I would be a crappy business woman.
But before I go any further, when I look at the above title in all caps, it reminds me of the goose from Charlotte's Webb. You know the one; the snobby one that says "Double T, Double E, Double R, Double I, Double F, Double I, Double C...."
Hee. Hee. A talking goose.
But anyways. I have worked for a few corporations in my life and have abruptly decided. It. Is. Not. For. Me. I mean really? What is the point of up-selling? Don't most people go into a store or a business already knowing what they want and how much they are planning to spend? When I am asked something along the lines of "Do you want fries with that?" I want to look at the person, slap myself on the forehead and say, "Gee! Why didn't I think of that while I was ordering?" I mean come on!
The first job I ever had was at a well-known amusement park that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent. But my boss was all about Upsale! UPSale! UPSALE! The part of the park I worked in was actually a little barbeque hut. (And yes, you read me right....B.A.R.B.E.Q.U.E. .....as in dead pig...which is ironic due to the Charlotte's Web reference I made above...oh yeah. AND I'm a vegetarian....but that's beside the point.) I remember sitting in a meeting and sort-of listening to how we needed to sale more desserts, yada, yada, yada. And I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Really? You want me to ask families to spend ten bucks on a piece of crappy key lime pie just so you can get a bigger bonus at the end of the year? You pay me $5.75 and take more than half of it out of my paycheck bi-weekly to help pay rent on a 3 bedroom apartment that I live in with 5 other girls. Fuck you and your dessert. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these people save up for years to come to said amusement park and spend hundreds of dollars on tickets alone. An average meal for a 4 person household is somewhere between 20-30 bucks.....for a lousy hamburger and fries. That's one word INSANE! NO! I won't upsale your crappy dessert! If someone orders a piece of pie, that's what they get. If not. Oh well."
This job experience, though many good things came out of it, should have been my first clue that business woman? I. Am. Not.
Ironically, I later worked at Walmart...... Call me a hypocrite if you want. But when you have been out of a job for several weeks in a row, you take what you can get.
And this is what I got in short. Crappy co-workers.Crappy customers returning crappy merchandise. And crappy pay. Need. I. Say. More?
Currently, as most of you know, I am working in a veterinary office. Unfortunately, it is not privately owned. It's, yep! You guessed it, owned by a corporation who owns several hospitals all over the US. I have been working there now for 4 years and lately, I am starting to see all of these changes that seem to be revolved around making more money. Don't get me wrong, I understand that a business can't be a business without making money...but there is a line. And I feel like lately, we as employees are being asked to cross it.
I can't do that.
I won't do that.
I first and foremost do what I do because I want to make a difference somehow. I want to help animals and their people. And I don't feel like the way to do that is via raising prices and charging more for products our clients can get cheaper somewhere else. (And before you ask, yes. I do tell said clients where to get said products cheaper. Especially if they are already shelling out hundreds of dollars for their pet. In my world. It's the decent thing to do. ) I want to make my mark on this world before my time here is over....and I'm tired of stupid corporations and their mad money-making skills getting in the way of that.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not all "Down with the government! Don't work for the man!" But there is a huge part of me that rather work for the underdog. I have worked for both independents and corporations and I have to say, I have much more respect for the independents. If I ever caught someone stealing at the little store I used to work at, I took it much more seriously and personally than if I saw it at Walmart...only because these people were my friends and they have worked so hard to accomplish the American Dream. I realize that all corporations start from a small business. But much like government can get, it's so easily corrupted. Where is the line drawn? How do we hold up to the humanity that most of us start out with? How do we keep from getting greedy? And more so, how do we avoid getting caught up in it all?
I don't want to be a part of it all. Even Wilbur (Yes. The pig from Charlotte's Web who need not know that I worked at a barbecue restaurant.) got tired of his fame and fortune. His biggest lesson learned was that at the end of the day, it's the small things in life that matter. Which makes me wonder? If spiders and barn yard animals get it.....
Why can't we?
