Blogging Drunk
Aug 3rd, 2005 at 12:05 am by Susie
I got drunk tonight to celebrate because I’m not going to work tomorrow.
I’m not going to work tomorrow because I was forced to call 50 people today and pretend I was returning a call they never made in the first place. All day long, I had people screaming at me and hanging up. They said it was sleazy and insulting, and they wouldn’t deal with a company like this. They had a point.
“Why do I have to do this?” I asked my new boss.
He said it was a “pattern interrupt” to keep them from terminating the call once they realized it was a sales call. And yet, they kept terminating the calls! Go figure. (My boss said I “wasn’t credible enough” when I lied.)
Uh huh. Finally, for the 50th call, I said, “Hi, we’re a company that does sales training and consulting. How are you handling that now?” The owner opened up, told me everything that was a problem and I made an appointment - by ignoring everything my boss said to do. Hah.
Then my boss told me “by the way,” he had another salesperson starting Thursday - “but he’s not an employee like you. I just want to see how he does.”
In other words, I’d be competing for my own job. Nice.
My best friend took me out to a nice restaurant after work to celebrate my new job. “So what, exactly, are we celebrating again?” I said.
“I can’t see myself doing this fucking awful job for another twenty years. This is our Independence Day,” she said. We’ve been talking about starting a business together, and tonight we decided it was time to go for it. We set a deadline.
Once at Drinking Liberally, I decided to drink heavily, especially after everyone started ribbing me about my work clothes. And after a few gin & tonics, I knew just what to do.
“I’m not going to work tomorrow,” I announced. “That’s it, I quit.” Clarity.
Are you serious? people asked, admiring.
Oh yeah, I said. And then I talked to a prominent local blogger (not the sweaty one) about working for him until I lined something up. He said he’d email me.
Then Somegirl and Jim Capozzola joined me in singing show tunes at the sidewalk tables. We covered most of “The Sound of Music,” “West Side Story,” and a few selections from “Hair” and “Company.” I felt a lot better. High on the hill was a lonely goatherd, lay ee oh a lay ee oh a lay hee HOE. Or: A boy like that wants one thing only And when he gets it He leaves you lonely One of your own kind Stick to your own kind.
So that’s it. Of course, I still have to return the phone calls I got from my mother and sister, congratulating me on my wonderful new job. But what the hell, life is short and why waste any more time than you have to, letting a soulless suit suck out your soul?
I’d rather stock shelves.
Oh, man. I am so sad to hear this. That’s been a large part of my experience with jobs: if someone’s hiring, it’s often because the job is so awful they can’t keep anyone. Apartments for rent tend to work the same way: can’t find the address? look for the worst house on the block, and that’ll be it.
If you’re serious about teaming up with your friend in a business, that sounds to me like the right thing to do. Go for it. People talk about the stress and risk of working for yourself, but nothing can beat the stress of a bad job. (Well, torture probably would, but I mean in ordinary life.)
Susie;
Screw ‘em. Go for the thing that you love. Hard times (as if you haven’t experienced them) will be there. Press on. Worked for me a while ago…umm, 1983.
As Dumbshit says, “It’s hard work.”
Said by a Connecticut Yankee in Baja Oklahoma circa last presidential debates who wouldn’t know “hard work” unless it was third grade math.
Art
If you need a hand, holler.
due respect Susie… that’s awesome. I know being broke sucks. It effects every aspect of your life. But going to a job that you hate on a primal level? Day after day? Doing a job that when other people do it to you it gets your blood boiling? You’ve spent 6 months filling your days with intellectual exercises, taking sides, making your own decisions. I’m sorry if this sounds condescending, but after having read your blog for…. maybe eight months now, I simply couldn’t see you as a sales(wo)man. Now your broke again? Me too. But there will always be people who will help you, and at least now you can sleep at night.
We’re supposed to ignore our own personalities, our beliefs, our pet peeves, the lines in the sands we’ve drawn our minds, all that to work, just because we’re told we’re supposed to work. We should do whatever job some company feels benevolent enough to bestowe upon us, at whatever salary they decide, and feel grateful for it. You are at a point in your life where certain things you believe in strongly are being tested. One of those things is your identity. How much of yourself should you sacrifice to meet the needs of external forces? It sounds like you made a decision tonight that extends beyond going into work tomorrow.
You have been, in an odd way, a part of my daily life for eight months. I can’t say that that allows me, in terms of social interaction, to come in here and comment about your life on such a personal level. If I have crossed a line between blogger and reader, I do sincerely apologize. You do perform a service for us, but you do so much more. You provide clarification in an extremely complicated and sometimes overwhelming world, and you do it not merely for free, but out of your own pocket. Thank you. I for one am extremely grateful.
