For What It’s Worth

Usually when I post, I get a good smattering of responses, across the various platforms on which I share (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, subway graffiti, etc), but this piece in particular really seemed to resonate with people. 

Earlier in the month, I’d written a post about regrets (http://mikeschenker.com/regrets-ive-had-a-few/). I’m not going to take up your valuable time in rehashing all of the regrets in my life – I don’t want to take up your entire day, not while you should be reading other articles or (perhaps more importantly) the ads, or simply marveling in the newly re-branded PromoJournal.

At the risk of having my life’s decisions become a recurring theme (I pay a therapist so I’m not going to start paying all of you, too), I want to revisit this topic with a little more depth than the blog post allows. That this piece is going to get interrupted by an ad, well… that just adds to its commercial value.

It is said that with age comes wisdom. While there may be truth to that, I have primarily found that with age comes forgetfulness, frequent bathroom visits, grey (or thinning) hair, and forgetfulness. Still, there are advantages, and I’m not just talking about the Senior Discount at Denny’s.

I’d written elsewhere about a horrible work experience to which the Trophy Wife was subjected. Highlights: verbal abuse and complete disrespect. Compensation: a Barry Manilow fleece zip up. Don’t ask. It’s true.

It wasn’t that long ago that she’d had this job, and yet it seems like a lifetime. Knowing her as I do, I recognize that there’s no way that she’d put up with such treatment now. Hell, no one should. And yet she acquiesced – dare I say “kowtowed” to this bully – because she needed the job. Looking back, she told me that she wishes she’d had the strength and fortitude to tell this guy off. 

I’m sure she’ll correct me, but I want to say that that was about 10 years ago. It was also the last time she worked for anyone else. She vowed that she was never going to put up with anyone else’s, uh, nonsense again, started her own business, and never looked back. 

Full disclosure: she does do some work for me. Apparently, the benefits are attractive.

By no means am I suggesting that everyone just go to their window and shout, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” chuck it all, and become entrepreneurs. Trust me on this: it’s not for everyone. Prior to beginning my consultancy a few years back, a partner and I had our own actual business (which is not to say that this consultancy isn’t a business, the product I now sell is me!). I continue to refer to that time as a “noble experience.” It was not a failure but it was a more difficult process than either of us anticipated. Yeah, it might have burned us out just a wee bit.

Not coincidentally, as a result of that burnout, I took a paycheck job with a promo industry company where I, too, was undervalued and verbally abused. They had hired me based on a shelf full of awards and status, and then proceeded to tell me what a mistake it was. Perhaps it was the burnout factor, but I put up with it. I felt as though I had no choice. I’d get emails from the owner at all hours, with the expectation that I respond immediately. As a result of this, I developed sleeping issues which probably still haunt me to this day. I say probably, because I also have the bladder of an older male.

Despite this abuse, I was the top salesperson for this company. In a classic episode of, “What have you done for me lately?” I was fired when management decided to shake things up and let go of the entire sales team (because that’s how you grow a business – without sales). Getting slightly off-topic (like that’s ever stopped me), that I was fired while on a business trip and they cut off my credit card while traveling should give you some insight into the wonderful people for whom I worked.

I’ve checked. No, they’re not advertisers in this periodical. At any rate…

My point is, like my wife: never again. I cannot ever allow myself to be undervalued like that. No one deserves such treatment. I know what I bring to the equation, and you should, too.

Stay focused on your own worth.  Don’t sit there and wish that you’d done things differently, better or smarter. There’s a lot to be said about “learning experiences.”

Mike Schenker, MAS, is the executive director of the Gold Coast Promotional Products Association (GCPPA), as well as “all that” at Mike Schenker, Consulting. He is a promotional industry veteran and member of the Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) Hall of Fame. He can be reached at mike@mikeschenker.com.