Profile | Anna
“I try not to think about my job too often,” Anna* says as we sit down for tea. “I’m a receptionist a at a high-end car dealership. The salesmen are pigs and the work is boring. Most of the clients are rich, condescending snobs.”
She pauses for a minute to look out the window.
“I guess you don’t have to ask me how I feel about my job,” she says, watching the rain. “It’s pretty obvious that I hate it.”
After graduating from university in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology, Anna bounced from one low paying job to another. A few weeks after uploading her resume to Workopolis, she received a call from a temp agency.
“The car dealership was the first gig [the agency] set me up with,” she says. “It was only supposed to be for a couple of months but I was offered a permanent position. I didn’t want to accept it but I didn’t have anything else to fall back on. I figured I’d put up with the job temporarily and search for something else.”
That was four years ago. Anna is still working at the same dealership, with no prospects in sight.
“The economy is in a bad place and competition is fierce,” she explains. “I sent out 250 resumes last year and I’ve only been to two interviews … I’d love to go back to school and upgrade my skills but I have no idea what I’d like to do.”
Anna doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life stuck behind a receptionist’s desk. “I used to be a photographer. I want to get back into it but I haven’t been feeling very artsy lately. It takes every bit of energy I have just to get up and go to work in the morning.”
Anna hopes to find a job that will allow her to help her community, use her creativity and become a better person. She doesn’t feel like she can accomplish any of these things in her current position.
“I wish I could take all of my fears, doubts and self-pity and turn them into something positive. I wish I was doing more with my life … but right now I just feel trapped.”
She sighs.
“Can we change the subject?” she asks me.
“All this talk about work is really starting to depress me.”
* Name has been changed.
“Profile” is an ongoing series in which people share their work experiences. If you’re interested in being featured on Profile, contact me. Anonymous submissions are welcome. Please include “PROFILE” in the subject line.