Should I quit Talk to my boss Help!
My job is really a good one. I get to demo a very cool new product at the mall & see the excited faces of people who try it out - it really is a GREAT li'l thing, it'll probably revolutionize the industry that we work in. When i'm not demoing a product I get to flex my creative muscles by editing videos, making graphics, and coming up with some problem-solving techniques. I get alot of practice doing alot of things I love, and I couldn't be happier with the pay, let me tell you - more than 25k a year and I don't even have a degree! There are two huge problems, however. One is that I'm pressured to sell when I do the aforementioned product demos. After more than a month of demos (though I worked for this company for 2 1/2 months prior), i have not yet made a single sale - this doesn't surprise me, since I've never been a good salesperson, but it probably DOES surprise my boss who saw all the sales & retail work on my resume - all of which I was miserable at, and in my resume job descriptions I tried very hard to play up the OTHER parts of my jobs, and really downplay the sales part - and hired me with the intention of having me sell the product. The other problem is my schedule, and this is the huge one. I only work outside my home on weekends, and it's really really hard on my family life. If i were still a single girl in college with no kids who needed her weekdays free for study, it would be wonderful, but I have a family. As it is I rarely see my daughter (whose daycare is only open during weekdays, so she goes then, so even when i'm home doing the at-home type work I never see her) or my live-in boyfriend (who works from about noon to nine every weekday). I miss my family, and as rewarding as my job can be, there's no replacing the time I'm losing with them. My saturdays are also spent ENTIRELY at my job, and the hours are exhausting. I come home not wanting to do anything, but before I know it, i'm waking up on sunday morning - after maybe 6 or 7 hours of unhelpful sleep - to go back to the mall & do it again. So, there's the issue... I love how rewarding my job CAN be, but I'm really not cut out for sales & I need a schedule that's more accomodating for family time. For the good parts of my job, I'd LOVE to keep it, but I'm having a hard time deciding whether it's worth it to even ask my boss to take me off sales and give me a monday-through-friday schedule. It's safe to say that with me having no degree, my boss really took ahuge chance on me, despite my weak resume (and a few "red flags" during the interview process that he's brought up), and he hired me purely based on my enthusiasm for the product and itsdevelopment. So I'd feel awful confronting him about any of this,making it harder for me to take the initiative & talk to him aboutmy schedule & how hard it is on me. I haven't been a fantasticemployee either (being rather shy, i tend to not take initiative onANYTHING really x_x), so i'm worried if I ask him for this favor, it'llbe a final-straw type thing and I'll lose my job. :( Does anyone have any advice? Should I quietly search for something else? Wait it out & build up my reputation with my boss and THEN ask for a better schedule? I was just curious -- how old are you? I think you answered your own questions in your post. OK, I have to say it. You took a weekend product demo job and now you're unhappy because you've got a weekend product demo job? Don't you know that product demo IS sales? That's the point. There is no other job here, that IS the job. The way you make the sale is by doing the demo. And it is onsite at the mall. The mall is busy on the weekend. Yes, some people are there during the week, but not most. So, I think you need to look at expanding your horizons and learn how to do something that will pay you well and fit your life and maybe even be something you enjoy. There are millions of 18-24 month programs out there for massage therapist, dental hygenist, culinary arts, hospitality, art & design, grapic arts, fashion, computers, HVAC, auto repair, plumbing... You've seen the commercials. Financial aid is available and when you get done, you should be able to earn at least what you're making now which is only $12 per hour. Or, you could go to college, starting with community college and study something else. Again, there are millions of things out there and you could be setting a great example for your child for the future. Many community colleges also offer similar programs to the private "trade" schools mentioned above too (for usually a lot less money). A counselor at the community college can do some testing with you to see where your skills, interests and abilities lie and give you some direction about careers and earning potential. In the meantime, the weekend job isn't a bad gig while it lasts. You could work it into your school schedule very nicely. I'd hang onto it at least until you decide what else you're going to do and see if it does or doesn't fit in. As to your family schedule, make family time on weekday mornings. There's no reason you and boyfriend and baby can't have a nice long breakfast and hang out before he goes off to work at noon M-F. Then take your daughter in to daycare after that. Heck, taking her only for afternoons should reduce what you're paying big time! Tess | |
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