New Job: Project Manager

Hi guys!

I started a new job and I love it! I am a kitchen and bathroom remodeling project manager. It's just like it sounds-- I work with homeowners who want to remodel their kitchens and/or bathrooms. I help them select which cabinets, countertops, lighting, flooring, faucets, paint, and appliances they want to incorporate, then measure their room and give my measurements and sketches to my NKBA kitchen designers who draft everything in 20/20. The homeowners settle on everything and sign the contract, then my contractor builds the dream for them.

I've been training and setting up my office for the last 10 days or so. I'll be out of state to train all of next week, and then I'll be back on April 7th to officially start doing my job. I'm really excited!

I know it seems like I switch jobs a lot. I suppose I do. But I'm not going to stay somewhere where I'm unhappy. My life doesn't revolve around my job, and I'm not going to waste away psychologically at a company that pays crap, doesn't care about my professional development, and works me to death. At La-Z-Boy, I was working 55-60 hours a week for a salary of $30,000. Not worth it! At Ethan Allen, my manager did not appreciate that I have a design degree (even though I was a Designer and she was the Design Center Manager...). She made comments like, "I'd rather hire waitresses than designers. You don't need a degree to be a good designer." I worked on commission against draw and made basically no money. No one, not even my manager, could accurately explain the pay structure to me. Basically, you make some kind of base pay, and then it is deducted from your next commission check. So, the one month I made commission, my paycheck was supposed to be $5,200, and they managed to pull this fee and that penalty and take it down to $300. That was the day I turned in my two weeks notice. Then, my boss got mad at me because I was leaving for what I told her was a better job, so she sent me a snotty text message saying not to bother coming back. Ok. See ya. I realise this whole paragraph sounds narcicistic and very millenial-minded of me. I suppose it is. But I want a life outside of work, and I want to feel like I matter while I'm there. I know, I know. American "problems" and I should be grateful for what I have. I am. I don't get all my fulfillment from working. But it's nice to, "Do what you like and like what you do."
 
I feel like this was a good move for my career as a designer, and also a good move for getting by here and now. It has a decent salary + commission, the company benefits are good, it's a Fortune 100 Company, and a Forbes "Top 10 Best Places to Work" company. My team is very talented and professional. I'm excited and very thankful that I have been trusted to do this!


And while it's just a job, it is important. It is important to pay off our student loans and become more financially stable so we can have kids. It's important to work somewhere that won't completely drain me of all my compassion and energy every day (lol).

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.” ― Francis Chan, Crazy Love

In all seriousness, the BEST thing about this job is that I have off every Sunday! Which means I can go to church and get involved in a community there. That is what matters.