You don’t know me but I am very proud of you all the same. I don’t know you but I thought job sounded wrong from the beginning. I’ve been self-employed forever and have absolutely no good advice to offer. You’ll do great… you’re smart and work hard… which is no guarantee of success in America (being born rich is)… but you will have fun and accomplish something to be proud of…
[...] 2005 Because you just haven’t lived until you’ve heard Susie from Suburban Guerrilla, Jim from Rittenhouse Review, and somegirl from All-Sp [...]
My boss is all ways telling me to do something, then after it proves to be the wrong thing to do tells me not to listen to him.
I hope you find a better job. I am looking too!
A job like that
Would fuck your mother
Forget that job
And find another…
I quit my stupid sales job for the ‘cool-to-work-at’ PW. It was horrendous. The pits. I did it for just about a year and for the last few months I was just miserable. I didn’t know I hated it until then, but I did. I stuck with it for a couple of months to scrounge up some savings to live off of and I quit, without a job. I took a little time off to recharge and refocused.
Now, I’m temping and persuing a dream to become a pro photog and it’s slowly coming true.
I’m glad you chose to follow your heart [like you could have faked it, heh] and you know you got us all behind you.
Now I’m sorry I jetted so early - I missed the big announcement and drunken Sound of Music!
Damn lady I hope the new idea works out ..my best to you and yours … By the way you had a hard choice to make and I think you did the right thing …
I was a “telemarketer” once for about a week. I was raising money for something portrayed as a charity, but that was actually a fraud. A guy in Florida set up corporations called “Georgia Firefighters Association”, the “Texas Police Association”, etc and had this company call people for donations for firefighters and police killed in the line of duty. This was in October 2001.
I looked into it a little bit and discovered that the man behind the associations was investigated for fraud in Florida and the company I worked for was also investigated for fraud in New Jersey. This guy was their main client. Last year I read in the paper that the office where I worked had been suddenly closed by the operators and the employees locked out without notice and without their last paycheck.
The extra irony is that the building where the company operated was an old hospital in Phillipi, WV now owned by the Warner brothers real estate developers who brought in the telemarketers. These are the Kris, Casey and Monty Warner, one of whom ran as Republcan candidate for governor and the other who was (until Monday) a Bush appointed federal prosecutor.
Anyway, I also quit to avoid losing my soul.
Oh, thank god. Susie, honey, the place made you barf on your first day.
And pantyhose. Don’t even get me started.
Join me in cobbling together a subsistence existence (US-style, i.e., with running water and no famine, yes I am lucky I know) that lets you keep your soul.
Et voila! Craigslist. How about…
**Lehigh Valley publication seeking freelance writers
Reply to: anon-88674797@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-08-03, 11:58AM EDT
A new Lehigh Valley publication is in the process of adding a team of freelance writers to cover editorial features on area arts, economics and non-profit organizations. Please respond to the address below with your qualifications. At that time, you will be sent a detailed editorial calendar for the remainder of 2005 and asked to send writing samples that fit our specific needs…*** (Chump change, btw, but actual cash money - “$50 - $150″)
Or, while you’re doing other stuff, how’s your blood pressure? $650 and some attention….
**Reply to: job-88440618@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-08-02, 1:22PM EDT
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are beginning a new research study examining the effects of NUTRITION and YOGA on lowering blood pressure.
You may qualify if:
* You are between 18 and 70 years old.
* You’ve been told that you have borderline high blood pressure.
* You are NOT on any blood pressure medications.
* You have not participated in yoga, tai chi, or meditation in the last year.
* You have not used any tobacco products in the last 30 days.
The study involves an 18 week commitment with multiple visits.
$650 compensation will be provided for time, travel, and effort.
Contact: Sue Yang at sueyang@mail.med.upenn.edu or (215) 898-4516.***
I’m being obnoxious… but honestly, I believe you can put stuff together. Plus, I remain totally devoted to the SusieVerse.
Oh yes, in the future remember Thoreau’s saying: “Beware of any enterprise that requires new clothes.”
Yikes! Congratulations for thinking of your soul first. There’s no way you could have kept that up.
If you do decide to stock shelves, Costco pays quite well. And if you work for Starbuck’s, you can get benefits at 20 hours.
Susie drunk?? damn girl, now that I wouldda paid good money for! You didn’t tell me THAT part on the phone!! How many years have I known you and I have NEVER seen you drunk.
Seriously, you know I worry about you but I’m glad you quit that soul-less job–you know how I feel about soul-less jobs, I’ve had a few (remember the post office??)
BTW, Zuzu is right, Costco does pay well and so does Starbuck’s
Twenty-four years ago I walked out on a “great” job and a boss who would have made Dick Cheney seem cuddly. I decided I’d rather do ANYTHING than face the constant migraines that were the result of his charming personality. I started my own business and, while I do seem to work a lot more than anyone I know, I can honestly say that I start each week happy to be doing my job. Working for yourself isn’t all roses, but at least you’ll only wear panty hose when YOU decide to.
Good luck and congratulations on deciding to strike out on your own.
I haven’t warn pantyhose to work daily since I left Ziff-Davis in ‘87. run!
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