TOW: You can take this job and...

Yes, my employment at *unamed grocery store* has ended. (See ultra-realistic cartoon below for a possible explanation!) And I'm so happy about it. Really.

And why is that? It's because I couldn't have soaked up more negativity from that place if I tried. Between the weekly dramas of people disliking person A, and then moving onto person B when they get bored of disliking person A. And while everyone I know says, "Why don't you just keep it for the cash?" I am reminded of the time I invited my friend Hope to help out with my old youth group job for a night, because she said, "Brennan, they're kids. It can't be that bad."

Her statement at the end of the night was, "Get me OUT OF HERE! I can't handle these kids!"

Well, so much for being a kid-person. Eh heh.

And it was much the same with grocery job. I was killing myself for a few extra bucks a month. And it was killing my sleep and eating patterns. And I was always rushing from place to place like the bloody White Rabbit, constantly yelling, "I'm late! I'm late!"

So, I've really thought about it (along with some, ahem, thought-provoking incidents) and have suspended myself from working there. And, really, it's for the best. Because I have realized, that all that negativity was starting to rub off on me.

I was starting to talking like my boss to the younger employees. The feeling of extreme oppression was starting to eat away at me. While I like working hard, and I like being around people, I don't believe in the product they were selling, and all they did was jerk me around for months about my schedule, call me in the middle of the day, and harass about me leaving at 11:00 or 11:01 at night. Yes. That's right. I was constantly being harassed for being even one minute later than I should have been, whether it was busy or whether the store was dead.

Heaven help anybody who feels as trapped as I did. =/

When I compare it to the good places I've worked, the jobs I've enjoyed, I realize that jobs are like dating. They rub off on you and eventually become part of your personality. Being in an emotionally abusive job is just like being in an emotionally abusive relationship. It needs to end. And even if you're free-falling--the truth is that you're a human being. And you can certainly find someone, somewhere, somehow, that will pay you what you're worth, and treat you with respect. And someday, you're knight in shining armour or your princess will fall out of the sky and you'll ride of into the sunset, ad nauseum.

It can be that good, and I'm starting to be the kinda Brennan I wanna be again. And here's to being the you you wanna be, minus the emotional job abuse.