If You Hate Your Job, Read This Now

I write this next statement in all sincerity. IF you HATE your job, THEN QUIT! Yes, I’m serious. If you hate the place were you spend at least 40 hours a week, which is almost 24% of your week, then you need to quit. Don’t quit today. Don’t walk away from this screen and tell your boss I told you to quit so he can take this crap fest and shove it. Don’t do that. But start making plans to find something you’re good at AND also love. Find that cross section and then figure out how you can make money living in that happy place. You deserve to be happy and wasting away at a place you hate is like slowing committing suicide so call this your intervention. And after traveling through Midway airport, I feel obligated to tell everyone this especially the people who work at Transportation Security Administration. You know the folks. Blue shirts, slow gaits, sour pusses, grunt responses, massive water wasters (you do know there's a drought in California and a critical need for clean water in Africa...Just saying). Yeah, those people…America's beloved TSA.



Traveling through the airport is a highly stressful undertaking. Prepping, packing, coordinating, traffic, long lines, confusing abysses, tow trucks, violation tickets, computerized “help”, angry mobs, panicked sheep, naïve travelers, exorbitant prices…and you haven’t even stepped inside the doors. You’re also ebbing, flowing, and stewing in predictions of whatever future emotion awaits at your final destination. There’s a lot going on and then you get the APEX of your airport experience…THE TSA!

DMV and Postal employees used to have the worst reputations because they earned it. Those two places were bureaucratic nightmares. I applaud both the Illinois DMV under Jesse White and some of the Chicago postmasters. My last few visits to the DMW were so efficient, pleasant and painless, I want them to open up a Starbucks inside so I can go hang out there. Some post offices are okay. USPS still has a lot to improve upon but some are better. I don’t want to drink Starbucks there, but I don’t hate every interaction (it’s a 50/50 split...maybe 60/40). But as bad as I thought they were, the TSA is the worst of the DMV added to USPS multiplied by both Daley City Halls and raised to the highest power of Jon Burge's and Garry McCarthy’s CPD. Yeah, it's bad. Really bad. But maybe not completely Jon Burge and Chicago Police Department "Independent?" Review Board bad because TSA doesn’t assault your genitals or suffocate you. Oh wait, they do assault your genitals. They don't suffocate you though but I think that’s only because TSA would have to have exert some energy and they aint never breaking sweat on your behalf.



I work in sales and I have a best practice I call “matching the pace.” When I get on a phone or in the room with a potential or existing client, I match the clients pace. If he/she is in a hurry, I ask how much time do I have, talk faster and wrap up one minute under the time the client stated. If a potential or existing client is chilling and wants to talk about what they did this weekend, then I chill. The client sets the tone and I match his/her pace. Not the TSA. The clients are the airport travelers. They have set departure times. Some have allotted enough time to chill, but many have not and are rushing. TSA are the sales agent and they don’t give a crap about….ANYTHING. They bitch and moan to each other. One TSA even said, “The enthusiasm around here is terrible.” They can see you checking your watch, tapping your foot, hurriedly pulling off your jacket, frantically asking if anyone will let you move in front of them in line, and they don’t try to help AT ALL. While I watched their lethargy, I wondered if they could possibly move any slower. A nanosecond slower and they would be statues. I know what you’re saying. They have important jobs that can’t be rush! Yes, I fully understand they are providing security and that requires commitment, attention to detail, and fully executed procedures, but that languor is not thoroughness. It’s truly painful to watch and even more painful to navigate.



Hear Ye! Hear Ye! ANY AND EVERYONE who hates your job, STOP torturing yourself and all those you come into contact with. LIFE IS TOO SHORT! I speak from experience. I had a high paying job at an exciting company that I hated. I exceeded my sales goals, but every morning driving to work I’d shake with fear in my car wondering if I was going to get fired today over an insignificant infraction. One day, I realized I didn’t want to live in fear of retaliation anymore. I’m an adult. Not a wayward child being punished by MommyDearest. I took some time, figure out my next move, and fired that employer. I don’t say “quit” because I didn’t give up. I decided that employer was not worthy of me and I initiated our break up. Now I have a job I absolutely love working with people who appreciate the quirky gal I am and can be.

Fortunately, after being completed depressed by the TSA, I went into the Viva’s Hallmark story right outside concourse B to purchase stamps. Kelly and Roseanne work there and they love their jobs. They have both been there 8 years. They personally own at least one of every item in the store including every t-shirt because using the items helps them better explain them to the customers. They take time with the customers to help them select shoes because their right strap broke, a rainbow cushion cross to take to a grandmother on her deadbed, and amazingly beautiful Wings by Alexa’s Angels bracelets which are supporting women across the globe. I stayed with them awhile chatting and browsing the Hallmark store and happily discovered my new favorite red cup! Cheers Chicago! They girls made me want to stay and spend all my money on the wonderful selection of cards, gifts, and mementos. They treated me like a friend and I have already purchased Roseanne’s book “Windows of My Soul” because I love supporting fellow authors. That Hallmark store was a welcomed oasis. If you are traveling through Midway Airport, stop in, say hi, and see what happiness looks like.



Deanna Burrell is the author of the best-selling novel, Single Girl Summer.

 Described as "Waiting to Exhale" meets "Sex and the City", your summer won't be complete without it. Click here to download Single Girl Summer now!

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