Hope Sucks

Have you ever heard the expression "hope springs eternal"? Every time that I do, it makes me cringe. You can take from this that I am not what you would call an optimistic person. In fact, I could be described as the polar opposite of hopeful. But every once in a while, something sneaks in and ruins everything. I may have received some good news recently. You'll notice the qualifier may because the jury is still out, so to speak. It goes back to what I said in the beginning, hope makes me cringe. If you aren't familiar with the emotion, it kind of feels like butterflies in your stomach combined with a yearning feeling. It sucks. Maybe that part comes from being disappointed too many times, it's hard to say. But if you are one of those sunny, silver lining in every cloud kind of people, do me a favor and stay away. I can't stand you. I don't do perky, and if I have have to see another performance of Up with People, I'll step off a tall building. I'm not kidding. But the counter balance of that is that sometimes, sometimes, hope isn't a mean bitch with a fourteen inch strap on-to paraphrase my favorite program, Dexter. Do you remember what it felt like when you first started for the happiest company in the world? Did you have a faint hope that this was going to be a good job, maybe even a great job? Had you taken a sip of the company koolaid? The first few days of the job can be wonderful. They sit you in a small room with a bunch of other people who are happy to have a job, and they tell you how great everything can be. They spell out the benefits(such as they are) and they tell you over and over that how far you go in the company is up to you! I'll bet they even trotted in a few managers who started out as lowly peons, just like you. The sky is the limit, with stock purchase options, paid vacations, paid sick leave, and a host of other opportunities. Don't you think? But slow down there, Skippy, and take a closer look. Once you've been there for a period time (three weeks, tops) you are going to notice two kinds of people. There are the people who do their jobs well and go home. Then there are the people who may or may not do their job well, but they sure can find the person in charge to suck up to, can't they? Marylin told me about a support manager she worked with. This support manager never failed to find a particular co manager when she was with her Mother. It seems the co manager was quite fond of this pair, even took in a couple of ball games that the support manager's son pitched in. I'm sure there was a way around that no fraternizing policy, I just know it. But the point is, this support manager was the number one pick from managment to be in their trainee program. Was it her great leadership? Was it her ability to take five to seven breaks every night? Or was it her relationship that she had with the comanager? What do you think? So if you are looking to buy into the whole Walmart is the coming retail messiah just keep sipping. If you stop, you won't care for what you see around you. Trust me, you'll thank me later.