A few weeks ago, about a month now actually, I underwent a rather dramatic shift in employment. Besides suffering the standard “how the hell am I going to pay my bills” stresses for a few weeks during the interim it’s been kind of eye opening.
For instance, why should I be killing myself for $7.35 an hour? Instead I can be killing myself for $8.90 with all sorts of benefits like 2 weeks paid vacation, insurance and excellent overtime opportunities.
The change over from a family owned and run establishment (for all its faults) to a dyed-in-the-wool corporate environment has left me a little shook up. Never mind the public relations aspect, even in the hotels I was the front line between customer and corporation, it’s the behind the scenes that have messed me up slightly.
People are happy to be at work, even if the job itself isn’t the greatest on earth. I’ve also been treated with more respect and appreciation by all the middle management; those in Human Resources, New hire training, the quality assurance guys, and by the company as a whole. WIthout giving details, they’ve spent more money on me in the first month than about 3 months at my previous employ. Did I mention the insurance doesn’t suck, because wow I’m paying a lot but the company is paying 4 times that?
Tomorrow will be my first day since training, the first chance to prove to myself and my trainers those 5 hard and enjoyable weeks were worth it.
Before I go here’s something I’ve held true to even before, it’s only a job if I let it. Imagine how long I could last here if I made it five years in the hotel biz.
