First of all, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers! That was an amazing finish to a Super Bowl game. Unfortunately, the commercials weren’t all that this year.
It has been an interesting few days at work. There has been a major restructuring at work which required the sacrifice of seven co-workers of various levels and experience. Thankfully, my section was not affected. If anything, I came out of the restructuring better off because I was given additional responsibilities and a new manager who personally guaranteed that he would oversee my development.
Unfortunately, my company has implemented a salary freeze for the remainder of the calendar year. When I received my salary confirmation highlighting the lack of change, I realized that I make less than 25 percent of those holding a similar position throughout the country. In fact, the average pricing manager makes almost $25K more than I do. So, while I am happy about the fact that I am finally being given a chance to prove myself and test my abilities, I’m upset because I feel that they are essentially using me or taking advantage of me. Additional responsibility without the pay but during a period of salary freezes. Do I complain, fight it, or sit tight and bring it up next year?
I also spoke with my behavior coach, part of the 360-degree feedback process. She seemed concerned that one or two people felt that I came across rudely to them. I diplomatically tried to explain the people involved or the situations where this tendency may occur (because I was sitting in a cubicle surrounded by two other coworkers). As I was talking with her, I realized that it’s taken me 32 years to be able to speak up and stand up for myself. Maybe I could be more tactful of how I say it, but at the same time, I like who I am. I find it difficult to be able to take one or two comments seriously when the remainder of the feedback was very positive.
I think my deep thoughts here are brought about by a lack of sleep. My children have had a reoccurring cough for the past few weeks, and they have both invariably coughed on me. I hate the feeling you get when you know you are getting sick but don’t have the full-blown symptoms yet. I’m not sleeping well and can’t seem to focus on anything – including my beloved reading. Maybe we’ll get so much snow tonight that they will declare a snow emergency, and I’ll get a day off to rest tomorrow!
