Friday 19 July 2013

The Blond confessions: quitting the job - starting a new life

My boss has this really annoying habit of walking around the office in circles. He does that when he's tired and need a bit of a rest from the computer screen.
When he passes my desk I straighten up and stare at my 'to-do' list intensely. I keep the list long. Sometimes I add a few words in Polish, like 'kup ser' (buy cheese) to not only remind myself of the shopping I need to do that evening, but also to make the list look like I have thousands of things to do and I don't have time to scroll through Facebook every five minutes, exchange online recipes with my sister, or retweet some pretty cool stuff written by more talented people than me.




I've been with the Company 2 years and I worked hard to get here. I improved my English, went on courses, applied for jobs. It was a long ride...and when I finally got here I realised that wearing suits and heels and being polite to snobby individuals every day is S-H-I-T and I hate it. I actually could have realised it a bit earlier, when I was working for another company, and another office and did exactly the same - scroll through Facebook, exchange recipes, retweet...But I wanted to work in a glamorous office with some people that played golf in the weekend, and drunk sophisticated cocktails the names of which I couldn't remember.
Do you know that in some circles it is really important who goes through the door first?? Apparently, it shows who is more of a boss. Once I saw two men standing at the door for 5 minutes going 'You first. No, you. I insist' and then trying to squeeze through at the same time. These are the people I work with - men with huge egos.

Last week I sat my boss down and told him I was leaving in November. Surprisingly, he was supportive and excited for me (although, you never know with English people. He might have gone home and told his wife that I was going crazy after the divorce. But, who cares!) I think he might be relieved. Finally he will get rid of his PA, who scrolls through Facebook and...(you know the rest). Maybe this time he will be more lucky and employ someone who actually understands what people talk about at meetings, makes notes and doesn't look like she's bored out of her mind all the time.

I have huge expectations from my new life and job in Thailand. I want the teaching to be exciting, every day to be different AND sunny, and I don't want to think of Facebook during my working hours. Is this too much? Probably! I might get annoyed at those little brats after a day, dump everything and go back to the UK, straight back to my old desk, which will feel like warm slippers. But for now I am focusing on the fact that I'm leaving my corpo-hole and I won't have to do any team building activities, or lie when someone asks me if I agree that the meeting was really interesting (Who are you kidding? We just went through a PowerPoint presentation with words like 'KPI' and 'budget prediction' in it ).

Got to go...my boss is doing another circle!





7 comments:

  1. I'm still a student now and I just can't imagine what a corporate life would be like. A few weeks ago I went to South Korean embassy office, which shared the building with a lot of other offices. I went there and everybody seemed in a rush; seemed to be 'important' or doing something important, but the sight of those people made me realize that is not what I want to do after I graduate. They're all wearing suits and polished leather shoes and looked smart, but I just don't think they're actually enjoying life, you know?
    Anyway, good luck on your new journey! Have a great time teaching! :-) I loved my English teachers when I was in high school. Some of them are well-traveled, and I really liked their stories. Have fun, you'll do just fine!

    Cheers!

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    1. Good for you to realize that you don't want a life like this now, and not after 10 years of sitting behind a desk. You're so young and have so much ahead of you. Use your imagination and grab the opportunity. Don't be afraid of doing what you love!
      and thanks a lot for words of encouragement. Every comment like this makes me feel stronger.

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  2. Absolutely awesome!!!!! I cry a virtual tear of joy every time someone drops a job they hate and hits the road! You know if Thailand doesn't work out long term there are no shortages of other desinations.... Why does it have to be back to the UK?

    I'm English.... I resent your comments about us being two faced ( joke :) ... or is it! )

    Forest.
    http://EverydayNomad.com

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    1. Thanks Forest! I always admired people who did it, but I could never do it myself as I was too scared. Now, I feel empowered and really happy!

      That was joke in some ways, but I find English people to be too polite to say what they actually think.

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  3. Stumbled upon this post while clicking on the hash tag #life on Twitter.

    It's always good to hear these kind of stories, where people are making drastic change in their life and pursuing what's in their heart. So thank you for sharing!

    Btw, I see that you visited a lot of country from Southeast Asia. I'm from Indonesia! Have you been here before?

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    1. Thank you for your comment, Yohanes.
      I hope that drastic change will be a good one.
      I haven't been to Indonesia yet. I'm actually going to Bali in December and I can't wait.

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  4. Wow, good for you Jo! I just didn't have the guts to do what you did though my job isn't that bad after 25 years on it. And in the end it will provide me with the means to pursue more of my dreams. But, we only truly have today so congratulations on seizing your's! :) Interesting on English people being too polite. I had never heard that before...hmmmm....I'm thinking on that :)

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