For a Friend

There are times when I question the path that my life has taken, things that I could've done over and better if I'd known where they would lead, things that I wish I could have the opportunity to rectify. But for the most part, I know that were I able to enlist Doc Brown in helping me to make such things come to pass, I'd regret it; who I am now is often times the result of how I've dealt with the bad things that happen (as well as the good things, too). I had reason to think about this last week, because without one particular experience in my past I wouldn't be able to understand what a friend of mine is going through right now.

Without getting into specifics, she was let go from her job last week, and she's currently trying to find employment somewhere else. I know all too well what a hell that can be.

Two and a half years ago, I had a job that I loved. I was good at it, my co-workers liked me, I made decent salary, and what's more I could help people (yeah, sure it was just helping them find a book that they might be looking for, but it felt good at the end of the day to have a job that actually required me to use all the information I'd stored away in my head after a lifetime of reading and paying attention to culture). Then I got fired, and it was devestating. In the immediate aftermath, I went to a really dark place mentally, not a "guns blazing revenge fantasy" place but a "why fucking bother getting out of bed" place. It took me over a month to find a job that would take me, and then only because a friend of mine worked there and let me know about an opening. It took even longer for me to feel like I could do anything worthwhile.

In a way, though, getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it forced me to start the long, unattractive process of growing up. I'm still not there yet, but I am getting to the point where I appreciate how difficult things can be without a good support system. Those co-workers who liked me at my old job? We're still close (they made a point of inviting me to a birthday party not too long after my firing, and while I wasn't my usual barrel of laughs they did help me feel better about things). As dark as things got, once I knew my sister was pregnant with what would become my beautiful niece, I knew I had to stick it out. And now, when my friend needs support and understanding, I hope I can provide both. I know for sure that I'll try.

So let me tell you about her, in case anyone reading this is a prospective employer in the greater Greenville metro area: she's an expert customer-service representative, with experience in retail. She told me once that she wanted to be a librarian, so anything like that (libraries, bookstores, etc.) is where she would kick ass and take names. She knows how to navigate the delicate waterways of interpersonal workplace relationships (i.e., she gets along with everyone, even the people that piss her off). You'd be a fool not to hire her.

In the intitial moments after she let me know about her unemployment, I felt helpless to aid her, and while I've done job searches online and practially harassed friends of mine in G-Vegas about jobs that might be available, I don't think I've done enough to help her out. Maybe it's the whole "Hero on a White Horse riding to rescue" thing, but I want to do more. So far, though, this is the best I can manage.

So I hope that, in some small way, me doing this will help her out, either in actually getting a job or in making her feel better until she does get one. I'm good at cracking stupid jokes to take her mind off the sad stuff, I think, so I'll keep that up as well. And for anybody else out there going through something, be it work-related or not, allow me to offer this platitude: don't give up, things will get better.