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No Turning Back
Over the past couple of years, I've developed a philosophy about places I used to go and work at: don't go back.
I don't go back to a couple of my old workplaces anymore, or even to my old high school, because of the way I was treated the last time I was at these places. Now, this does not apply to the last place I worked at--those people are cool with me, and I plan to work there again, pending a couple situations I need to work out. And the Starbucks I used to work at, I still frequent because sometimes when I eat at IHOP, I want espresso, and it's right there across the street.
But let me give a couple examples...and don't worry, I don't intend to use company names here.
One place which I worked at for a couple of years let me go in 2006. Now, I could go back in and visit the place, if I wanted...but then I consider that this is the same corporation that once gave me closet space as an "office", and then cycled me from one position to the other, until...I was mopping floors. I didn't complain, but I always kept a mental score. Though my colleagues didn't know I knew, trust me...I knew what was going on. And when they let me go, I might have returned a couple times to get paperwork for my 401k, but that was it. Never going back there. I tend to believe there was a cliquish mentality that went through the place, and I never fit in any of them. And I kick myself at times for busting my balls to try and fit in.
And then there's my high school. I think it was 2003 when I last went back there. I was there all of five minutes, as they greeted me, talked to me, and...walked me right back out of the building. I sat in the car, thinking, "What just happened there? Was I just walked out?" I don't know what the reason was--perhaps they might have been busy, which they could have said so, and I would have understood--but just the way that went down convinced me to not go back there again.
Really, what I've discovered through these experiences is that nobody that works with you really is your friend, so long as the friendship is enclosed within brick and mortar. But if they asked me to attend reunions and shit like that, I'd probably wouldn't go. I mean, it's not like my life is defined by these places. I'm not Jay Leno, or anything like that. I can let go of these places. Next place I work, I'm there to do a job, and do it well, then go home. I'm not going to hang out, unless I've been there a while and get to know people--that was my mistake a few years ago.
And thus, the importance of a work-life balance is simple: you cannot have a life when it is defined by where you work.
Now...getting back to work is a whole different matter altogether.
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So, Craig's on a well-earned vacation. But the clips don't stop.
It's an All-Puppet Wednesday!