When did this become a career?
Friday was my 20th anniversary with the company. Actually, it's 20 cumulative years with several companies that got bought to create the current company, but the current company recognizes all those years. And because they do, it also means I have something like 400 hours of vacation every year. I'm lucky if I use a quarter of that time.
Wednesday I got a package in the mail from the company. It was a nice little certificate for my 20 years and a catalog with gift items. I get to choose one and so far I'm leaning towards the Henckels 7-pc knife set. Second choice is the DeWalt cordless drill. I like to be practical. Interesting note: one of the companies that used to own us was Black & Decker. From a business standpoint, they were a horrible parent company; from an employee standpoint, they were awesome! They'd bring semi's loaded with products into the parking garage and set up little stores complete with shopping carts and of course, we'd go crazy because we got a pretty decent discount. Suffice it to say, I have a house and shed full of B&D products. The rice steamer and electric mower are my favorites, btw. Current company doesn't have anything like that to offer but they do have pretty decent discounts with just about every store imaginable.
I still marvel that I've been employed in basically one place for 20 years and that my path has taken me to business management. I never intended to spend almost all of those 20 years in finance. As a matter of fact, math was my sworn enemy in school. I took anything I could to avoid it in college and mostly, it worked (took a basic math class in which we spelled words with our calculator). So imagine my horror one afternoon when I realized that I was doing algebra!
So what I have I learned over the last 20 years?
- Common sense trumps degree in the business world. There are a whole lot of PhD's in my OU that have absolutely no common sense.
- All it really takes to get a career you never really wanted is a desire to do the job and the ability to take responsibility for what you do.
- Take algebra because one day you will in fact have to solve for y.
Oh, and yes, I do like what I do. It's a pain in the ass most days and I'm jaded and I curse like a sailor but it's still challenging and I'm good at it and yeah, the pay is nice. Plus, there's all that vacation I never get to use.