Pursuing freedom
At one time in a lifetime, an individual can find themselves in a situation where they feel a sincere desire for another person to be gone from their life. usually, the relationship builds up normally where mutual respect and understanding exists before it turns out to be toxic. Usually, such situations are never easy to break away from otherwise they would never have materialized into a big concern in the first place. Such toxic situations bleed pain and zeal to revenge because one feels at some point one is left feeling that their freedom and rights have been violated. As Edgar Allan Poe puts it in his book the cask of amontillado “A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser”. Listening to other peoples’ stories of such scenarios, I always consider myself lucky in so many ways because I have always managed to pull myself out of relationships and interactions that had the possibility of turning toxic. However, I can relate with such experiences mine being a bad boss in my very first employment.
Given that it was my first job, I was more than thankful for the opportunity not so much for the extra money that I was going to make but for the work experience that I had so much anticipated. The work was not so much demand since the company I worked for employed enough people which means every person worked for a few hours. This seemed to impress others but not me, I wanted to be at the workplace longer than my shift lasted. I wanted to learn how things are done, learn how to interact with others professionally, and even learn how to interact with customers and superiors as well. Being a student, the extra money was also an added advantage given the many school expenses that were adding on every year. Two months into my new work however, I started noticing that my supervisor was somehow getting aggressive with me more than the other workers. He always found fault in almost everything that I was engaging in. at first, I took this criticism positively and tried my best to rectify whatever that he would complain about. However, after some time, my attention was drawn to how he interacted with other employees handling the same task as me and I noticed that they were even rather sluggish compared to me and he never seemed to notice. I began to develop a negative attitude towards him and the energy and enthusiasm that I always felt towards the job started wearing off completely.
As an individual, I felt that I was not enjoying the work anymore. I felt that my freedom was threatened. Quitting the job was not in my options. I had struggled to get a chance in that particular organization because of its proximity and the type of work done there suited my mode of study at school. I however felt that my freedom and joy were curtailed by the supervisor and I wished he could go away. To me, freedom means the ability to enjoy my work knowing that am being treated and subjected to the same work standards as everyone else. Being picked on made me feel that I was never free anymore.
Some of the restrictions on my freedom that I wanted to get rid of include being micromanaged. Although I appreciate positive criticism. Am always demoralized by a boss who does not have trust in me that I am capable of doing an assignment satisfactorily. Another restriction that I felt curtailed my freedom is unconducive working environment due to the aggressiveness portrayed by my supervisor particularly towards me. Most of the time, I felt stressed out and unable to function properly while at work. As a person, having a superior who appreciates and compliments a junior’s effort goes a long way in encouraging them to work even harder. However, in a scenario where a superior shows that they do not trust that their junior employees are capable of doing their work without the need for close supervision, then such a scenario develops into an unconducive work environment where workers feel demotivated and stressed.
To get rid of such restrictions, the most effective way is to face the person who is causing the afflictions and let them know how you feel. This helps both to make them understand that you are not comfortable with their actions and as a way of re-establishing a mutual understanding. To remove the restrictions that curtailed my freedom. I needed to confront my supervisor. I sought an appointment where I expressed my situation fully. To my surprise, he seemed offended that I thought he was being particularly aggressive on me. After observing that the situation was not changing. I decided to present my case to the regional manager. Finally, I got someone who was willing to listen to me and had me transferred to a different department. Thinking about it all now, I hear the words of Mrs. Mallard “ free body and soul free” written by Kate Chopin (1894) in the story called “ the story of an hour”.
The story that appeals to me most is “Hunters in the Snow written by Tobias Wolff. I relate with the story of the three friends where one happened to be very toxic and always causing the other two troubles. However, two of them held a sincere friendship built on mutual respect and understanding. Tub says “Frank, when you’ve got a friend it means you’ve always got someone on your side, no matter what. That’s the way I feel about it anyway.” This quote appeals to me because it expresses geniuses despite the fact that there exist people who will always frustrate others.