Everyone Complains About Their Job Sometimes

Everyone complains about their job. It's just human nature. I heard the following story the other day: There is a guy who, but for the suit, looks exactly like the traditional depiction of Santa Claus. Some time back, a wealthy man noticed the resemblance and offered him a job.

"All you have to do is come by my place at 11:45 the evening of Christmas Eve and pass out presents to my family. The presents and the suit will be in the garage. You put on the suit, grab the presents, come to the door. Once the presents are distributed and the children put to bed, you change clothes and go home fifty thousand dollars richer."

Naturally, the guy agreed. How often can you make that kind of money for a couple hours work? Everything went perfectly, the kids were delighted, and the guy was invited to repeat the performance the next year. He has been doing it every year since.

He and another guy were sitting at a bar together. The other guy was complaining about his job a bit when "Santa" piped in "You think you got it bad? Every Christmas Eve I have to work past midnight! And I haven't gotten a single raise in over 5 years!"

Geez.

Complain? Don't we all? Of course we do. When we complain, we're saying that we don't like the way something is. That's a good beginning, since before we can find a solution to anything, we must be aware that there is a problem or something that needs to change. It means there are a lot of areas where we can make a difference. So, complaining is the first step in making a change – I like that. I can't complain about that.

A lot of us complain about our job: we don't like what we do, we're underpaid, under-appreciated, overworked. We're convinced that complaining, all by itself, will make a difference. Now, tell me, those of you who have kids, how many times does complaining that their room is a mess make a difference? In any situation in life, how many times does complaining ever make a difference? On its own, probably not too often. However, when we follow up the complaining (or better yet, skip the complaining, because we've already "been there, done that") by starting to look at resolutions and solutions and a way to fix the problem, then we're getting somewhere.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I am going to share with you my "Top Ten New Year's Resolutions for Job Seekers". Along with each item I will have plenty of resources to help you get beyond the complaining stage and move on to the next part…the part where you take action and make changes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tracy Dishman is the marketing director for WorkOne and Eastern Indiana Regional Workforce Board (EIRWB). Readers may write to Dishman at P.O. Box 1856, Muncie, Indiana 47308-1856 or tdishman@work-one.org.