When Did You Realize You Were an Insignificant Cog on the Unrelenting Machine that is the Work Force?

[TrafficCory]

When I saw this quote:

"Mix one high school diploma with an undergrad degree and a college sweetheart. with a whisk (or a whip) blend two cars, a poorly built house in a cul de sac, 50 hours a week working for a board that doesn't give a **** about you. Reproduce once. Then again. Place all ingredients in a rut, or a grave. One is a bit longer than the other. Bake thoroughly until the resulting life is set. Rigid. With no way out. Serve and enjoy. Tell the truth. First, to yourself. Say it until it hurts. Learn the reality of your own selfishness... You're not really alive. You live in the land of denial - and they say the view is pretty as long as you remain asleep"

[gentlearts]

I found our after my job was eliminated, after a takeover by another company. I know I did a great job, so I was let go only because a new broom sweeps clean, and they wanted to pick their own people. If I had it to do over, I would have expended a lot less effort, because in the end it didn't matter.

[Valerie C]

I realized this at the relatively young age of 31, when the company that I worked for for the 10+ years (almost a third of my life at that time) closed it's doors. From the time I started working there, I spiraled up from being a low-paid production worker, to a more specialized worker, to the inspection department, up to the QC laboratory, then into the Data Center where I became involved in database management. Thanks to a great tuition reimbursement program, I was able to continue my education to obtain my degree, and when the company closed, I was one of the last 10 employees to remain (after all production had ceased, machines broken down, crated and sold, all warehouse materials sold and invoiced). The whole ordeal affected me immensely. I thought that I would be there forever, and due to no fault of any of the cogs that worked in the machine, the entire plant was without a job in less than a year from announcement to closing the door...

That's when I decided that I wanted to control my own destiny, and not be dependent on the whims of business. Continued with school, opened my own business and eventually got involved with Real Estate (after meeting my mentor on a relocation cross country and appreciating how involved she got with our family to help us find a home, not sell us a house). Never looked back to working a 40 hour week JOB after that point (now it's more like 50 to 60 hour weeks, but who's counting!!)