When I started my current job, I showed up with a few pre-conceived notions. As I set about learning the language of workers' comp insurance and state-speak, and trying to acclimate to an entirely new workplace vibe, I felt like a retail bum who was likely in over my head. Retail jobs were the sum total of my work experience, and I was suddenly working with people who’d been in government their entire careers.
Then I began to notice some stark differences in those vastly different worlds, the most surprising of which is how fluid deadlines seem to be. Coming from a world of seasonal campaigns, newspaper and radio ads, and you know, holiday promotions, I thought "deadline" was a pretty universal concept. As in the due date of a given project is agreed upon at the beginning, and that's that. (Fun fact, the historical meaning of the word is "a line drawn around a prison beyond which prisoners were liable to be shot.")
On more than one occasion, I've found myself nearing the end of a project only to be informed of a major shift in direction. When I calmly point out that if we do that, the project timeline will need complete revamping, and the agreed-upon deadline will be impossible to meet, I'm told, "okay." Um...What?? And there I sit, searching for a reasonable response and biting my lip so as not to blurt out, "Oh, let me just move Christmas because you people changed your minds!"
It's taken a while, but I've come to realize that my humble retail beginnings actually did plenty to prepare me for the real world, including teaching me how to stay calm when someone is ranting about things that are completely out of my control, how to multi-task, and how to get. Things. Done. I suppose that really shouldn't surprise me, given how hard my former colleagues and I worked, especially to set up and execute holiday campaigns. And it's not news that government timing is...different...
I've often thought a mandatory two years in retail would do wonders for this society, especially when I see customers going off on minimum wage clerks. Maybe we'd all be kinder and more understanding, but maybe not. In any case, I can be proud of my retail roots and thankful for the collective experience that brought me this far. Will I ever get used to deadlines as mere suggestions? Time will tell...
