Good Things Comes To Those Who Wait

My journey to finding and making my own way, came with obstacles, and disappointments, but came with rewards.

Back in 1987 of last summer, I enrolled in a job training program, that will help me get a job for I, at the time had no skill set; I was 21 years old at the time.  Prior to my enrollment, I attempted to apply for a job at a place, I do not remember.  It was in downtown Brooklyn, I sat and waited for awhile to be interviewed; it was about an hour or so; until my name was called.  There, I met this older woman, who appeared to not want to help me, being as courteous and respectful as I was, I allowed this woman to ask me intrusive questions that had nothing to do with my job skills or experience.  She had me fill out a form asking me, if I had children does my parents work, and so one.  I was 21 years old, and she was asking me about my parents’ occupation? 

She was condescending and rude to me, and long story short, she snapped “You will have to get a job on your own,” and it was because I was not able to provide her the answers that she was looking for.  Perhaps, it was due to her asking me the wrong questions, that was irrelevant to my circumstances.  I just wanted to work and earn a living just like everybody else, and hated being on public assistance, to which I no longer was on.  I was taken off at the age of 18, and when I came into some money from a lawsuit, dating back in 1970; when I was hit by a car at the age of 3.    

I went home and told a family friend my story, and what she said made a lot of sense that it had motivated me to enroll in a job training program. I was told that the only reason I couldn’t get a job, was due to me having no skills and experience; and she was correct about that.  I was later introduced to a place, that specializes in training individuals, like me who are unskilled, to prepare them for employment. 

There at the job center, I learned data entry, calculations, typing for over a year.  It was the data entry and typing skills that would later land me my first job.  In 1988 throughout several months from January, I were to be sent on interviews, that didn’t land me a job; that was until August 1^st of 1988 when I landed my very first job at a non-profit organization.  Once hired, I was given work assignments, that required typing and filing, but no data entry until later in 1992.  In 1992, I was provided a new work assignment, that required me to enter membership information into the computer.  And it was there, that I began having not only strong data entry skills, but years of data entry experience, that would get me a second job at a huge financial company in 2005. 

I lasted more than 16 years at the NPO, which I will not name, I was beginning to feel less happy and enthusiastic, having to deal with toxic co-workers and a narcissistic boss, who took over the organization when, the original founder, who had hired me passed away. On June 2004, the narc, handed me my walking papers, yet I didn’t allow that to upset me at all.  Throughout my years at that place, I was strong enough to bear the brunt of those, including the new boss, who made me feel less than what I was. 

The employees at a bank, that is no longer there, were so unfriendly when I go to either cash or deposit my paycheck; as if I wanted to rob them or something like that.  The bank was adjacent to the office building, where you just walk across the lobby to get inside. I couldn’t go there any more because of that, because of this gaslighting, condescending head bank teller, that insulted me in front of other customers.  Even to this day, I feel a strong sense of bitterness towards her; and hope that she will ultimately or already, has faced her karmic justice.  I took my hurt out on people, that I shouldn’t, I wanted to cut myself off from everyone, because I didn’t know who to trust anymore.  But me being let go from my job of 16+ years, would  later change my circumstances for the better.

In January, I re-enrolled in a job training program, only this time, to upgrade my work skills, by taking Microsoft Office, which consists of Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook, and Access.  Because when I was working at my former job, they didn’t have MS.  My data entry skills and experience were a lot stronger in addition to typing.  I remember typing over 75 wpm, with very few errors, long story short, in October of 2005 after working for customer service firm in both upstate NY and Staten Island for less than three months, I landed a job a global financial company, where I am still active. 

I am learning new skills and becoming more multi-dimensional at that, this job has been a huge blessing for me, and I will forever be grateful.  I just want to thank the individual, who have interviewed, although she is no longer with the company, who gave me a chance.  There, I have made some mistakes, but immediately corrected those mistakes, where I never made those same mistakes again.  During the past year, I’ve been learning data analyst, by further upgrading my Excel skills using pivot tables, pivot charts, lookups, and I am learning SQL at that.  During the years of employment from 2005 to present, I learned to not allow negative energy to change who I am.

Over the years, as I have grown mentally and professionally, I learned to not allow negative energy to change my character.  There is time when you encounter individuals, who don’t have good intentions, doesn’t have your best interest at heart, and those who are just downright mean-spirited.  The best way to defeating these individuals, is to not allow them to change who you are, and being the better person today, than you were yesterday; be what they don’t want you to be.  

In conclusion, I started out struggling, facing disappointment after disappointment only to later, achieved that goal that I had set for myself and later exceeding that goal; thanks in part to my perseverance, strength and the inability to give up. Today, I am most grateful to be alive during this pandemic and counting my blessings and not my problems.

The End

Get Out Of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior

By Author, Mark Goulston