tldr; i realized i was juggling too much at once to have a healthy work-life-health balance
Jesus Christ, what a year 2020 has been for job-having people (in particular).
PS: This one's a doozy.
Here's my own timeline:
At the beginning of the year, I had one job at an escape room (1yr anniversary was in September!).
In February I got hired at a second place; A brand new bar that had craft nights.
In March I got laid off of both of those jobs because of covid. (Likely never going back to the bar even though it opened again in August. That's a whole other thing.)
In late July I started working at the escape room again.
In November I got hired on a second (third?) job with the City.
All year I've been applying for new jobs because the escape room doesn't have super solid hours. In August I applied for a marketing/advertising position (my background! I have a BA) with a holistic clinic. In September I applied for a covid-related job with the City, and an administrative assistant position at a naturopath clinic. Both clinics are amazing companies run by women, with amazing values and boast benefits that actually centre around taking care of their employees (things that aren't commonplace but should be, like 3 weeks paid vacation no matter what, bonuses, mental health days, big emphasis on work-life-health balance...).
("The main difference between naturopathic and holistic doctors is that a naturopathic doctor uses natural remedies to enable the body to self-heal, while holistic doctors use conventional medicine in conjunction with other systems of medicine and care to provide holistic health." source)
I interviewed with the holistic clinic within a month of applying and it went really, really well. I think my only downfall was that someone was more qualified than I was and that seemed to be the only reason why I didn't get it. I got a great email from the owner of the company who said she loved me and wanted to keep my information in case something else opens up (that almost never happens!).
I got a call a couple of days after accepting the job offer from the City in November from the naturopathic clinic! Turns out, the owner of that company is really good friends with the owner of the other clinic I had interviewed for, and the first clinic's owner put in a really good word for me out of the blue, and that's when the naturopathic clinic's owner realized that nobody had ever responded to my application.
She called me, we chatted about it, and she invited me to do a phone interview the next day. That went well and then I had an in-person interview a couple of days later. The next week, I had a shadow-shift (which is exactly how it sounds). That went okay, too. It was Friday the 13th. The woman I was shadowing had been gone for a week or so, so she was playing catch up and changing everything back to her way of organization, and there were technical difficulties, a billion phone calls, and not a lot of people I met were very nice. I chalked it up to a stressful day (I was 'reassured' that Fridays are never like that). Sunday I got a call from the owner and she invited me to do a second shadow shift on Tuesday.
This is where things started rattling my brain... (I'll try to be as concisely as possible):
Friday: I had my first shadow shift at the clinic from 10am-3pm (no break, no sitting, no moving, overwhelming, nervous, etc.). I worked at the escape room from 4pm until 11pm (would have been later but I developed a migraine throughout the day and my mom had to pick me up from work because I couldn't drive).
Saturday: I had a shift with the City from 10am to 6pm, but I went home an hour early because we got a call that my 91 year old grandmother in London was sent to hospital after being found on the floor of her bathroom. So I flew home and packed and last-minute we decided to stay home - London is in yellow status with covid, and we can't visit in the hospital anyway, and they needed to do tests before they can think about discharging.
Sunday: I had the City job from 6am to 2:45pm. Then I had that call with the clinic owner about another shadow shift, after which we could discuss contract terms(!!). Also, my escape room supervisor was upset about the City overlapping with my escape shifts and pretty much demanded their next schedule. Stressful weekend to say the absolute least.
Monday: I had the City job from 6am to 2:45pm again. At this point I am overwhelmed, emotional, tired, my body aches, I'm stressed about all 3 jobs and not wanting to upset anybody and I'm worried about my grandmother and my family, I'm just really all over the place.
Ever since my shadow shift on Friday I wasn't feeling great vibes about the job/atmosphere. When I walked in I was greeted by the employee I was to be shadowing and she gave me a dirty up-and-down look and told the owner I wasn't dressed nicely enough (owner told me this during our Sunday phone call). The day was hectic but nobody was nice despite that (isn't that your main responsibility in a front-facing, customer service role? Yes!). The only person who was nice to me was one of the practitioners who was also brand new there. I didn't get a break which was annoying, and I was never offered to take a seat at any point even though my shadow-er (shadow-ee?) was sitting 80% of the time. That look when I initially walked in really threw me. I thought I looked really good, and I also matched the dress code. These vibes were the only thing I thought about almost all weekend into Monday. I finally decided it wasn't the right job or place for me. I emailed the owner Monday evening and was pretty upfront about the reasons I was declining the second shadow shift and pulling out of the interview process (the ones mentioned above, not the vibes thing). (End of part 1.)
Okay you can breathe now :) This is so therapeutic for me lololol
If you're still here, go check out part 2! :) <3 xoxoxo
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