I've had some revelations or ah-ha moments about careers and people who occupy these overpriced titles lately that I need to address. What I notice is that people are moved by titles and they treat people according to their title.
When I was just a part-time employee I felt extremely worthless, unimportant, and non-existent that is because the people that I worked with reminded me every chance they could that I was just a part-time employee with no benefits. What pissed me off more than anything is being in an earshot of meetings with the budget people complaining about all of the unspent money that needed to be spent before it was moved or returned to the general fund. Add to that having to sit back and watch them spend money on unnecessary bullshit that could be better invested in people like me or other employees that work on the frontline. But let them tell it, there's no money for a full-time position. I'll blog more about that later...insert side eye.
When my title changed to just a part-time worker I was no longer included in emails about important things going on around campus, nor was I invited to meetings despite the fact that I was in an important position, which created, established, and managed a program they are still running this very day because of me! After I was offered a full-time position the news spread around pretty quickly that I would be running a new program then all of a sudden I became noticed again as Dr. Brown...insert the strongest side-eye here.
It bothers me that people are moved by titles. If you don't believe me or think I've blown an isolated incident out of proportion I challenge you to pay attention the next time you're talking to your co-workers about other co-workers and notice the tone or how they speak about a part-time employee or someone who works in an lower paid, entry-level position compared to how they speak about an executive, a director, or someone in a management position. The tone is completely different. If you're lucky you might even get to observe the different behavior. It's as if anyone lower than management is a non-factor or peasants that aren't as good as managers. Now, I will give folk the benefit of the doubt and say that maybe they don't intend to come across condescending or they may even claim to feel that all employees are equally important...insert another side-eye here; however, in my case the words were met with actions where I was treated much different under different titles.
One thing most people who know me will tell you about me is I am the exact outspoken, overachieving, sometimes extra and over the top Tonya B with or without a title or academic credentials behind my name. I mean this in the most sincere way that I can possibly express behind this keyboard, run me all of my money and F the title.
I'd love to hear your thoughts. Weigh in.
Tonya B