exhausted to make it.
But even that was manageable, because at the store I worked at, I actually got paid really well (plus commission) and I would treat myself and others to things all the time. Money definitely spoke to me.
Everything was fine and dandy until the management at my store changed. She was evil—I mean it. If she could be added to the movie Horrible Bosses, she’d fit in perfectly. She didn’t just do things a normal boss would do such as tell me ways I can improve, have me do mindless tasks and pick up things that were already picked up. No, she would make comments about my character, work ethic and even how I looked every single day I worked.
If I didn’t know what verbal harassment was, I did now.
I’ll never forget the day she actually made me cry because of so much built up hatred I had towards her; I couldn’t take it anymore. That’s when I knew that even though I was getting paid pretty well for the time being, my happiness was worth more than the money.
That same night I stayed up super late applying at everywhere I could find online. And I ended up getting a job interview a week later somewhere else and landing the job a week after that. Call me petty, but I didn’t even put in my two weeks at my job, I just came one day for my shift with my uniform and left. I had never felt so relieved to know that I’d never see her face again.
Being in college where a lot of us will have multiple jobs within our four years, it’s important that we’re at least content with them. We have so much stress with other things like school and relationships, that a job that might not matter 5 years from now shouldn’t make you so unhappy. If anything, they should be a place to just build up work experience and hopefully help you for the future.
For me it was scary at first, leaving something I knew to a completely different work environment. What if the manager was just as bad as my last one? This didn’t even matter because I set the tone of how this job was going to be for me.
If a job has you unhappy or missing out on being a normal college student from time to time, don’t be scared to look elsewhere. There are always other opportunities out there that could potentially be more beneficial to you and even make you happy to work there. Change is good. Applying it to your work life could really impact you in a positive way.
xoxo,
Adri
Cover picture: integritypersonnel.com