Skip to main content

Stick it to the (wo)man

This week was quite educational in terms of my work, but not what you may think. I'm sure I learned a bit more professionally, but the educational part was about something else. Without going into too much detail (someone may read this after all), I basically disagreed with my bosses about a rule that was implemented for my work structure. This wasn't a general regulation that was applied for everyone in the company and I felt that this was neither logical nor necessary and would limit my flexibility in deciding what would be optimal for me to do my work well. I spoke to my supervisor about it and he didn't seem to have any strong feelings toward it either way, but when we had the meeting with one of the managing partners it was certainly a different story. Long story short, the "position of the company" was that they wouldn't budge on this. 

The outcome may be expected and a little annoying for me, but this is not what I want to focus on here. For me, this was one of the first experiences in this job when I had an open conflict with the management team and it showed me that after all (even if they like you very much and are so concerned about your well-being, etc.), they are the boss and as long as you work there, they have the last word on these matters. This might seem obvious, but for me it was different to experience it first-hand. First conclusion: even the nicest employer is always going to put the company's interests first. Second conclusion: you should do the same with your own. Apart from this, I feel proud for sticking up for myself and arguing my corner. This is a skill that will definitely come in handy.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why I don't share

I've been thinking about opening this blog for a couple of weeks and now I did it. It feels weirdly empowering I must say. I don't have a plan for it, no theme or important ideas I must share. I decided I'm keeping this blog to myself for now. I might even never show it to anyone, only keeping a note somewhere for people to find  it if I die in an accident or in another tragic, premature way. Writing like this, in the belly of the internet, feels freeing somehow. I kind of thought it would. On social media I feel quite reluctant to share my thoughts, always apprehending a negative, or worse, no reaction. And I'm too afraid to seem self-important, self-righteous or straight up wrong. I feel anxiety thinking of having to retract an opinion I shared because someone pointed out it was racist, homophobic or just generally ignorant. And I feel like you can never protect yourself from it, since you'll always be ignorant about most things happening in the world outside of y...

Thoughts on activism

Today I'm thinking about activism. What I can do, what I have done, what I still need and want to do! I was very inspired by two interviews that I listened to on my drives to work and back. They were from the Pioneers of Change summit 2023, which I sort of dismissed initially because I believed it's probably just a bunch of whitewashed opinions. But I have actually heard quite some different people. Yes, the majority is white (which still makes sense in the Austrian/German sphere) but there were also a few people of colour and the topics and types of people were quite varied I must say. I am definitely guilty of dismissing activism movements if they don't seem perfect enough and I know it's not helpful. We all need to start from somewhere (which is always our perspective and lived experience) and then expand from there! And have empathy for everyone who is on the path of changemaking. About what I heard. One interview by Ronja von Wurm-Seibl was about the effect negativ...

Stressing over stress?

 I thought this was a nice title for this thought dump. There are two resources I want to share with my non-existent readers: a podcast on (positively) redefining stress and a video by Joe Dispenza. This was recommended by my friend Lisa who is devouring his spiritual handbook at the moment and has inspired me to dig more into his work. Even if he's another old white guy who is trying to enlighten us Western people. Anyhow, this is another topic (for a more cynical mood). Right now, we'll be having it about stress and survival vs. creation. I was in the lab this week listening to this 30 minutes podcast on the upsides of stress. It was very much on-topic for me, since I'm eager to adjust my mindset in order to feel mentally and physically healthier and be more energetic. My take-homes are: 1. Stress is necessary and inevitable in our lives. Some situations require stress for us to perform in an optimal way. For me, kickboxing fights come to mind. The minutes before, I used ...