Tag: work

Ouch… It’s Been so Long!

Posted on by fmradiochick

There’s things I wish for in life. More time is one of them. Since I’ve last shared with you so many things have changed. (Which I feel sums up the constant feeling of my late 20’s, but we’ll get to that)

  • I’ve gotten a new job!
  • I have an incredible boyfriend
  • I’ve moved into an adorable condo that’s smack in the middle of both of my families.
  • I’ve been forced into a gluten-free and dairy-free lifestyle. Thank you Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

New Job: 

In December I interviewed and accepted a position as an Assistant Event Manager for a small firm in Orlando. Let me start out by saying I love my job, my boss, his family and our clients. I was the Assistant Event Manager/ Volunteer Coordinator/ Administrative Assistant/ ((Too many things to name)) for the FIRST ever He Got Up event in Orlando, FL. It was the most incredible event I’ve ever worked, even above all of the concerts! Just under 10k people were helped on Easter Sunday, 4k haircuts were provided, over 500 showers, 18 palates of free clothes were given away along with 8 palates of toys. DCF saw over 500 families, helped people understand the services that were available to them. It was an incredible experience and one I’m looking forward to doing again next year.

I also did the Citrus Bowl Parade which was exciting up until I broke out in hives because as luck would have it I’m allergic to citrus. Overall, riding a police escort around Orlando was pretty exciting and the parade went off without a hitch.

Incredible Boyfriend: 

Let me start off with the disclaimer… we met on Bumble. I’ve gone on Bumble dates before but this one was different. We messaged back and forth for a week and he kept postponing our dates off because he was sick. The third time he postponed I started loosing hope and as a last ditch effort I re-scheduled for Tuesday, the day before I was leaving to London on vacation for two weeks. Because fate is a fickle witch she got me good. It turns out my flight for London was Tuesday night so this time I had to cancel our date… on the last possible day before leaving. He was such a trooper. He was positive and told me we could meet up when I got back.

We continued to talk while I was gone, he asked about my hotel and how I was holding up being overseas alone. On my birthday he surprised me with flowers! It was epically awesome.

We FaceTimed while I was gone and I knew I liked him from what I knew. He also volunteered to pick me up from the airport. He did and now the rest is as they say history…

New Condo:

Not too much to say aside from its perfectly located and super nice, aside from the cat stains from the previous tenants it’s awesome!!

New Lifestyle Diet:

This one was so not my choice but on my last day of vacation in Nashville my doctor called and diagnosed me with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditus which essentially means I can’t have any dairy or gluten for the foreseeable future. The transition hasn’t been an easy one but my family and boyfriend have been extremely supportive and encouraging. Here’s to hoping I continue to be successful on this journey. Wish me luck!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s Been a While…

Posted on by fmradiochick

Well needless to say I’ve missed this. So much so that during my free time you may be seeing a lot of postings come through. As if I have so much to say and not enough time to say it in.

Since we’ve last chatted:

– Today is the first show I’ve worked since May. While it’s nice to be back in the mix it’s a bit frustrating not knowing what is expected of me. I’m a firm believer that in order to exceed expectations you need to first know what is expected from you. The original position I was hired for (which I was excited for) has now changed to a condensed version of what my usual job is. I look at each show as a learning opportunity and I’m hoping that this one will be no different. There is a lot to be said for keeping an open mind and always being willing to learn no matter how many times you’ve done something.

Coincidentally I am working with my old boss who has since the last time we worked              together iced me out after I found out some less than appealing things he did to me at our last show together. But, enough about that. I believe by taking the higher road in the end I will come out on top, and if not than it wasn’t meant to be but my work ethic speaks for itself and something better will come along.

((Update))

Within the time I’ve been writing this he has now leaned on me twice, which speaks loudly instead of doing it himself he approached me for help. Houston: We are making progress.

– My carpal tunnel has continued to worsen and my appointment tomorrow cannot come fast enough. Hopefully, it will bring further insight and resolutions as well.

– I’ve been able to spend an immense amount of time with my family, which I love! Especially with my little sister helping her learn how to read. and working on her phonics.

– I’ve purchased an almost new Ford Fusion SE in cash (which I saved for 5 years to get).

– I’ve fallen in love with a new budget app called Every Dollar. I’ve earned silly amounts of money from the Ibotta App, Receipt Hog and Poshmark. They are all great ways to earn extra money without much effort.

– I’ve been able to FaceTime my BFF, Isabel, quite a bit which is a huge treat.

So that’s what’s new with me. I hope these last few weeks have treated you well and that happiness has been busting down your doorway.

Another one down…

Posted on by fmradiochick

I spent the week in Charlotte, North Carolina and while I generally love it here this week may have scarred me. The dust was as bad as Sacramento but the weather was perfect, aside from a light rain on Friday. I’m pretty sure I’ll have dirt trapped up my nose for the next week. Challenges included crappy WIFI and cell signal so doing my job was increasingly difficult (being the social media girl you kind of need to have Internet). Pluses included almost zero stress, working with an awesome group of people and not being cooped up in an office all day.

Traveling home today is going to be bittersweet. As badly as I miss home I’m already looking forward to my next trip in two weeks to Columbus, OH. 

I love the new company I worked for, they were so kind and awesome and they all work well together. I’m looking forward to doing more festivals with them. 

Backstabbed but not broken…

Posted on by fmradiochick

We just wrapped up a fest and woah was it a whirlwind. I’ve never in my life been set up to fail, and it doesn’t feel good. I don’t mean unintentionally. I mean mean spirited “I’m going to act like im in highschool and teach you a lesson” bullshit. 

