I have anxiety and there’s a switch I mentally flip. So when I first started working with the public again, I would sweat so bad. It would cause me to be even more nervous, because I must look nasty, right?
About six months into my new job and now having to be a manager that still has associate duties (for some reason), there was this click. I didn’t care what people thought about me. I HAD to keep this job. I stopped pushing myself to run from one place to another.
Every now and then, I’ll catch myself worrying about people and workplace politics and I’ll switch it off. The sweating stops, I move more confidently, but I still maintain courtesy. Not because I’m rushing to do it now, but because it just has to be that way.
I let negative criticism from my abusive environment roll off me. I don’t worry about being terminated. Because the work I provide is triple the output of a normal associate and, yes, they could replace me, but it would be a shitshow to do it.
So, the moral of the story is, stop caring about what people think of you. Don’t take every comment to heart. Free yourself from the societal hierarchy. It’s not easy, but if a little ball of anxiety and depression like me can do it, so can you.
Imagine a physical switch. It can be anything- a lightswitch, a button, a lever. Pull that switch when you feel pressured or overwhelmed. You might have a few fails, but it will eventually succeed.
Do me a favour. Or rather yourself a favour. Look out for signs of burnout and do whatever you can to avoid it.
Because I once took a job that was completely against my desire and nature. I was on the phone with customers a lot. I communicated with complete strangers a lot. For a decade and a half.
And I was so good at it that I didn’t feel like I could quit or escape and I basically melted down and burnt out, and now those old mechanisms and mental tricks I used to do to get me up and at 'em every day do. not. work. And neither can I.
Opposite but same: the thing i loved about minimum wage jobs (like fast food) was that I didn’t have to care about the job. Not to say I did it poorly because I have pride in myself and empathy for customers, but I didnt have to tie myself in knots to please a company that I didnt owe anything to. Pizza hut treating me like shit? No problem, papa John’s is across the street and hiring. I was very open about this attitude with managers and they didnt care because I was as replaceable to them as they were to me, so as long as we were both benefiting from the relationship it was fine.
I had this loooong comment about the abuse I’ve been through, but I set it aside for a possible future therapist (which I’ve been promised twice and received two med-managers).
Long story short, I’m incredibly kind to people and genuinely love helping. I threw the “Fuckit Switch” when they started to expect me to work enough for three people in one day. I told them to make good on their write-up/termination threats, because the one truth is that I don’t have enough time in one 9-hour shift to serve 180 customers, clean the whole store, security tag pill bottles, front face everything, work a cart of freight, work backstock, and take the trash and empty carts out to the dumpster. All while the store manager “needs to get important paperwork done” and sits out back watching TikTok on full blast in the open-air office.
I also informed them that I have been recording what I’m expected to do each day under threat of termination as well as recording when I hear TikTok because there’s a camera in the office. My list shortened by quite a bit. They know I’m a great support manager and I always cover call-outs, so they backed right down. Thank you, Fuckit Switch.
I have anxiety and there’s a switch I mentally flip. So when I first started working with the public again, I would sweat so bad. It would cause me to be even more nervous, because I must look nasty, right?
About six months into my new job and now having to be a manager that still has associate duties (for some reason), there was this click. I didn’t care what people thought about me. I HAD to keep this job. I stopped pushing myself to run from one place to another.
Every now and then, I’ll catch myself worrying about people and workplace politics and I’ll switch it off. The sweating stops, I move more confidently, but I still maintain courtesy. Not because I’m rushing to do it now, but because it just has to be that way.
I let negative criticism from my abusive environment roll off me. I don’t worry about being terminated. Because the work I provide is triple the output of a normal associate and, yes, they could replace me, but it would be a shitshow to do it.
So, the moral of the story is, stop caring about what people think of you. Don’t take every comment to heart. Free yourself from the societal hierarchy. It’s not easy, but if a little ball of anxiety and depression like me can do it, so can you.
Imagine a physical switch. It can be anything- a lightswitch, a button, a lever. Pull that switch when you feel pressured or overwhelmed. You might have a few fails, but it will eventually succeed.
Do me a favour. Or rather yourself a favour. Look out for signs of burnout and do whatever you can to avoid it.
Because I once took a job that was completely against my desire and nature. I was on the phone with customers a lot. I communicated with complete strangers a lot. For a decade and a half.
And I was so good at it that I didn’t feel like I could quit or escape and I basically melted down and burnt out, and now those old mechanisms and mental tricks I used to do to get me up and at 'em every day do. not. work. And neither can I.
Currently at work, but I do want to address this. In short, though: self advocating. I do not let them run me over.
Opposite but same: the thing i loved about minimum wage jobs (like fast food) was that I didn’t have to care about the job. Not to say I did it poorly because I have pride in myself and empathy for customers, but I didnt have to tie myself in knots to please a company that I didnt owe anything to. Pizza hut treating me like shit? No problem, papa John’s is across the street and hiring. I was very open about this attitude with managers and they didnt care because I was as replaceable to them as they were to me, so as long as we were both benefiting from the relationship it was fine.
I had this loooong comment about the abuse I’ve been through, but I set it aside for a possible future therapist (which I’ve been promised twice and received two med-managers).
Long story short, I’m incredibly kind to people and genuinely love helping. I threw the “Fuckit Switch” when they started to expect me to work enough for three people in one day. I told them to make good on their write-up/termination threats, because the one truth is that I don’t have enough time in one 9-hour shift to serve 180 customers, clean the whole store, security tag pill bottles, front face everything, work a cart of freight, work backstock, and take the trash and empty carts out to the dumpster. All while the store manager “needs to get important paperwork done” and sits out back watching TikTok on full blast in the open-air office.
I also informed them that I have been recording what I’m expected to do each day under threat of termination as well as recording when I hear TikTok because there’s a camera in the office. My list shortened by quite a bit. They know I’m a great support manager and I always cover call-outs, so they backed right down. Thank you, Fuckit Switch.