Tag: career

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A New Way Forward

Since 1997, I have been working in the customer service industry. Twenty years of working in banking, retail, tech support, middle management, and project management have taught me a few things about the dynamics of workers and leaders in the workplace. There have been a few bright spots in my career, but overall I have witnessed a great deal of difficulty when it comes to the daily relations of humans when they are stressed and stifled. Unfortunately, the norm in business still seems to be to let workers know that their worth for the company is merely contingent on their ability to perform. The performance workers are expected to give is rarely clear and often involves pretending to be happy. After all, work performance is just that, right? A performance – an act – a character that one puts on for 8-9 hours per day. Company leaders have a difficult time keeping expectations clear and developing workers in a manner that would help everyone be happier and more productive.

It is difficult to thrive when one is working for an organization led by people that do not value the day to day contributions of individual workers. Workers have many things to contribute to a companies policies, procedures, day to day focus, and bottom line. They are not robots that can only do one task over and over again. They are individuals with varied abilities and creativeness that is rarely, if ever, tapped into. They have intellectual lives that are never stimulated. They have many ideas to contribute to the greater good of the company, but their voices are muted.

The company leaders expect each of the workers to tow the line and never complain. To be happy even when the world might be crumbling around them. To continue to pretend that things are wonderful when they are actually rubbish. And all the while, the company leaders wonder why survey results are low and morale is even lower. They assume that morale is something that comes from within the individual workers and that grumpy people will always be grumpy. But the leaders are wrong. Boosting morale has to come from above.

A little bit of empathy toward the individual that is trying to make ends meet financially and still be happy on a day to day basis can go a long way. Validating the feelings of the workforce by noticing when things are not good and trying to make real, lasting change, if even in small increments, would also be a plus. These things do not cost money, but they certainly cost time. And time, unfortunately, is in short supply when leaders are too busy counting beans to care about the humans bringing the beans to the table on a daily basis.

But complaining is not enough. The only way to make change is to suggest, to those with the power, things that could be improved and how improvements can happen. So here are a few ideas that have been bouncing around in my brain for the past fifteen or so years. Ways that leaders of any organization could and should bear in mind when thinking about improving the day to day life of their employees. In honor of labour day, here are my suggestions to make the workplace a better place for everyone:

 

  1. Listen
    It seems like a pretty easy concept and yet it never seems to happen. When workers tell you, as a company leader, that they are ‘drowning’ or they are ‘stressed out’ or that they ‘need more help’, listen to them. This does not mean that you need to take action, immediately, on every complaint, but you should at least show the worker that you are listening to their concerns and that you are willing to do something about the issues that are causing this level of stress in the workplace.
  2. Do Something
    Take in the critical assessments that you receive from the people ‘on the ground’ in your organization and find solutions. Heck, ask the workers for solutions! Have a referendum and allow the workers to give you ideas of how to fix the most common issues that are popping up in the workplace. The workers know what they need to be happy on a daily basis and if you allow them to tell you what that might be and then take action to make changes, they will see that you are trying to make things better. A little bit of effort can go a long way. This does not mean that you should stop with just the effort, as I said above, do something. So what is the something that you could do today to improve the daily work lives of your workers tomorrow and for years to come?
  3. Value happiness
    Many times, company leaders make it clear to workers (even if they do not intend to) that the happiness of the workforce is not important. That happiness is not something workers should be concerned with. That when they come to work they should work and that it is not the company’s job to make the workers happy. This – my friendly neighbourhood CEO – is NOT THE CASE. Workers are giving you 45+ hours of their week, every week. This amounts to 2,340 hours per year. Over a lifetime of working for one organization, a worker could give anywhere from 70,200 to
    93,600 hours of their lives to the company. If the workers know that the company leaders value the happiness of the workforce, it makes the 45 hours per week investment of time a lot easier. Here are a few very simple things that you can do, that cost little to no money, to keep the workforce happy.

    • Improve the workflow process to lower stress on individual workers
    • Encourage workers when they do well
    • Develop workers so they can move up if they wish to do so
    • Set workers up for success
    • Institute workplace health initiatives that give workers a sense of well being
    • Say thank you to your workers
    • Show an interest in your workers lives outside of work
    • Make the workplace inviting by adding plants and sunlight wherever possible
    • Get people moving – allow workers time during the day to take breaks (other than the standard lunch hour) without guilt
  4. Make policies equal across divisions
    In the event your company has a policy that allows workers the freedom to do something such as work from a remote location or shift time to get out early or come in late, be sure that the policy is written in a manner that is fair for ALL workers in the organization. Do not single out one division within your organization to have the ability to partake in the policy while others are not able to do so. A policy that is instituted for only a portion of the worker population is bound to cause issues within the workplace. If there are reasons why some workers cannot partake in these policies, make changes so that all workers are eligible for the policy prior to releasing it to the general worker population. Releasing a policy before all workers are eligible is a sure way to create low morale in a portion of your worker population. It is better, for everyone concerned, to either have policies that every worker is eligible for or not have those policies at all. In this case, all or nothing is the best motto.
  5. Be sure that expectations are always clear
    There is nothing worse than working for a boss that cannot clearly set expectations for the staff. Workers should be given a certain amount of latitude within their day to day functions, as you would never hire someone that is completely green to do a highly technical task, but they should also be given clear guidelines for what the position entails. If priorities shift, throughout the course of a workers time, be clear about the shifts and why they are occurring. Keep the job description for each worker updated and go over these expectations as they change. Basically, keep your workers in the loop, not in the dark, about changes to the structure and overall direction of the company and their individual contribution expectations.
  6. Institute an employee recognition program
    There has been a lot of improvement, in the past few years, in employee recognition programs and one of the new ways to do this is peer2peer recognition. This article explains the benefits that these types of programs can and do have in the workplace. This is not your grandparents company recognition program!

