Monday, July 2, 2007

My future 2

They have decided to expand my child's picnic table into an "L". They're going to add some (hopefully usable) horizontal space, something I seriously lack now. The director was trying to think about how to fit a table in the room. And she was looking around and she really sincerely wanted to try to get me some work space. It made me feel bad because I was sitting there so angry about my job and how it sucks and she really wanted to make something work. So, I took advantage of the fact that the director moved from a cubicle to an office with a door. I went in to her office a minute after she left the room and asked if she had a minute. I told her that I was unhappy and that what was hardest for me was that I didn't a place for me to go with PJ that would satisfy what I need.

She said a couple of really helpful things. She gave me 2 thoughts wearing 2 different "hats"
The PJ Library hat/personal hat: She said that they were very glad when I came along but part of her wondered if this was enough for me.

I told her that at first I didn't think it was a good fit for me, but there were a few things that drew me here. One of which was a chance to work at a foundation and since PJ is thinking about separating from HGF to become it's own thing, I thought I might be able to learn something that might help us with our fund.

She said that PJ would support me in whatever I choose to do, that I could have time off for job searches. She said she would be willing to talk to some people with in the foundation to see if there was another department looking for some help that I could do part of.

Wearing her Mom hat: She said that I have a lot going on right now, I'm moving, Morgan's looking for a job and if I were one of her daughters she would tell them that maybe now wasn't the time to be starting a job search. She would suggest picking a date in the future (like September 15th) to say, I'm here until then and after that I'll see what I want to do.
She also said if I choose not to take that advice she would totally respect it and give me a glowing recommendation.

So, I feel better because they know how I feel and that I've been considering leaving and if something comes up that is not mindless work, I think they'll give it to me. In the meantime she suggested I sit down with the executive director for an hour or so one day to talk about the workings of a foundation. So if we decide to make our fund a foundation I might know something about it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you for being up front with the director -- she sounds like a really kind, reasonable person (lucky you!). I hope that something comes along for you soon, whether it's within the organization or outside it. You definitely can't let your brain atrophy at that picnic table for much longer.

Anonymous said...

I'll tell ya one thing, you've sure got some chutzpa.

carnlarn said...

Well, when you hate your job, you really have nothing to loose, you might as well be pretty honest about how you feel...