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garrisonscott's comments:
on Getting Back to Work: Jobs and Identity
Repost from earlier, pre-immigration...
Hi. I am in a job that I absolutely want to get away from for many reasons - health (I have a degenerative retina/eye condition and this job is entirely computer-based), professional (while in the field I have worked in for years before, the nature of the job is purely data-entry), and, most of all, happiness. My wife is a newly-minted elementary teacher who is unable to find teaching work, even for the summer. I have held onto this job while she finished school and now as she is looking, but we are facing very tough prospects. Being in this job has been demoralizing, to say the least, and has had a very negative effect on my overall interaction with the day. It is very frustrating to feel like my wife worked so hard to become certified as a teacher and that she would find work, which would alleviate the financial strain. However, it seems we are both stuck.
I am grateful that I can pay our mortgage but it's coming at the cost of our married happiness. I wish I could separate my work life from my personal life but it's difficult to just leave the effects of work behind when there is so much frustration everywhere outside of work. At what point do we leave Oregon? Is it weak that my workday affects my after-workday? I feel like my marriage is paying the cost of such a horrible economy and that the inability to find or change jobs is the biggest reason.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Getting Back to Work: Jobs and Identity
I know, I'm sorry I removed it. I copied it but lost it. Anyway, this was wildly off-topic.
Essentially, my wife is a newly-licensed teacher absolutely unable to find any type of work, even for the summer. I am 'stuck' in a job that has begun to negatively effect my out-of-the-office life, mainly that the frustration both my wife and I feel about the inability to find either a first job or a new job is starting to erode our marriage (and we've only been married two years). In fact, just this morning, I was thinking to myself about the nature of marriage and whether it becomes a source of love, such as why we got married, or obligation, such as to pay our mortgage. This is a very real effect of the employment situation - both the intense frustration of not being able to find one and also being so unhappy in a work situation that it does start to define you. It is a very tricky situation right now. Taking any job for the sake of working/paying bills can lead to profound effects on senses of personal fulfillment and self-worth. At what point is it time to leave Oregon? And is it really better anywhere else?
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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on Getting Back to Work: Jobs and Identity
What is going on here? This isn't a debate about immigration. I agree largely with roadrunner, in that a majority of blame falls with corporations. Locally, we have Nike, which produces most of their goods overseas. If they would show some of the national pride others feel in this forum, unemployment might not be such a problem. Also, someone is hiring those looking for work. If you have an issue with a local restaurant, etc. hiring people not in your community, talk to the person who does the hiring. Blaming those looking for work is not going to solve anything.
posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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