There are many other ways that company leaders can improve the workplace, but I think this is a good starting point. Now, leaders, please go out and find creative ways to empower your workers and help them be the best versions of themselves. It will pay you back many times over and the humans that are toiling to put those beans on your table daily will thank you for it with even more beans. Seriously – happy workers = productive workers.

Peace,
Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

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Priorities

It is a new year and, as so many others do during the month of January, I am assessing my life and habits and looking toward making changes. These changes will not come in the form of resolutions. We all know what happens when we make those. No, instead, I will be making long term changes over the course of the full year. To start off my assessment, I made a list of things that I used to love doing and have, for one reason or another, stopped partaking in.

 

  1. Beading
  2. Tap Dancing
  3. Yoga
  4. Cooking from scratch
  5. Coding
  6. Blogging
  7. Writing for Sociology
  8. Swimming
  9. Learning about and developing content
  10. Singing in public
  11. Reading at the caffe

 

Most of the activities on this list have been pushed aside to make time for work and school. Although it was important to focus on other things, I believe that I can now reincorporate these activities back into my life in a meaningful way. I did not believe I had time to make necklaces or sing in a local choir because I had to focus on my future. Well, the future is now and if I continue putting things I enjoy on the back burner the future future will be bleak. So – in order to make sure that I start doing all of these activities again, in 2016 and beyond, my priorities need to be assessed and shifted. In order to do this, I must look at a typical day and see what changes can be made to incorporate things that make me happy back into weekly existence.

 

My typical day (Monday-Friday):

  • 6:45 am: Hit the snooze
  • 6:51 am: Hit the snooze
  • 6:57 am: Hit the snooze
  • 7 am: Out of bed and into shower
  • 7:45 am: Prepare food/drink for breakfast and lunch
  • 8 am: Leave for work
  • 8:30 am: Arrive at work
  • 8:30 am – 5:30 pm: Workday
  • 5:30 – 7 pm: Extended workday
  • 7 pm: Leave for home
  • 7:15 pm: Arrive at home (in perfect weather and traffic conditions)
  • 7:15 – 8 pm: Make/warm up dinner
  • 8 pm: Eat dinner
  • 9 pm: Watch television
  • 11:30 pm: Go to bed
  • 12:00 am: Fall asleep

 

The first change that I am going to make to my schedule is to only work until 5:30 pm each day. Any later than that is bad for me, both mentally and physically, not to mention it hurts my pocketbook since I am giving extra time to a company that isn’t paying for that extra service. Being a salaried employee means that when I work 45 or 50 hours a week I make less per hour than I do when I work a normal 40 hour week. There is nothing that important that I need to stay late. By making this one change, I will get back 1.5 hours per day (7.5 hours per week) of my life to relax and enjoy my dinner. Eating so late was having a horrible effect on my sleeping patterns, so I’m hoping that by having dinner by 6 or 6:30 pm each weeknight, I will be able to sleep more soundly when I hit the pillow.

 

The next change that I will make is to choose an activity from the list above and do that in the time that I’ve gotten back from not working late. What I mean by this is that if I finish eating dinner by 7:30, I will have 2 hours for an activity and 2 hours for television. This will give my dinner time to digest while I’m doing something more active before I sit down to relax for the evening. This 2-hour span of time will also be useful when the semester begins because I can use it to do my schoolwork. In the meantime, if I can get back into beading, dancing, singing or any of the other items on the list when the semester begins I can move those activities to the weekend and use the 2 hours in the evenings to study. This will make my semester more enjoyable because I won’t be spending my whole weekend reading and writing for school.

 

The third change (and this is the big one) that I am going to make in 2016 is shifting my food habits. Rather than going on a diet where I am restricting myself from eating based on calories, I’m going to start replacing foods that I know are not as healthy with alternatives. In order to assist me in this quest, I have purchased 2 books about the Whole30 plan. Once I have completed my readings and research, I will make a plan so that this can really work. It is not a diet, it is a way of life. Shifting my food choices should help me to have more energy which, in turn, will help me to get back into shape. The weight loss is not the main goal, it is a happy outcome. In order to truly facilitate this shift, the writer and I have agreed to begin by not getting take out for dinner during the week. We are going to start off with a 30-day plan to cook meals each night for dinner and bring lunches every day. This will exclude going out for dinner on the writer’s birthday and potentially 1 or 2 Sunday brunch meals, but overall we will try to cook for all 3 meals, 7 days a week, for 30 days.

 

With a 9-hour workday, an earlier dinner schedule, and a wind-down activity prior to television viewing time, I believe that I will start falling asleep faster when I go to bed and eventually I won’t have to hit the snooze so many times in the morning. Once the food shifts and the benefits of cooking at home (and this also fulfills my ‘cooking from scratch’ activity) kick in, I should gain a renewed sense of self that I have been without for quite some time. It is not just about the weight. It is really about the feeling of being healthy. It has been a while since I have felt truly good about myself, overall, and I want to get back to that place. Once I do that, I’ll be able to conquer all the items on my list and start doing the things I love once again.

 

Peace, Chantale

 

What are you doing to change yourself in 2016?  Are you a resolution maker or do you scoff at that? Tell me more about it in the comment thread and if you enjoy this post, please pass it along!

