One of the worst jobs I ever had was for an alarm company. I was a service dispatcher for a short time, and I would field calls from people whose alarm systems were giving them trouble.
I had daily headaches from that job. I hated waking up to it. I hated working at it. And I hated leaving at the end of the day, knowing it was going to start all over again the next morning.
The main reason I hated it so much is because almost everyone who called was unhappy or angry.
I never heard anyone say, “Hey, how are you? It’s great to talk with you! Yeah, my alarm is going off right now, and I cannot figure out how to stop it. It’s okay, though. My baby was just asleep, and now he’s crying. But I’m cool with it. Oh, you can’t get anyone out here until tomorrow morning? Ah, no worries, my friend. We’ll just ignore the siren tonight. Get here when you can. Hope to see you tomorrow. Have a great day!“
I won’t share what they actually said because it’s quite unpleasant.
The point is, there are some jobs where every customer is upset, and it’s up to the frontline person to help them. That can be taxing on anyone. I don’t envy you if you’re in a position like that.
It only took six months for them to transfer (fire) me from that department because they believed I wasn’t doing a good job.
I’ll always remember that day as one of the happiest days of my life.
From that day forward, I realized life is way too short to stick with something that made me unhappy every… single… day.
I wonder if I would have ended up in the hospital if they hadn’t transferred (fired) me? I know, oh please, don’t be so melodramatic! But daily headaches from a job or relationship or situation are not good! They are a sign that something needs to change because you are feeling physical pain.
If physical pain isn’t enough of an indicator that something needs to change, what is your threshold? When do you say enough is enough? When do you make the change, no matter what?
We all have a breaking point. Don’t let things go so far that you actually have to reach yours.
I was so damned loyal to my employer back then that, looking back, I believe if they didn’t transfer me (okay, yes, they technically fired me), I likely would have stayed in that position until I ended up at the hospital.
Melodramatic or not, that’s who I was. Now, I choose self-care over loyalty and self-compassion over being too helpful to others.
Always remember to take care of yourself. Sometimes, that means taking a step back from putting too much time and energy into something that isn’t working or, worse, hurting you.
This story was taken from the TOB Insights Newsletter. If you’d like to receive stories and other helpful information to improve your life and relationships, sign up! It’s free, and I don’t litter your inbox (I send about one email per month).
