Movin' On
This is the story of my career. So far.
Four years ago, I came to this job. I'd been a Customer Service Supervisor for just about a year when the opportunity to be promoted to an Operations Manager at another office came up. I knew going in it would be hard--the ops manager was leaving to have a baby, the CSS was leaving to go back to school, and the branch manager had been out on medical leave and wasn't coming back--but I didn't know how hard.
I had a staff that had loved their old management family, and did not take kindly to the newcomer. They made my life as difficult as they could. Because I was the only supervisor in the branch, I was working six days a week, ten-plus hours most days. No one wanted to help me get anything done, because it "wasn't their job". One by one, they all quit.
I heard through the grape vine that someone I thought should have had my back was of the opinion that I may have been promoted too quickly and I wasn't ready for the job.
I cried. A lot. Many days, I cried all the way home from work, which was a 45-minute commute on good traffic days. It was a lot of crying.
Eventually, we got a full management team. I hired an awesome staff. A few people have rotated through in the last few years, but it's always been good. We've gotten to be more like a family. It's not always easy and we don't always see eye-to-eye, but we support each other and we get the job done.
Somewhere along the line, I got pretty good at my job.
Yesterday, I got offered a new job.
I have a job-angel, see. My JA got me hired as a CSS, as an Ops Manager, and now she was instrumental in my getting this job.
At first, I was a little hesitant--it's a promotion in responsibility, but a sidemotion in salary. And really, if you factor in the fact that there is no opportunity to earn any kind of incentive pay like my OM job has, it's sort of more of a backmotion in salary.
BUT!
It's a new set of challenges and responsibilities, and it's a job I think I would really like, and really be good at. And there's room to grow.
And I'm excited! It'll be hard, and scary, and I may feel overwhelmed at first, but I will just look back at myself four years ago, and have confidence that I can do it. I'll be pretty good at this job, too.