A few links:
whole30.com
whole30 shopping list
nom nom paleo
well fed resources
tips for sleeping well

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Trying New Things aka Letting Go of the Past to Create a Better Future

Throughout my life I have been skeptical of pretty much everything.  I have been highly attracted to the mystical and spiritual side of life, but I have never fully bought into any of it. Each time I go to the bookstore, I end up in one of three sections; Sociology, Cultural Studies, or New Age/Spirituality. Self improvement has been something that I have been longing to jump into, but never had the guts to fully commit to. That is, until now.

This week I downloaded a new book on audible by Jen Sincero titled You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. I figured I would listen for a few chapters, put it on hold for a future date, and complete it next year sometime when I was bored and just wanted to finish something. This was NOT the case. I was sucked in. Every trip in the car was an opportunity to listen to a chapter. I sat in the parking lot at home and at work a number of times just to get to the end of a section. I listened intently to all she had to say and things started to line up.

Why have I not been committed to making my life truly, madly, and deeply better? Well, one reason is that I have been lazy but another is that I didn’t really believe in myself or the universe. There are days when I think that just driving in to work is a futile activity, but I do it anyway because I have to. This is a self limiting belief. Yes, I have to go to work to make money to pay bills to live, but I don’t have to do it where I am, now, forever. I can put positive vibes out into the universe, be grateful for what I have, raise my frequency, and know that what I truly want is out there waiting for me to grab it.

Now you might say, “Seriously? You? The most sarcastic and self loathing person in my life is going to change?” Yes. I am. Self limiting beliefs are just that. Self Limiting and Beliefs. They stop us from moving forward in life and they restrict what we think we can and should do. They do not give us hope or make us grateful. They keep us down and on the couch, wishing we could move forward but somehow stuck. Well, I refuse to be stuck any longer.

I feel that this blog has already been a step in the right direction. The pieces I have written have been positive in nature and detailed little things I have been working on to move forward. Having listened to this book (and I will be listening several more times to get the concepts really ingrained and do the exercises to strengthen my resolve) I know that I can manifest that which I want and by being open to the universe and all it has to offer, I am giving myself the ability to receive good things in return. By meditating and sending out good vibes, the way that I want my life to be will be. It is that simple and, at the same time, that difficult.  The difficulty comes from the change in self limiting thoughts and behaviours. These are ingrained in us from years of learning from other people exactly who, how, and what we should be. Those other people, however, are not us. They are not inside our brains or living our lives. They have their own lives to live.  The first step in any self improvement journey is to shake off the negativity and get right with yourself. Move away from the self limiting beliefs of others and make your own new, different, and more positive beliefs. Turn your frown upside down in a bigger, more cosmic sense. Move ahead with conviction and determination, remaining grateful, and life will open up.

I hope you will join me on this new journey and that I can post more often on the events and new experiences that come my way based on my new determination. As I continue to manifest my destiny (which already exists out there in the universe) I will make a conscious effort to keep you, my readers, involved and up to date with my journey. I am sure there will be some bumps in the road, but I have been here before. Quitting smoking was one of the most difficult and most rewarding things I did for myself. It took guts and determination and this past August I hit the 6 year mark.

If I can take my new self improvement ideas and marry them with my old, ingrained level of determination, which I displayed in my ability to stay smoke free for 6 years, I can do ANYTHING! Stick with me and you will see. We can be awesome. We just have to choose to be and then keep at it.

Peace and Happy Manifesting,

Chantale aka hippiegrrl

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What Is Success?

Throughout my life I have had many different understandings of what success should look like. I have been able to see success through the lens of how other people achieve things, but never really see that in myself.

When I was a teenager, I thought success was connected to fame. I wanted to sing and dance on Broadway and I thought that if I could just get on any stage, in any role, I would be successful. I did not have to be the lead, just in the show. Success was something that would only come with practice and sweat. Working my ass off was the only way to get there and I felt somewhat lazy when I started putting on weight and trailing off on my practice regimen. Through my college career my focus shifted away from Broadway shows and on to Opera (not by my personal choice, but by the choice of my voice professor who would have “none of that belting in my rehearsal space!”) This shift made me start to see success as something else entirely. Something less tangible. I did not want to be a Diva, so I scraped the whole performance thing and moved on.

After graduating with my music degree my goal was to move out on my own. Success, it seemed, was living in my own apartment and working a full time job that could afford me the ability to go out to eat and still pay the bills. This definition of success seems to have been the one that has stuck with me the longest as I still have this idea in my head that I need to be able to consistently support myself, and anyone else that lives with me, with the basic necessities. This is a much lower bar compared to my teenage idea of success, but it works.

Next month I will be 40 years old, as you already know since I like to mention it often. With entry into this new decade I feel that I am long overdue for a refresh of my idea of success. Armed with 2 bachelors degree, in music and sociology, and a pending masters degree in library science, I am ready to look toward a future that I had not imagined when I was in my 20’s. Writing has always been something I love to do and something that often gets sidelined for whatever other task is necessary in the moment. The only time I really was able to concentrate on writing was when I was doing research in my Sociology program. Being able to observe, read, research, and write was something I loved doing and this is what I believe success looks like for my future. Whether that is within the walls of a library at an academic institution or in a small writing group at the local literary organization, I need to find a place to be able to do these 4 mentioned things and I will feel successful. If I can get paid to do them as well, that will be a bonus.

The lesson learned from this reassessment of success is that it does not have to be tied up with jobs or money. It can be personal success. Setting goals and achieving them. Doing things that make me happy and still being able to pay the bills. Living somewhere that I have only ever dreamed of living and being able to make it. These are the things that truly make up my new definition of success. The writer and I are moving toward it now in a new and different way and within the next 5 to 10 years I can see it happening. As long as we both work hard and push ourselves to new levels, we will be successful in a way that makes us content and that is the best definition of success anyone can hope for.

