wait, what?

my new boss: "Ask for what you want."
me: "Wait, what?"


I recently had a interesting interaction at work. We were talking about the summer hour schedule and how it will fit with my college course schedule. We had it worked out until my second boss interjected their two cents, which actually turned out to be a helpful thing. Sorry, that really is still shocking to me. How messed up is that I find a bosses input actually useful? Wow, that's telling.

My years in the private sector taught me two things: (1) Working for a husband and wife "team" sucks. (2) Expect nothing good from wanting things from management. My old boss was a svengali from the pit of hell, who lived to exert his imagined and maybe even real control over certain my aspects of my fate. "Yes you can do that." "No!! You idiot, you cannot do that exact same thing you have done for 5 years anymore. Are you mad?!" "You have to look out for yourself first." "The company comes first you peon." Yeah, he was bipolar. My point is, I have gone through really 10 years of mind games, manipulation, and bullshit - basically what we all call employment in America - and now I work for a public community college as a student worker in a nameless office. The pay aspires to horrendous but so did my other jobs pay.

What is different and miraculous about the job at the college is that basically it's a stress free job. No pretending I care that deeply about it because after all I am student and working towards another career down the line. None of that working for the man kind of thing. The problems that come around are few and frivolous.

I love (and by love I mean loathe) when people ask what you want only to tell you that's not possible. Why ask?! Seriously. My current boss asked me flat out, "What hours do you want to work?" I answered. They said, "Ok." That was it. She said to me, "If you want something, ask for it." Such a simple concept yet it blew my mind. Ask for what I want?? Can those words be used all together like that?? What I want? Wow.

I'm still processing why this concept is so awesome to me. Partly it's because being able to simply ask for what I want, means I don't have to do a dance for it anymore. I feel like I've had to dance around asking for what I want or need (work-wise, life-wise, family-wise) for so long that just being normal is an adjustment, one I am thrilled to be faced with. (The image of Marty Mcfly from Back to the Future III is in my mind right now, random.)

Something to consider. In our world where manipulation is common, subliminal messaging present, and advertising constant - don't forget the power of simply asking for what you want or need. Plainly. Clearly. Simply. I know, I know, wow. Now that I blew our minds, I'm going to go eat a cookie. xo