Now, I’m not going to say I performed perfectly or even close to perfect but damn I worked harder than I’ve ever worked in my life. I pulled 3 – 22 hour days in a row and 19 hour days in the three days leading up to that. I didn’t take time to eat, or stay hydrated… How could I when shit was hitting the fan? I love my job and I love the people but never in my life would I have thought two that I trusted the most would turn on me. When I say turn on me, I’m talking they stole things out of my office to make me look bad (but they were safe the whole time) they added a ridiculous amount of additional work on to my plate and didn’t care about the outcome.

I was yelled at for telling our owner the truth… As if I would ever sacrifice my integrity and lie to him about something so small when I could just fix it. I picked up cigarette buts off the parking lot ground until 4am and didn’t even think to complain because the owner was out there too and teams stick together. 

I love the company I work for but I can’t and won’t allow myself to be lied to and screwed over. So until I figure out my next step I’ll wait and see what happens on their end. All I can do now is pray and hope for the best.

The final straw…

Posted on by fmradiochick

This is me, what I look like at this moment… (You’ll need that for reference)

   

 

There’s days when I get wound up, and angry and flustered. Today is one of those days. 

I was standing in line at my local sub shop when I overheard a mother whisper to her daughter that “someone like that (referring to me) would never be able to get a real job.” Her daughter asked why and she began to explain because of the crazy colors in my hair and my tattoos for reference you can only see three of my tattoos, one on my ankle and one on each wrist. 

Now, maybe it was the fact that I hadn’t eaten all day or I was just finally fed up with this mindset but I not so kindly whipped around and looked at the daughter and said “Hi my name is Lauren, I am a 25 year old who graduated from Flagler College and I am a production office manager for music festivals. I pay all of my own bills, I drive a nice dependable car oh did I mention I graduated college debt-free and worked three jobs to do so. I used to be like your mom afraid to express my individuality and cared so much about what everyone else thought and then one day I realize that it really doesn’t matter. All that matters is what I think and my work and my work ethic speak for themselves.” 

To say the mom was shocked would be an understatement she tried to pick a fight but I said I wasn’t interested I was just sharing with her and her daughter the facts of my life before she goes and make snap judgments. I have faced criticism like this only a few times in the past but when somebody is trying to pass on awful ideologies to a child that’s what really bothers me knowing that they will grow up thinking the same thing their parents still just as my little brother has grown up thinking tattoos are stupid and ridiculous because that is how my father feels. 

To each their own opinion but keep it to yourself if somebody is within your shot of who you were referring to and cutting down this world has enough of negativity we don’t need to add to it.

Let’s do this…

Posted on by fmradiochick

Last night it really settled in that I’m moving for the 5th time in 2 years. In case you’re wondering… I hate moving and we’re both okay with that as our relationship status. I’ve been slowly packing for about 5 days, putting things in re-useable bags so they can fit into my little car for me to take over and then finally getting 10 large boxes yesterday and packing each one of them. As I was weaving in and out of the boxes down the hallway it donned on me this is going to be my life. I’ve chosen an industry that requires tons of traveling and quite a bit of moving. I had a real “think hard” moment and decided as much as I hate moving I wouldn’t trade that for what I do. I love my job and the company I work for. The guys treat me like family. We disagree, we sometimes argue but at the end of the day we get through it and come out stronger.

Between a rock and a hard spot…

Posted on by fmradiochick

It’s never a place I like to be. I work in an industry that could take me out of town with a moment’s notice, part of me loves that and another part of me hates it. My bosses all warned me that I would end up sacrificing life experiences to make it in this industry and my jaded little mind kept saying, yeah well I’ll make it work no matter what. The day came sooner rather than later.

Yesterday I came to the realization that a new work opportunity would be taking me out of town the same weekend as my best friend (of 10 years’) wedding. Now, I use the term best friend loosely, sister is more accurate and I was slated to be the maid of honor. The only thing that made breaking the news to her even worse was that it was April Fools Day… but not an April Fools prank. She kept insisting that it was and finally I had to forward her a photo of my texts with my contact confirming and send a picture of the website showing the dates. It was at that point she didn’t take the “oh I’m so happy for you road” she responded just how I would if she gave me the same news, with disbelief and inconsolable hurt. As much as I wanted to fly back that day and at least be there for the day of, it’s just not feasible. I would have to miss the entire last day of the festival and especially since this is a new company I can’t do that. I need them to see how much ass I kick and how valuable I am.

I can’t quite say if I’m going to regret it when I look back but this could be a big stepping stone for me, and at this point in the game I just can’t turn that down. Every opportunity could open the door to more, and I have to try and be willing to do whatever it takes.

So here’s to my breaking heart and my first time truly choosing work over loved ones.

Get up, stand up. Stand up for your rights.

Posted on by fmradiochick

Today I said enough is enough when it came to a parent complaining about me accidentally feeding her son food that wasn’t his. Same food that he eats, just not his. I wish I could say this is the first ridiculous complaint. (When the principal and teacher agree it’s ridiculous, that means I’m allowed to say it’s ridiculous) So I kindly told his teacher I am no longer willing to substitute in their classroom and just like that it’s like a fresh breath of air. I will no longer continue to let myself be used or treated poorly. I have this job to keep myself busy in my off season, not to fully support my life. The added stress coming up on show season is not worth the hassle.

Best of luck to them but I’m done. I’ll stick with the slightly older children, who’s parents love me and who have never once complained. When did it become unacceptable to stand up for yourself? To keep your best interests in mind? This notion of stay quiet and suck it up has got to go away. When we allow ourselves to be taken advantage of, it makes it that much easier to repeat and continue.