i remember the call i got for my first (& only, atm, and hopefully a long time) professional job. i was on the way to the airport, going out to coach a basketball tournament in st. john’s. My dad was bringing me up to the airport and I answered the call. I was on speakerphone, as the earpiece wasn’t working. HR had called me to offer me a job in my field. I was floored, I accepted before they even told me my salary. I couldn’t believe it. I made it to the workforce. I am set for life.
Over the past few years the luster of getting a career has vanished, it’s become old-hat, as some say and since the pandemic; well, that’s changed everything.
Since March 2019, we have been trapped in some form or fashion for months on end. I was supposed to be working from home early in the proceedings, and at that time it didn’t give for much structure. I didn’t really know what to do with my time, how to proceed with the files that I had, especially since a lot of my work is helping with front-line workers, training people in first aid & doing various programs myself. So a lot of my job was out of my hands. At the same time my supervisor had to go on long-term leave, which confused it even more. No one was sure what to do with me, so I would be doing busy work for a lack of a better word. I had no issue with it, I was feeling quite insecure about the lack of productive hours I was giving each week. So it was good to be in office when I could, just to validate myself for a couple of hours a week. Each night my partner would come home and tell me about her vicious nursing career before she slept a lot of her nights away. It was the complete opposite lifestyles happening under the same roof. While she worked at-least 8 hours everyday (usually 10 at minimum on avg.) I was home checking emails, taking calls, keeping up with this blessed virus and hanging out with my new dog. I loved it initially, but the anxiety set in with each day. Especially when my supervisor came back. I felt like I did nothing for 2 months, but it wasn’t the case. I just didn’t have much experience in this lifestyle, and I imagine none of us were really privy to working at home. It made more and more sense why few people live such a way. Being stuck in your house, with all your favorite things, why would you wanna do work?
This pandemic had really changed my outlook on the “freedom-55” career that most working people aim for. I watched my mental health as well as my partners deteriorate, significantly. Besides work, we didn’t do much, besides hangout with each other, walk the dogs, and eat, with work being the main course of each day. With each of those days, I would go to the office and do the things summoned of me, but I kept questioning how people could do this for so long? I have watched my parents, who are in their mid-50’s work since I was born. Both of them managers in their fields, both on call for many years straight. It was common place for me to have to answer a call at 2am for my dad to have to answer some question his staff had, or watching my mom have to cover a shift because one of her staff quit abruptly. I understood the short-term stress that came with those things, less sleep, cancelling plans, etc. But I had to live it to understand the long-term effects, the anxiety, the depression, loss of sense-of-control. I am watching my parents, as well as older people in my life paying for these issues long after they are done working at an intense pace. All to ensure they live the life they want to live. I am forever grateful for the life that they have created for me, I’m sure they’d like to do more for myself & sister, but they checked all the necessary boxes. They worked in those positions for decades, both at the top of their fields. Yet when they both finished up, what did they get? Nothing. No party, no celebrations, just a good luck and send them on their way. This is the part that crushes me, the machine keeps moving.
In 2021, after almost 2 years of pandemic, people are starting to see their worth. Over the past few years there have been increases of pretty well everything that is for sale, yet the rates we pay people are much the same. Employers are having a hard time hiring people because they are not paying a living wage, which is $18.85 in NL. That is a number that barely pays for much beyond rent and food in this current climate. I am glad to see that people are putting their foot down, demanding more from companies that are increasing their bottom-line, yet not paying people something of worth. Some companies are paying minimum wage, no benefits. No annual leave. I didn’t know what any of these things meant until I got a professional job, and only because my mom cried and cried when she found out I got it, it’s all that she ever wanted for her kids. You don’t need to have a college, university, or special training to have worth to have the bare minimal. Everyone deserves paid leave, less workhours, and be devoid of the pressures of having to do more, work more, feel like you aren’t doing enough. It’s been great to watch it all from afar, the activism that people are taking, the control people are putting in their own hands. This has been the theme of the subreddit r/antiwork. I have been following how people are managing their own issues, it’s usually on the comedy side, but there are some grim stories of bosses trying to pushing them to work beyond their expectations. Let’s hope we are a part of change, a change we can be proud of as employees.
We are in a time of change, this pandemic has opened a lot of eyes to the realities all across the lifespan. Our education, health, work systems and expectations have been in volatile positions for a long time and these past few years have exposed a lot of the issues. People aren’t built to work for 30+ years, collect a meager pension and call it a day. I am quite blessed to work in a field were I am a challenged adequately, and supported a lot, especially during mental breakdowns, but I am understanding that this may not be it for me, I may have to look for something in time to give me more freedom, more time to spend with my family and the life we want to live. We are people, people who deserve full lives without the stress of having to feel obliged to employment, we are more than a cog in the machine.