When I was in my early twenties at the phone company, I noticed that the supervisors and managers seemed to be treated better than the "non-management" or "occupational" employees, as we were called. This was true even in the presence of a very strong Union.
The managers were treated like adults. They sometimes could even decide when to take a break, or when to go to lunch. They had their own desks, with a name plate. They got to travel to company meetings and stay in nice hotels. They were given the chance to make some decisions. Based on these observations, I decided that it would be worthwhile to try to make it into management.
At that time, I had been thinking about going back to college anyway, since it was interesting- I like studying, researching, writing papers, having meaningful discussions, and pretty much anything associated with a college environment.
At the phone company, not all the managers had college degrees, but most had some college, and it seemed to be a desired qualification. Almost all the people in middle or upper management had college degrees.
Plus, at that time, the company had a tuition assistance program for employees.
I enrolled at the local community college with the goal of an two year Associate Degree in Management. I achieved this goal four years later, working full time and going to school part time. I loved my classes. Today I can't even imagine having the energy to do that.
I made my supervisors aware that I was interested in management opportunities. I had some developmental assignments, and a couple years later, I was finally promoted into management. Later, at the age of 40, I completed my Bachelor's degree as well.
I could write a whole lot about my subsequent experiences. Here's the short version: I found out that first-level managers weren't treated all that fabulously, either. We weren't the ones making any major decisions. We still had to pretty much do what people higher than us told us to do. Plus, we had to work more hours, since we were salaried. It could be exhausting. My personal life suffered. I was being treated for depression the majority of the time.
On the plus side, I enjoyed the managerial work more than the work I performed as a clerical employee. It had some opportunity for problem solving and analysis. The pay was very good, as were the benefits.
It was going to be hard for me to change my life. Somewhere along the way, I lost my internal sense of self, or at least, I found it very hard to access the person I really was inside.
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