Peace, Chantale

What is your idea of success? Share with me in the comments!

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Happiness

This week, at the office, we had a gentleman from the Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo come in to do a seminar on happiness in the workplace and the home. It was slightly dry, at times, but still motivational. The thing that struck me the most was that the answer to almost any question about happiness is positivity. If you want to be happy, act happy. If you want to be happy, don’t hold grudges. If you want to be happy, be nice to others. And my personal favourite, if you want to be happy, surround yourself with positive people.

positiveThis is all well and good, in theory, but once you sit down and really think about how to put this into action, that is where the fun begins. What if you have negative family members? What if you have friends that hold grudges longer than life itself? How do you extricate yourself from situations where you are surrounded by negativity?

My first thought was to just be a happier person, internally. Radiate positivity and others will be happy because of their proximity to you. At one of my old jobs, we used to make a joke about how all you really needed was a positive mental attitude (PMA) and you could get through anything. Unfortunately, that idea was born out of the fact that we had a boss that was so awful that she was making us all unwell with her tyranny. When a group is under stress, they often bond together over the stress, and try to rise above it. Now, all those that worked for her (except one remaining hanger on) have gone on to better things and rose above what she believed any of us could do in our lives. We have exceeded our own expectations by blowing her negativity out of the water and showing her that we had more capacity than she imagined. In this case, the PMA worked in our favour. PMA, along with the act of leaving the job and separating from the negative force that was the crazy boss, worked. What was the lesson learned? If you are working for someone that is negative, get out! Start looking for somewhere else to work immediately. Start pushing yourself toward that career where there are people that see you as a human and know you have worth. Bottom line: move on! This is easy to accomplish in the workplace, however, when you are thinking about family and friends, this gets a bit more murky.

Surrounding yourself with positive people ultimately implies that you must either make negative people into positive people (which is nearly impossible) or shut the negative people out. In these seminars, the facilitators always say the same things about surrounding yourself with positivity, but they never really get to the way to go about it. How does one simply walk away from a family member? How many years do you try to make someone close to you more positive before you simply give up the fight? When there is a toxic person in your life, sometimes you need to just detach from them. This sounds harsh, and especially so if that person is a family member, but it is true. There are times when you just have to let go of the family/blood connection and move on. Otherwise, it is impossible to be a healthy and happy person yourself.

Health and wellness are inextricably attached to happiness. Our brain chemistry effects the way we feel in very profound and sometimes hidden ways. If you hold on to negative thoughts, feelings, and relationships, they can ultimately make you sick in one way or another. This is why we must strive to first be positive in our day to day lives. If that rubs off on others and they become more positive in the process, great! If not, at some point, the ties must be severed. Sometimes, just sitting down and telling someone how you really feel about their negative attitude and that you will stop talking to them if they don’t try to be more positive can also do the trick. Sometimes it cannot. We can try our best to spread sunshine (no matter how hokey that sounds, and it does sound super hokey) everywhere we go and hope that a little bit of it rubs off on others.

One final note: when I talk about having a PMA and spreading happiness, this isn’t the kind of nice attitude that is fake. Having worked in the banking industry for almost 10 years, one of the main lessons I learned was that nice is not always what it seems to be. When you are in an industry that has a main goal of increasing sales over time, at all costs, you will run into many fake/nice people in your travels. Many sales people feel that being nice is something they have to portray in order to pull you in and, to a certain extent, they are correct. However, if after the customer (or ‘mark’, if you prefer) walks out the door, that same salesperson can often turn into a raging asshole. I’ve seen this happen more often than not and it isn’t real positivity. It is pure salesperson bullshit wrapped up in a fake PMA. This is unhealthy for the person pursuing this way of being, as well as those that work for her/him. Fake is not what you should go for if you want to improve your life. Genuine happiness comes from genuine positivity. It is as simple as that. Look on the bright side because there is a bright side, not because you think you have to see one. Look for the true positivity in your day to day life and you will be much happier and healthier for it.

Peace and happiness, always,
Chantale

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Find Your Calling

For 24 years, I have worked in customer service, in one capacity or another. With that many years under my belt, I can say that I have become pretty damn good at it. I am excellent at smiling through the bullshit of unreasonable requests. I am a master of making the people on the other side of the counter or telephone feel at ease. Sometimes I genuinely feel happy after assisting a customer with an issue, but most of the time I feel like my soul is draining from my body. This is what the customer service industry will do to you. Especially when customer service is not where you were meant to be, but you ended up.

That last thought makes me think of other things I am damn good at.

1. Singing: I am a mezzo soprano and I have a beautiful voice. Normally I wouldn’t be blunt or egotistical about it, but I am really very good at it. I can sing circles around other mezzos, but I do not enjoy competition or rejection. I mean, nobody truly loves those parts of performance, but if they are committed to being stars, or at the very least working singers, they will push through the crappy stuff. I didn’t want to push through the crap. I just wanted to sing and get paid for it. Instead, I gave it up to do other things that were less heart wrenching.

2. Writing: This one is a bit more difficult for me to admit. I have been told, by many people, even those not in my immediate circle, that I am an excellent writer. I suppose that is for you, the reader, to judge. However, I enjoy writing and even though it is also a very cut-throat profession, it does not require putting your entire body and soul on the line the way that performance does. It requires you putting yourself out there, through words, but there is a bit of shield involved that makes it more appealing.

3. Computers: This is most likely due to the generation I was brought up in. Most people my age have an affinity for all things tech. My interest began at an early age (6 or so) when my aunt took me to a computer class for beginners, to help her figure out her new computer, and it was all over. I was hooked. Learning to write programs, in basic, at age 8 and ingesting every computer language I could, after that. I continue to learn to this day and try to be on the edge of the new.

