Ironic as it is, some great jobs are awful in terms of schedules. And I've always landed on one.
During my stint as a marketing supervisor in a big retail company, I spent more than nine hours in the office especially prior to and during marketing events. I had to report even on holidays and some weekends. It consumed me to that point that I'd thought of advertising schemes until I retired to bed at night. I utilized every waking hour thinking about perks when I was stuck in traffic, taking my lunch and coffee breaks or even in the shower. My mind was so preoccupied, I couldn't think about my own private life.
Just when I thought that accepting an offer to manage a branch of another retail company would give me a little bit of time for myself (I presumed that operations management was less demanding than marketing), I had a double whammy because I was given the responsibility to handle both store operations and marketing. Oh I welcomed the tasks, I even loved them. But the schedule was so demanding, I was required to render 11 hours per day, with only one day off.
What a way to go. My job consumed me hook, line and sinker.
But if this were a hall of fame for jobs with excruciating schedules, my first job refuses to lag behind. As a DJ back in college, I was doing the midnight shift from 10 pm-2 am. Sometimes 2 am-6 am. I had to sleep inside the booth, take a bath somewhere in the morning and rush to school before 8 am.
I spent five Christmases and New Year's eves in the radio station as far as I can remember. One time, Christmas caught me on the street while I was trying to find my way home but no cabs nor jeepneys to hail.
The schedules were killing me but I stayed on for almost seven years in broadcasting. And went on to join the retail industry and corporate world for another seven years.
Told you, those jobs were great as to their job descriptions. But the schedules were a little pain in the neck, especially for a working mom.
But there's no perfect job anyway, is there? Besides, without challenges, any job gets boring.
Unless your job is sucking the life out of you, just do what you love to do.
During my stint as a marketing supervisor in a big retail company, I spent more than nine hours in the office especially prior to and during marketing events. I had to report even on holidays and some weekends. It consumed me to that point that I'd thought of advertising schemes until I retired to bed at night. I utilized every waking hour thinking about perks when I was stuck in traffic, taking my lunch and coffee breaks or even in the shower. My mind was so preoccupied, I couldn't think about my own private life.
Just when I thought that accepting an offer to manage a branch of another retail company would give me a little bit of time for myself (I presumed that operations management was less demanding than marketing), I had a double whammy because I was given the responsibility to handle both store operations and marketing. Oh I welcomed the tasks, I even loved them. But the schedule was so demanding, I was required to render 11 hours per day, with only one day off.
What a way to go. My job consumed me hook, line and sinker.
But if this were a hall of fame for jobs with excruciating schedules, my first job refuses to lag behind. As a DJ back in college, I was doing the midnight shift from 10 pm-2 am. Sometimes 2 am-6 am. I had to sleep inside the booth, take a bath somewhere in the morning and rush to school before 8 am.
I spent five Christmases and New Year's eves in the radio station as far as I can remember. One time, Christmas caught me on the street while I was trying to find my way home but no cabs nor jeepneys to hail.
The schedules were killing me but I stayed on for almost seven years in broadcasting. And went on to join the retail industry and corporate world for another seven years.
Told you, those jobs were great as to their job descriptions. But the schedules were a little pain in the neck, especially for a working mom.
But there's no perfect job anyway, is there? Besides, without challenges, any job gets boring.
Unless your job is sucking the life out of you, just do what you love to do.
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