Thursday, September 22, 2005

Career Aspirations

Banking really irritates me sometimes. Especially working with a bunch of half-trained newbies and hearing my name called out again and again for help or for an override..."Mara!" "Mara!" "Mara!" gets really old in that context. Oh well, with that off my chest...

The training wasn't as bad as I thought b/c a lot of it dealt with loss-prevention--i.e. not cashing bad checks--which fascinates me. If I stay in this industry I hope to move in that direction; fraud and l.p. I haven't cashed any bad ones myself yet. I know I have an end-of-quarter review coming up with my boss and I don't know what to think about it. I'm better off than I was a quarter ago, but not good enough--September's referrals don't make up for July's, but she will see the sharp upwards trend, plus I've been so helpful in training (babysitting) the newhires lately...

I realize that if I want to move up or out from where I am now, I have to make myself promotable, which I haven't been doing to date. I've been goofing off; not at work precisely b/c I work my ass off while I'm there, but in planning ahead and treating my job like the jumping-off place that it should be. Instead I've just been going to work every day as though it's all I ever want to do. The main problem for a long time was just a misalignment of goals; I thought if I took care of 150 people a day and kept my drawer in balance, then I was doing pretty well. But all the bank really cares about is the referrals. I'd be doing better to help fewer customers and talk to each one more and sell them things--which I've known all along, I guess. I don't know exactly what I want to do next, but being in high standing here means that I can apply for other positions inside and get help from my boss, I hope.

Of course another underlying problem is that a (large) part of me is hoping to be 'great with child' by this time next year, which dampens my career ardor somewhat as I'd hope to cut back to part-time if I had a baby, which makes me a teller again, I think. I don't think there are a lot of other part-time positions. The benefits I have with the bank are too good for me too quit entirely--the health care alone would be worthwhile. Well, who knows what will happen in that field? I should go along job-hunting anyways: what if I can't get pg, or if D's shoulder thing is permanent?

So, tomorrow I shall refer as though the big cheeses are standing behind me and I shall do so from now on, because I have to if I ever want to not have to.

2 comments:

Benjamin said...

You go, girl!

What? No more crisis of conscience about the credit cards?

Thanks for coming into Borders this morning. You were the best part of an otherwise frustrating day.

Benjamin said...

P.S. I like Faramir, too. I thought he received bad treatment in the movies, though. They made him seem too gruff and stern. And I don't remember him ever, even fleetingly, coveting the ring (or Ring) in the books.

But my big fave has always ben Bilbo.