4. Debating: I was never on a team. In fact, I don’t believe my high school even had a debate team, although I was too busy with drama club, band, and chorus to notice. It didn’t matter though, because my mother’s family gave me an education in debate. Every holiday was a championship and I honed my skills with some of the best opponents I will ever face. This skill was very helpful my second time around in college and has also done me well on Facebook, as most of you reading this probably already know. I love being informed on as many topics as I can and using that knowledge to prove my point.

5. Research: My second bachelors degree not only helped me become a better writer, but it gave me a chance to flex my research muscles. Having done very little research in my first bachelors program (that consisted of singing, drinking massive amounts of coffee, working part time jobs, and singing some more) the Sociology program was an eye opener. It made me feel like I had not been to college the first time around, but more of a conservatory atmosphere within a SUNY school. Not as competitive as an actual conservatory, but with very little academic reading and writing. In Sociology I found that my love of the library grew and learning about new populations through participant observation gave me great insight into the world of research and the potential within. It made me rethink my future and make new decisions based on this new knowledge. And that is what college is for, right? To broaden your horizons and help you grow as a human and an intellectual.

So what do all these things add up to? At 38, they still add up to customer service. Tech support. But I am finding my calling. You have to live through a lot of crap to find your true goals. Now I have set those goals toward becoming a research librarian. This will encompass my love of research, academia, social science, and customer service. In the end, I will still be serving a population of patrons, but those patrons will be (fingers crossed) interested in learning. They will have a fire for whatever subject they are requesting documentation on. And the best part, they will not be ordering food and complaining about their order. They will not be calling me on the phone to help them fix a computer issue. They will not be asking to speak to my manager because they didn’t get their way. They will be genuinely interested in working with me to find the answers, and if they are not, I will make them interested. A good research librarian can do that and still be providing good customer service.

The most important thing that you learn, at some point in your life, is this: find what you love and do it. Don’t worry about those around you that might not believe in you. Or those that might be concerned about you taking a different path than others have. Although they most likely have your best interests at heart, they cannot always see beyond the known to the unknown. You cannot let anyone hold you back. You must move towards your dreams, not towards others dreams for you (or themselves.) This is the only way to exist in a space where you can be happy and content. If you are living for others, you will never find the peace you deserve.

Have you found your calling? How long did it take for you to figure it out? Are you still searching? Let me know in the comments!

Peace,
Chantale

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Finally

Five years. That is how long it has been since GBSB officially closed its doors. Even though First Niagara took over the GBSB customers, the culture and time of GBSB was over. Since February 2008, many things have changed in my life. Looking back now, I can see that I have been stuck in a haze that I have been unable to overcome until now.

After the announcement, in September 2007, that GBSB was to be taken over, I immediately began seeing an advisor in the small business center at Buffalo State College. I felt that receiving the severance package from GBSB and starting my unemployment, would give me the opportunity to start planning a business that I had always dreamed of opening.

Let me pause here for a moment to say that you can have more than one dream in your life. I started out believing that I wanted to be a famous broadway actress. That was my goal. To sing and dance and be known worldwide. When that dream did not come to fruition, mostly because of my own laziness in pursuing opportunities, I had to modify my thinking. My next big dream was to own a successful business and even though I haven’t reached that goal yet, I still hope to one day. Everything I do going forward is leading to that eventuality, I just have to open up to other possibilities along the way and make things happen. Understanding that I may not do it here or now, but someday I can if I keep moving forward.

After the business did not take off, my funding was not secured and a death in the family caused me to rethink my goals, I decided to return to school. This return found me in the Sociology department at Buffalo State. Back to my alma mater, back to my home, back to my comfort zone. The program was challenging, but I excelled in it and was able to do quite a bit of undergrad research. It was a wonderful experience and it gave me a chance to see what the college experience really should be. Focusing on my studies was gratifying and I feel that I was able to learn things that I never would have learned on my own. My feminist sensibility was already ingrained in me before I started the program, but after taking classes in gender, power, class, and so on, I was able to put words to my feelings and better articulate my arguments. It was truly a wonderful two years that I will never regret.

An important part of this experience was that it led me to research. After finishing my second bachelors, in 2010, I returned to work full time (in a bank) but continued to have the research bug. I wanted to continue on in a masters program that could include research, but Sociology was not quite the perfect fit, so I decided to apply to the MLS program instead. Having one semester under my belt, at this point, has given me a sense of what this new program is about and where it can lead. I truly feel that everything in my past has led me to this point. Becoming a reference and research librarian encompasses all the other things I have done in my life. Music, Sociology, customer service, tech services, management, database maintenance, web development, etc. can all be pulled in.

My liberal idealism is a great springboard for the open mindedness that a librarian needs to have. No questions asked, helpful no matter what, assisting customers without judgement. These are the cornerstones of the library profession. You can never let your own personal ideals or morals get in the way of what a patron requests. Information is important and the organization and dissemination of it is critical. People are always saying that libraries are going to be useless in the future and that the library profession is not a good one to get in to, but they are wrong. Librarians are going to be even more necessary in the future. We are the ones that can find and organize the information. Without librarians, the world of information would be completely unorganized and impossible to navigate.

My journey will take a couple more years in the masters program before allowing me to work in the industry, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can feel that I am on the right path and I am excited to see where I can go with this degree. It looks like things are going to improve now. I do not want to say this for certain as I know how quickly things can change, but I am trying my best to be positive. After working in a book store, as a tutor, in a bank as a teller, and a prep manager at a deli, I have finally reached a job option that is similar to my job was five years ago. All of my experiences over these past five years have brought me to this. Without going through everything I did, losing family members, losing jobs, living in the same apartment for eleven years, and generally bouncing around, I would have never been able to appreciate this new opportunity.

