WARNING, RANT ABOUT MY JOB INCOMING

Just thought I’d let everybody know what I’m up to lately.

The big thing is that work is kicking my ass right now. Some of you might know that my current place of employment presents a rather frustrating set of struggles. These struggles include what you might expect to encounter working at a small business. Poor pay, nonexistent benefits, and a general lack of professionalism from a number of coworkers.

Above and beyond these struggles however, are some problems that simply should not be present in any workplace. Without going into unnecessary detail, things have gotten to the point where I can count on at least one of my coworkers breaking down and crying at their desk every two weeks. Funny how having the guy who owns the company berate and publicly humiliate people on a regular basis will do that. Oh yeah, by the way, the average turnover is about six weeks for most employees. I kid you not, we can’t keep people working at this company for more than six weeks. Off the top of my head I can think of at least seven people that have been hired and either quit or got fired in the last six months. For a company with 15 employees, I’m sure you can guess why this feels like a meat-grinder.

In addition approximately two thirds of the people in the office have worked there for less than six months. All of this stems from a set of very preventable and fixable working conditions. A few people in upper-management have made things unbearably difficult and implemented practices that are fraudulent in nature when they aren’t simply destructive. (Think literal fraud) It’s obvious to anyone working at this company that these members of management have no desire to change any of the toxic nonsense that is clearly hurting things. This makes work more frustrating than it has to be.

Above all else, I should not be one of the senior employees. I’ve worked at this company for seven months and I’m one of the “senior” employees. Think about that for a moment. Think about how much of a preverbal meat grinder the company I work for must be for that to be true. There are maybe three or four people in this company that have worked there longer than me. Two of them were hired a few months ahead of me. It seems like everyone with some sense has gotten the F*** out.

As an aside, I’m sure the company I work for has a reputation by now. During the last round of hiring, there were some rather “interesting” people offered a position. As a life lesson to anyone reading this, if someone shows up twitchy and visibly high to an interview they shouldn’t get a desk job. If they are actually offered a desk job by the person who owns your company, then it’s safe to say “Things have gone very wrong”. (Yes, this actually happened.)

Most of all I detest the person I’m becoming because of this job. Working in a hostile, depressing, and toxic environment has made me more angry and obnoxious as a person. It’s gotten to the point where I look at myself in the morning and think “I never used to swear. Now it feels like I can’t go an afternoon without it. I used to smile, I used to be happy. Now I just bounce between angry, annoyed, and tired.” You know, I used to work out? This job has had me so emotionally exhausted that I haven’t made time to work out in months. I used to work out at least three days a week. Hell, there were a few leg-press machines that I used to max out. Seriously, at 450 pounds there was no way to put more weight on some of those machines. I used to be in shape! Over the last six months I put on a little over 20 pounds. I’m not happy about this, at all. Over the last few weeks I’ve realized that I’m letting this job change me as a person, and not for the better.

Suffice it to say that I am not happy with my current place of employment. As of this moment, I am actively seeking a new place to work. Financial responsibility is something that I take quite seriously, so it is my intention to find a new place of employment before leaving the company I currently work for. As much as I hate this place, I’m in no rush to burn my savings to the ground in the name of "getting away quickly".

So, why am I telling you about this? Why do you care? Well, this situation has an impact in terms of my activity in the Furry Fandom. Like I said I’ve noticed myself changing. Looking at some recent conversations I’ve had with people, I feel like I’m more of an ass than I used to be. I hate the fact that in a number of situations, I have become “that guy”. This is part of the reason that I’m going to be a little less active. I need to work on getting myself to a position where I’m not unloading on people unfairly. The other main reason that I will be less active is because I’m going to be on the job hunt. Last time I searched for a job, I wasn’t anywhere near as active as usual. So, suffice it to say, the dominant reason why I won’t be very active for a while is because I’ve got some Job search related things to take care of. My position in life won’t change itself.

This isn’t to say that I won’t be around or that I’ll be unreachable. All I’m trying to say is that I’ll be around a little less. If you need to reach me for something, I’ll still see this page often enough to maintain contact. Those of you who might feel like contacting me more frequently have my cell phone number.

Thank you for your understanding on this matter.