As I sit down to write this morning, it looks like both US Senate re-run races in Georgia are going to the Democrats. Fingers crossed, the new administration will be set up for making good changes...
I'm setting myself up to make good changes too.
I've only applied for the one job so far, but yesterday I did something I've wanted to do for a long time:
I joined an online Toy Photography group where I've lurked for a few years: toyphotographers.com.
And I posted my first photo on their MeWe community--this one from a couple springs ago, a favorite of mine:
What I want is motivation to try more action shots.
It attracts me that the group posts a lot tips--on lenses, lighting, props, etc. ( Photoshop too, but not only.) Like this one, on setting up a Boba Fett scene.
Most toy photographers, so far as I can see, photograph action figures and LEGO toys.
Most doll photographers tend to focus on fashion and clothes, or interior household scenes, even for Madeline. (The Adaams Family photo I posted a few days ago is a rare exception.)
So I haven't found a group where I feel I fit, exactly, but there are a lot of women in the Toy Photographers group, and it seems pretty open to different types of toys, even if LEGOs predominate.
I don't mind that!
I just want to feel I can play with my dolls alongside.
We'll see how it goes.
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"I Know It Was You"
Positioning myself for good changes:
this Monday I told the bosses (Big and Ass't) I'm not giving notice but that I want them to know I'm looking for another job.
I need to earn more money, I said:
"Keep me in mind if you hear of any online editing/writing work."
I didn't/don't want to make it about them.
It is about them, the bosses, of course:
if their mission were to pay a living wage, they could do it---through creative fundraising, which I advocated for when I started (and which went nowhere).
And if that were their mission, they would be people I respected, and I wouldn't want to leave because of them––and I wouldn't have to leave because I can't live on the pay.
Anyway, I announced my intention because I wanted to be preemptive--Ass't Man was busting my chops because I won't cashier (not safe during Covid), and Big Boss had announced a meeting for Tuesday (yesterday), and I feared it would not be pretty.
Indeed.
Big Boss said at meeting yesterday (the day after I gave long-term notice) that he didn't want to see anymore "insubordination":
This is a low-paying job, and that's the way it is.
Those who don't like it should consider moving on and stop stirring up trouble. (This is mostly directed to a coworker who has been talking about how we should be getting a living wage.)
BB is a BD (Big Disappointment).
But the only reason Big Boss knows what's happening in the ranks is because Ass't Man is a snitch.
Boy, do I feel Sicilian about this.
You know the scene in Godfather II where Al Pacino lets his brother know he knows his brother is a snitch?
I posted that on my social media.
"I know it was you, Fredo."
Of course I'm not going to have Ass't Man taken out on the lake and shot.
Of course not!
I don't have the contacts.
My decision to leave is about the consequences of poor leadership,
but I'm not wasting my energy on those people.
I did at lot at this store, and I could do so much more.
But not alone, and not in the long run.
It's like this place has got not glass ceilings, but asbestos.
Move on!
GOOD, and the Girlettes take out the trash! The Girlettes voted well, too. A few were in Georgia , I hear...They wanted peaches but ended up influencing the vote, using their honesty and common sense.
ReplyDeleteLow pay in places like thrift shops is a problem everywhere. Here in Australia most workers in such places are retired, over 65, and getting a pension, so the little they get from working is just a bonus while they feel good about themselves for not just sitting at home watching TV all day. There are some younger people, but they also have some kind of government assistance, perhaps a disability pension if they are unable to work in proper jobs.
ReplyDeleteGoing to watch the toy video now.
There’s a great observation that colleges and universities so ostensibly devoted to social justice could make a start by paying adjunct faculty a living wage. So too with thrift stores?
ReplyDeleteAcademia has people who “tell”: talk in confidence about something and it gets back to the chair. Like any other workplace, I guess.
How deep is the lake?
LINDA SUE: The girlettes love peaches!!!
ReplyDeleteRIVER: Indeed--low pay is a problem everywhere. My store has a mission to "eradicate the CAUSE of poverty", but it pays no attention to that.
MICHAEL: Yes! That's it. The institutional hypocrisy or failure failure to even think of living up to the terms of what it says it holds dear.
The lake near me is fairly shallow---only 30-feet deep. It used to be a swamp--the city dredged it.
But there are lakes in town that are 90-feet deep...
RIVER: P.S. Thrift store work is a "proper job"--same as any retail job.
ReplyDeleteOf course it is a proper job, but try telling that to the government. Most thrift shops here are church or charity owned, so the governments don't see them as workplaces.
ReplyDelete