Coupled with my MLS degree, my new employment will be even more interesting. My understanding of database management and information systems will help me to be successful here and elsewhere, in the future. The writer and I may have had to work hard at a lot of random jobs to get here, but things are definitely looking up. 2013 is going to be a welcomed good year for us and hopefully the following years will only get better. A professor and a librarian. That is the future and we just have to keep chipping away at it until we can make it happen. Finally.

Peace and happy learning!
Chantale

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Creativity

Over the years I have lost sight of my creativity. It still exists and once in a while I use it, but overall I feel like the day to day creative is gone.  Music, writing, web design, dance, beading, barista.  There are so many creative ways in which I am able to express myself, but I tend to put all those creative outlets on hold for work.  Work that is boring and droll, but necessary.  If only there were ways to take my creativity and parlay it into a career.

I know what you are thinking – there are plenty of creative opportunities in the world.  Why have I not pursued them?  One word – debt.  The debt of credit cards and the debt of schools and the debt of cars and insurance and life.  Debt has kept me in banks and kitchens for the past 10 years.  I am on the road to debt freedom though and hopefully when I reach the end I will be able to be free to work on creative things.  Free to live a creative life without the demands that debt brings.

So, you may ask, what is the goal and how can I achieve it?  I have decided that a list is the best way to map out the road ahead and have accountability.  Also, I love lists.  So here goes…

1. Write a little everyday – this is a goal that I have set for myself many times over and it seems to fall to the wayside.  Not because I do not have time to write, but because I choose not to make time.  When I come home from work, I usually take a shower, eat dinner and then fall into a vegetative state on the couch until bedtime.  This is not what I should be doing.  Each day I should be writing a little bit for my future.  Each day I should increase the output until I am writing full columns for magazines or articles for journals or a book.  So, the goal begins with writing a little everyday and work up to writing all day, everyday, as a career.

2. Bead once a week – beading is another activity that has been placed on the back burner in order to do other things.  These other things are not career things, but lazy things.  Watching television or surfing facebook or playing online games.  Not that these activities should disappear entirely, but certainly be done less.  Beading is something I can also do as a career in the future.  I have always been in touch with online crafters, but have never fully put my own work out there.  Believing that it can be sold and that it is worthy of a price tag is step one, but once I can overcome the pricing dilemma the rest is cake.  Make necklaces, take pics, put on etsy, sell to happy buyers. This is a small thing, but it could help me to be able to make a little extra money toward debt and get me closer to the finish line.

3. Join a choir and practice – singing is something I did every single day for 5 years of my life and then it just stopped.  School was a motivating factor for me.  I was a voice major (mezzo-soprano) so I had to be on top of my game.  I needed to do a good job in front of the crowds so I practiced (a bit) and I improved day to day.  Since graduating, in 1997, I have let that part of my life slip into the background.  Yes, I joined an alumni choir and did a bit of singing for a couple years with them, but nothing like the every day practice that I used to have when I was enrolled in several music ensembles a semester.  Singing in the shower and the car does not count!  I must join a community of singers to be fully engaged in the practice.

4. Practice dance and/or yoga 3 times per week – this goal covers to things for me, creativity and health.  I have let myself go over the past 10 years.  My turn around, physically, began when I quit smoking.  It has been almost 4 years since that event and at the time I vowed to also get into shape.  At the time of quitting cigarettes I felt that I needed to give myself some time to be fully into non-smoking before trying to exercise or diet.  This past summer has motivated me to be moving more, if only by the nature of my job in a kitchen/deli.  I do not have time to sit as much as I did in school or at the banks, so I have started to lose weight.  I also have a Wii sitting idle, waiting for me to return to the fit program and do a little yoga, so that is what I must do.  Yoga a couple times per week and tap dancing on the weekends.  This is also a nice way to visit with my mom and get us both up and moving a little.

5. Create a better path for web design in my future – my current MLS program is helping me to better understand the nature of information and how we share knowledge.  Within this program there is an outlet for web developers to be emerging tech librarians.  This is the path that I hope to pursue.  With this goal in mind, at the end of my program I will be able to work in a library setting, at a help desk or on a creative team, focusing on web development and content creation.  Being a web developer has been a dream of mine since I was 10 years old and went to computer camp.  Back then the web did not exist, but the beginnings of it did and for a kid that love to write lines of code (I know, nerd) the future was bright.

6. Leave food service, but retain my barista roots – there will always be a tug at my coat tails from the coffeehouse industry.  It is a “what if” that I will always wonder about. What if I opened my own place?  Would it be profitable?  Would it bomb?  In the end it is really all about the coffee and not about the business itself.  So, in order to retain this passion, I will research coffee and write about it.  I will go to coffeehouses as a recreational activity (as I already do) and I will enjoy my espresso without the worry of projection analysis and profit margins.  Coffee is something that I love and leaving it up to others to make money is the best option for me.  Enjoying it at home or in a cafe is something I can do without jumping in to another business and leaving behind the other parts of my creative life.

I have taken a couple detours on the road to success, but now I feel my path has straightened and I can move forward knowing that in the end I will be able to write, read, code, design, sing, dance, bead, and drink java within the scope of also making money and having less debt.  Tall order, but I am going to try my best to make it happen.  All it takes is a little creativity.

Peace,

Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

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2003.5.16 – interiour design

I am thinking about going back to school. Yes, the hippie has decided it is time to get back to the creative and try to get out of this cycle of customer service hell. Ofcourse, there will be a short time where I will have to continue working in the service industry, to supplement my income, but hopefully after returning to school I can come out with something that projects me into a future with creativity and interest.

