“I just don’t really care about what we do.” So said Allison as she described her job in what I’ll call a value-neutral business. “Look, the company is not evil and I’m sure people like our products or they wouldn’t buy them but I have no connection to the company. All I do is make sure that our customer process goes smoothly. But that basically means that I end up talking to unhappy customers and I’m sick of it because… I really don’t care.”
Allison’s story — from my notes of a client not named Allison – was her opening narrative as part of the process Career Counseling Connecticut provides its clients in our career questionnaire. This was from 2018. A few weeks ago she wrote:
“Dear Daryl, I hope all is well. I just wanted to thank you for our meetings a few years ago. I am now [confidential] and thoroughly enjoying my work. You were right: ‘meaning matters’…”
Allison had started working for a small business in the town she lives in (hence the need for confidentiality) and felt connected to both “the company”, which was really a group of older friends and the products that they sold which were in Allison’s view “good for people.”
The pandemic has certainly allowed time for reflection. An increasing number of clients have called with similar tales.
“I realize as I’ve been home that I don’t want my work life to have such little meaning…”
“Other than getting paid, I get nothing out of work…”
“I know we all have to work but there has to be a better way..”