Girl on the Brink: Surviving Desperate Times with Desperate Measures

Sometimes I don’t know how other people can work for some of my former bosses.

I feel that way about my neighbor, too. But in a different context. I don’t know how she could be married to that guy—or vice versa.

My neighbor is such a nudge, one of those women who won’t get out of your face and tries to cut a deal if you ask for a simple favor, such as when I asked if I could borrow her lawn mower.

It’s not like I have a yard the size of a baseball field; it’s more like a postage stamp, and there’s no grass in the back since my kids trampled and eradicated it during the spring soccer season. Nothing has grown back, not even weeds.

My neighbor also wouldn’t roll down her car window if she saw you walking past to ask if you’d like a ride to the Metro.

And, she’s nosy. At least I don’t have to live with her.

I’ve had bosses like my neighbor. They all ruled by the old management style of fear, thinking that would earn them respect. One of my old bosses yelled at me when I wrote something for public dissemination, and she didn’t see it first. For some reason, she was out of the office.

I can’t think of anything worse than a boss who does not value and respect your talents. When they start giving you the third degree instead of the benefit of doubt, it is time to get out.

Getting out of a job voluntarily is much more difficult these days than in the past because it involves finding a new one. Only now are some companies beginning to hire, and that may be a blip on the unemployment needle.

Experts say the way to get a job is to network with people you know.

In olden times, this meant working the telephone, calling people who barely remembered you.  Linked-In automates the process of corresponding with the people who know you professionally, and it worked for my ex.

His last two jobs came from grabbing the email addresses of everyone he knew on Linked-In and sending them all a message asking what they could do to help him.  Both times he got work contracts worth tens of thousands of dollars, and both from people he knew pretty superficially.

None of the 200-plus resumes he sent out in response to job postings, or my 50 or so applications, landed us a  jobs.

As for networking, people apparently will help you, but you have to find a way to ask.