The boredom of day to day is getting me down and I think that design is just what I need in my life. A new design perhaps. Interior or Graphic. The decision has not been finalized yet. I am leaning more towards the former, merely because of my obsession with any and every design show on TLC, HGTV and The Discovery Channel. Trading Spaces, While You Were Out, Design on a Dime, Designing for the Sexes, and on and on.

If I could stay home all day and watch these shows I would be in my glory. Even better, to be able to do for a living what these designers do. I’m not talking about being on television as a designer, but just being a designer. Visiting people at home and decorating their lives. Bringing colour and light into spaces that are drab and dim. Giving new life to old rooms. All those cliched things that are used in the commercials for the above shows.

The result of design school would be a BFA degree that I could use to further my craft/design career. The major goal is to not end up in an office again after graduating.

After I received my music degree in 1997 I immediately went to work for a telephone company. It made sense at the time (for the money aspect), but when I look back on it now it was the turning point that brought me here. To a bank. Sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day staring at a computer screen. Sure, there are perks to working in an office on a computer. If I finish up my work early I can work on my websites or write, but overall it is depressing.

So…I am going to go back to school. The only way to do this is to say I am, rather than I think and then just do it. Now is the time and might be the only chance, so wish me luck as I embark on finding a good school and applying. Thankfully I did well in my first bachelors degree, so that will lend me a bit of credit towards a new degree.

Interiour design, here I come! Watch out, ’cause the hippie is on her way!

Peace,
Hippiegrrl

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May Holidays and Changes

This week has been crazy. I began a new job and it has been somewhat overwhelming. I love it, but it is taking me some time to get up to speed. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not good with change or being behind the eight ball. I like to know everything about what I am doing and being “in training” is a very difficult place for me. Pushing through will prove to be rewarding but, in the meantime, it is somewhat disconcerting.

At the same time, mother’s day is hovering. All the commercials are about moms and how much they mean to us. Hallmark, teleflora, pampers, etc. all use the holiday as a marketing scheme. This is not a new phenomenon, but over the past four years this May holiday has become extra sad for me. I still have my mom, but the person whom I saw as a second mom has been gone for four years. It is hard to watch these commercials without getting emotional. And with all the changes, it is even worse. I am hoping that a couple days off from the training, a brunch with my parents and the writer, and some time spent in the library will help me get out of the funk.

One thing to look forward to is the end of the month, Memorial Day, holiday. My local drag club (go go gay rights) holds a white party on the Saturday night before the holiday and I will be there with my friends. Good times and a great way to end the month that started with much change (for the better, but still.)

This post may seem frivolous, compared to my usual banter, but I just felt like posting something about me and stuff that is happening in my life. The blog was down for a few days and this is a resurgence for me. Don’t fret… I will be getting back to the politics and human rights posting soon enough, but for now I will be enjoying the rest of May and hopefully everything will be on an upswing from here on out.

March On!
Chantale aka hippiegrrl

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Keep Your Mouth Shut and Work On

A series of revelations have come to me over the past few weeks. I used to think that looking at a job as being “beneath me” was something that I should never do. That I could never be too good for anything. While this is most certainly true for most things in life, it is not necessarily true about work. Having been told that I should feel “lucky to have a job”, I felt more degraded than humbled. An additional straw was added when I was asked a direct question and before I could answer was told “no smart remarks, just answer the question”. Alright then.

With that, I have finally decided that I AM too good for a specific job. I am WAY too good for this job. I have realized that I AM above it. Being overqualified for a position is fine in the short run, but when you have been doing that same job for over a year, it starts to get old. When people start to get tired of your smartass remarks and tell you so, it might be time to move on.

The archive that I posted today was about coffee and how much we love it. Also – it deals with fair trade and good business practices. Due to my interest in these types of things and my overwhelming need to not be a corporate slob, I have decided that I will do whatever it takes to get out of my current situation. If that means that I have to give up my cellphone, I will. If that means that I have to sell cd’s, dvd’s, books, clothes, electronics, etc. to make a little bit to afford my rent, I will. If I have to take my beads out and turn my hobby into a part time job, I will. Anything to get off the corporate treadmill that is slowly sucking the life out of me.

Up until today everything was okay. It was not fantastic, but it was okay. As of today, it is no longer okay and I am going to actively do something about it. Although I was trying to stick it out, I see there is just no longer any point in doing that. There is no point in trying to make things work when the individuals around you make it super difficult to stay positive and be yourself.

In the end that is all I want to be – true to myself. True to my values, thoughts, feelings, aspirations and understanding of the world around me. Free to be who I am without being told to tone it down or modify my behaviour. Out from under the thumb of corporate culture. Away from this world of misery for a paycheck.

Peace and happy job hunting!
Chantale

appropriate links:
looking for a job?
monster
career builder
indeed
snag a job
mashable jobs
simply hired

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Positivity aka Ways to Piss People Off

There have been days, over the past few months, that I want to crawl up into a ball and forget that I have a job. I do not want to get out of bed in the morning. I do not want to take a shower, get in my car and drive to that place, punch in and start my day. I just want to go to school or the caffe or the library. I do not want to have to deal with the never-ending stream of issues that come with being in the customer service field. I have no choice, so I continue to get out of bed, take a shower, drive my car to that place, punch in and start my day.

This week I have decided that since I have no choice in the matter I might as well attempt to make the best of it, while I have to. Until something better comes along, this is what is. So rather than wallowing in self pity or feeling so badly that I cry all the way home from work, I am going to start looking on the bright side.

