So, have you ever worked for an individual or a non-profit, or had your own small business? If you have, you can attest to the fact that there are benefits to going smaller, in other words, not working for a big company or business. You know, the whole thing about getting to perform multiple tasks making work interesting or being well-rounded in regards to skill set because of the opportunity to learn more and take on bigger things. These things primarily happen because there are fewer people to do the job, so on the job training happens on the fly. I personally like that kind of environment, to a degree.

As with everything, there are caveats. Like some people say, working for oneself or for an individual or small business is less stressful. The corporate structure is not present, the ego-filled meetings are fewer and there are fewer people to piss off or piss you off! Yes, these are valid reasons why doing this type of job is great. But, there are things about it that quite frankly suck! I have been a business owner and I enjoyed that the most by far because of the freedom I had, but don’t get me wrong it was some hard work. But working for a person can be a real pain in a different way.  The pay is often less than what they are worth.  They expect you to do EVERYTHING for a set hourly wage and no matter how educated you are, menial tasks are on the menu.

Last year the job I had as a nanny would have equaled to 50K if I had done it all year. That isn’t a lot to many people and certainly not a lot for someone with my education. But, I got paid to literally do nothing. I drove a tween around to her activities and sat at the house until set hour. I also got paid for mileage or used their car. At the time I hated it because I was bored. I just wish I would have done more productive things during that time period like write or finding another stream of income. I digress, I got paid a decent wage for just being a responsible adult and the family valued their child being safe and taken care of. You get the point.

Back to what I am doing now, a whole lot for not enough cash. I take care of a baby 90 percent of the time and I totally love her. But I do laundry, dishes, wipe off bathroom counters and mirrors, vac daily because kids are messy. Basically a domestic servant. The teeny tiny amount of time I have available, I work on the nonprofit stuff that was supposed to be half of what I do, and now I am helping out with a big event. I get paid the same as the job last summer and I work my ass off. One of the reasons that I stay here is because it is close to home and close to my where my kiddo goes to school and works roughly around her school schedule. But I am not really appreciated fully for all that I do. If I was, I would get paid more.

The real kicker is that last week I worked a few hours over time and she wanted me to get off early another day to pay me my hours back, but still not paying me in cash for the over time. And a couple of weeks running, she has asked that I leave early on a regular day in order to work other days that I am not scheduled. It is not at all in my agreement to switch my hours around to suit her. It is also not in my contract to take care of  kids outside of the baby when school is out, but I have done it because I do not feel that I have much of a choice. That is the biggest problem about working for a person vs an organization, there is no recourse if there are grievances.

When she told me that she was not going to pay for what I worked extra, I was pissed. I told her I thought we had an understanding and that I was depending on that money. I didn’t respond in the way that I wanted or in the way that she readily deserved, but I was more assertive than I usually am. I immediately thought of the song- B**** better have my money! I was all gangster in my mind, but I kept it all in because of fear of losing a job. I now have this not so simpatico feeling towards this person even more. I am less inclined to work hard and less invested in what I am doing, either professional or domestic tasks. And that is just not me.

When I had my own business, people would screw around with my money and I would be so upset, because I was young, but I got better about confronting. But the difference was, it was my business and I could choose who and what I was willing to deal with. Right now, I feel that my hands are tied and I have to be diplomatic because I need to pay bills. I hate feeling this way! It is a bit degrading, but I am going to try to be chill until I get other streams of income.  I don’t want to ever be the file throwing maniac that I was when I left my first career job, I will leave that for another post. 🙂

In the meantime, I will do this job but focus more heavily on my dreams, because I am freaking tired of helping other people get to where they want, while I tread water and make little to no progress…

simply~

Dee