THE EXPERIMENT

Saturday, Oct. 15, 2005 - 2:50 p.m.

CHANGE IS GOOD

It is amazing how a couple of sentences said to you can make your life flash before your eyes and shake the ground beneath your feet. That bitch supervisor of mine whom I still work with said such a thing to me yesterday.

The bitch just got back from a budget committee meeting where the state discussed likely budget cuts due to Katrina’s impact on the Louisiana tax base. Politicians gave doom and gloom reports of the need to cut a quarter of the state’s work force. She walked into the office and emailed the meetings minutes to everyone on the team just to make sure we all felt uncomfortable.

Then she walks up to me in her signature approach that makes the temperature drop about 20 degrees. She goes on to say in her high-pitched bitchy voice, “I don’t mean to put the fear of the Lord in you, but you need to do your best work.” Then she walked away.

First of all, I highly doubt I am at serious risk of losing my job. My supervisor, being the bitch she is, is one of the most negative-thinking people on earth, not to mention the fact that she would love to see me get fired. Unfortunately for her, the boss of the office is practically a member of my family.

However, even if, in the worst case scenario, I do lose my job, which I do not like all that much anyway, all I need to do is pack my bags, leave Baton Rouge, and go to a city where I can get a job immediately making twice my current salary. I have no family or girlfriend to leave behind, I am likely to make a nice profit in selling my house, and I will likely end up in a city that is much less likely to be affected by a stupid hurricane.

The only problem would be the changes to my life that would occur. First, I am likely to have a job that results in longer work-hours, a ton of travel, and less free time. Second, I would probably have to fight a lot more traffic than I do right now. Third, I probably would not be able to retire in my late forties. Finally, I would have to rebuild my social network from scratch, which I have done fairly successfully in Baton Rouge. All these would be obstacles to overcome, but are also dealt with by single young professionals in cities across America every day.

But change in life is inevitable. We can either view change as an opportunity or as something that discourages us. I choose to view change positively. The bitches of this world choose not to. That is why getting away from this bitch would make change all the more gratifying.

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