WHAT? If you know me personally that is probably the word that is screaming in your head right now. Why would I want to look on the bright side? Well – for my sanity I suppose. If I do not start being a positive person nothing will change. I am hoping that the opposite of that last statement is also true. If I start being a positive person everything will change.

This is all fine and good. I can be a positive person in my little corner of the world. I can schluff off all the crap that comes my way on a daily basis. I can pretend that the ways that people speak to me is not a big deal. I can ignore the pettiness and the insecurity of others and chalk it up to the field I am in. The problem, you see, does not lie within the walls of my workplace. The problem lies with the people I know outside of those four walls.

Since I have started this new, positive, outlook I have had several questions from people close to me. Questions such as, “what is up with you?” or “why are you acting so weird?”. C’mon people! I am trying to be positive here. Work with me!

Living in Buffalo, it is nearly impossible to stay on the bright side. There are always people, at every turn, that want to drag you back down into the doldrums of life in the downer city. If you are positive they are almost always upset with you. Believe me, I have a hard time staying positive. It is nearly impossible when things continue to get worse, but I think that if we just except our fate and be negative all the time nothing will ever change. So this is my plea to everyone. Please try to be positive. And if you cannot be positive yourself, please at least let others who are trying to be, be. I realize that I used to be (and will fall off the wagon many times to return to) negative as well, but this is a new leaf. New leaves are difficult and cumbersome, but in the end they are the best way to move forward.

So, why not join me in turning over this new leaf? There are a few great blogs that I have been reading to get me into the swing of things. Check them out! They may make you become a positive person as well. And do not worry – my cynical sarcasm is still intact, the positivity is only work related. Have a great day and happy protesting!!

Peacefully,
Chantale aka hippiegrrl

Links of note:
cordelia calls it quits
the happiness project
project happiness
brazen careerist

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Is This A Dream?

Sometimes I wonder if my current state is merely a dream and that someday soon I will wake up to a different reality. I will still have the same apartment and the same significant other, but I will be doing something else (something better and more important) with my life. On that day I will rise in the morning, be happy to get out of bed and go to my wonderful job, teaching the future leaders of the world. Until that day, I am living in a haze of good intentions. Until that day, I am applying to PhD programs and attempting to make something of myself. Until that day, I will continue to be a low level employee, working my butt off for very little money, induring great heaping piles of micro-management.

As you may or may not know, I dislike my job. Mostly because it feels like I have taken several steps backward to get to it. At any given time in my past you could have found me managing IT projects for a small community based bank, doing the barista thing, or stocking the shelves at the college bookstore. For a short time I did a stint as a teller, hoping it would evolve into something more. It did not. The only solution is to take a different path. Customer service has been at the root of nearly every job I have had in my life. This has to change. I have finally figured it out. I do not enjoy waiting on people!

So – working from that realization will get me beyond this simple, but tedious and aggravating job set. Moving toward being a professor, working on web design and development as a freelancer, writing articles for hyperlocal media and journals. These are career paths that will lead to somewhere better. Somewhere challenging and fun and not so staunchly conservative or sales based. My dream will come true someday, only this dream will include a classroom and office hours, not a knight in shining armour.

Peace,
Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

What I’m reading now:
Book: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Magazine: Ms.
Online article: The Only Child: Not a Loner?

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“They” as an Obstacle to the Future

Today I feel like getting a little motivational – for my readers and myself. Sometimes one just needs a kick in the behind to see the light. This is me sharing my thoughts with you and hopefully it will benefit both of us!

Over the years, I have worked for many companies that push the idea of loyalty as a core value for employees to abide by. Loyalty can mean many things, and in some cases it is definitely a plus. However, when the idea of loyalty becomes a crutch by which owners and operators rule their roost, it can get sticky.

We have been brainwashed, in this bootstrap, dollar and a dream country, to believe that if we work hard for the corporation we will get something in return. “They” will give us a raise or a promotion or whatever old thing we want for our efforts, down the road. “They” will be upset if we do not achieve. “They” will be hurt if we decide that there is a better opportunity that we want to grab and leave “them” for that brighter future.

Well, “they” are not worth it. “They” are not thinking about our futures, but merely the bottom line. As “they” continue forward the money will roll in or it will not, while opportunities for us will come and go. Living for “they” sometimes hurts us and we need to stand strong in our convictions.

Always remember that “they” are in it for themselves, not the betterment of the community of workers. “They” are not thinking about our family and friends. “They” are not thinking about our growth as human beings as well as career-minded individuals. “They” are always and continuously thinking about the bottom line. People that get in the way of this pursuit for profit will be labeled unloyal or insubordinate. This cannot be a deterrent to continuing on the best path for oneself. “They” will go on surviving (and thriving even) without us if we decide to move on to more important pursuits for ourselves.

So – I propose that each of us begin living and working for “us”, rather than “they”. This change in perspective can you do you well. When faced with a better job opportunity think of how it will better “us” and not how it will hurt “they”. “They” cannot be hurt in the ways that “us” can be, so there should be no feelings of guilt. “They” will continue on without “us” so “we” need to be able to continue on without “them”.

Sometimes the “they” is not a real group of people. Sometimes it is a force that is inside each individual, standing in the way of true growth. “They” is sometimes used as an excuse and this is something that needs to change. Fear of the future can create a “they” in our minds that does not exist in reality. Roadblocks can transform into the “they” that keeps us from making it to the other side of our goals. We need to power through the “they” in each life, real or imagined, and move through to bigger and better things. Without drive and confidence in ourselves, “we” will always be subordinate to “they” and never become the “I” we were each meant to be.

Peace – Chantale aka hippiegrrl

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