Category Archives: flight

Mar 06 2024
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flight, mediocre white men, reduce, renew

Hey CEO: It’s 2024, not 1994

When the employer lucky enough to borrow my skillset asked me if I feel stress about return to office in early 2023, below is how I responded.

Said employer then not only ignored the feedback from its nearly 100,000 employees, but they doubled down and reclassified all remote jobs to hybrid recently.

Return to Office (RTO) is going to cause a lot of stress for me personally. Two years ago, I had a nanny with one child in preschool. Today, I have two kids in school without reliable school transportation meaning I need to deliver and pick up my children at 9:10 a.m. and 3:40 p.m. — Not a big deal if I’m at home. BIG problem if I’m downtown without a car. Bigger problem in that we only have one car.

I estimate that a second car — that we don’t otherwise need — will add $50,000 in expenses to do what? Be on conference calls all day with strangers as none of my team are in the same state?

Yeah, RTO is stressing me out. A lot.

In addition to money, RTO is costing me time. It’s taking two hours of seemingly unnecessary time away from me each day — between getting ready, commuting and then repeating in reverse at the end of the day.

The last two years have brought into perspective what is truly important to me. They’ve shown me what is possible when I work from home. Your question seems to be foreshadowing and has left me to contemplate if this company, with a mandated RTO, is the right place for me. I don’t know the answer yet, but in looking at the job market and knowing many of my friends and industry colleagues can work wherever they want to — I know there are remote opportunities for me should I want to pursue them.

My question to the decisionmakers at this company is simply: Why? Is it because you’ve signed multi-year leases on property? Because you don’t trust your employees? Because municipalities are giving you ridiculous tax incentives to bring people back downtown?

To cloak the real reasons under blanket “culture” statements seems to dismiss that all of us have functioned well for two years (not to mention the folks who are remote regardless of the pandemic). It’s causing distrust, discord and the creation of narratives you can’t control amongst the people who are impacted.

It has to be about money, so just be honest.

Last, I’ve been sick ONCE in two years. I’m not worried about COVID, but the flu, colds, and other germs from doorknobs, elevator buttons, faucets, water dispensers, printers, communal items, and so on. I’m not interested in that exposure or bringing that home to my family. It’s a small factor, but certainly one I’m taking into account.

Honestly, this is the first time I’ve spent time really looking at RTO holistically and how it will impact me. I’m not sure what this company could offer to retain me in lieu of a remote option should the scales tip in favor of a remote position.

Mar 05 2024
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abuse, depression, fight, flight, postpartum depression, reduce, trauma

What goes around…

Cleaning out the drafts folder. This one is from 2016.

This is a story about bullies getting some good old-fashioned comeuppance.

Quarterback was born in 2015. I returned to work at Greed Financial three months later. The boss I adored had left the company and I returned to report to Jafar.

Jafar, a heavy-set woman with unnaturally red hair that she curls every day, was the VP of my area. She has the trendy glasses and wardrobe of the ad world from whence she came. She has a great laugh and an approachable nature. A fox in sheep’s clothing.

Soon enough, my role was layered and then layered again underneath Jafar. It wasn’t a problem, except my new boss was a person we’ll call Tiny Tyrant. The Tiny Tyrant was bat shit crazy. Jafar was a grown-ass bully.

Later…

I started the draft in June 2019. I don’t want to relive the details necessary to paint a full picture of how callous these catty women were, so we’ll fast forward to the comeuppance.

I was looking for a new job at the same time I was talking to attorney about Jafar’s interference in my career at Greed Financial. Here’s the series of events:

  1. I started talking to an attorney
  2. I began interviewing internally and externally
  3. A hiring manager at Greed Financial told me that Jafar had interfered with me getting a job in his group.
  4. I asked HR for my file and some poor intern gave me the file they aren’t supposed to show you
  5. I had written proof of their harassment, retaliation and discrimination.
  6. They laid me off the day before I announced I was pregnant with my second child.
  7. I got a lucrative offer from a mom who was nine-months pregnant and didn’t care that I was pregnant.
  8. My attorney went for the jugular.
  9. Greed Financial settled with me.
  10. Greed Financial unceremoniously fired Tiny Tyrant and Jafar.
Mar 05 2024
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adventure, create, flight, recycle, renew, wellness

The smackdown

Cleaning out the drafts folder. This one is from 2021.

In T-minus-15 minutes, I’m going to get smacked down for a new job. The interesting thing about this rejection is that IDGAF.

In three rounds of interviews, I was 100% pure undiluted me. There was no gussy, peacocking or swagger — because that’s not me.

I’m a gritty, tenacious, excitable, idea machine. As an amorphous being in a round peg industry, I’m a utility player who’s as rare and universal as my blood type.

The investment in time and emotional energy in the job search is the part that irks. Nothing causes me to emote — from defeat to fury — more than someone wasting my time. Inevitably, there will be tears of frustration for the poor ROI, but only for that reason.

There’s a freedom in rounding 40.

Feb 13 2024
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flight, mediocre white men, reduce, trauma

How’s it up there in the ivory tower?

I’ve been at this company for nearly a decade. My career with this institution will be marked “before that call” and “after that call.”

Before, I was content. I wanted to work hard. I liked my job. I had utmost respect for the CEO based on personal interactions.

Then there was after.

After the shock, I cried tears of frustration and rage. The return-to-work strategy is damaging to women. Namely mothers.

I’m embarrassed to work here. I’m ashamed that I add value to an organization run by a wealthy, mediocre, white, man in an ivory tower.

Knowing what I know now. The idea of returning to the stress of my life in 2020 is unfathomable. No job is worth that. Fortunately, there are plenty of open roles in my field that are interested in paying for my brain – not for my physical body in a cubicle.

This company will not only lose me as a long-time employee, but also as a customer and shareholder over this.

I don’t do business with companies that don’t support women.