Ahhhhh... Unemployment

After almost 20 years of being a free-lance Massage Therapist I took a job at a corporate spa last November out of need.  I almost made it a year.  I made 1/3 of what I would've made on my own, which was sometimes painful.  I moved to Greenville last October on a whim.  In my younger years it seemed all I needed to do was plant myself somewhere and the clients would come.  I suppose this was no different except for my impatience for it's fruition and the lessening of my charms with age has made the harvest less fruitful. 

I am most pleased to announce today was my last day.  I am gainfully, happily unemployed.  In all the things I am ending, completing and tying up, I must admit this one I am most delighted to say goodbye to.  The employer was a nice person.  The job was not horrible, and I made a decent wage.  However, it was just not for me.  Business is just business and unfortunately is often soulless. Corporations are for making money not for serving humanity.  I went to my job not because I wanted to serve my clients but because I wanted to make the money.  I am not kidding myself, nor complaining.  A corporation is a good place for that attitude so for my intent, it served it's purpose.  If you are expecting something more fulfilling from that scenario, you will be disappointed. 

Spending most of my adult life being self-employed, I fortunately had escaped most of the dramas others spend most of their lives caught up in.  It doesn't seem to matter what the organization is, if there is group of people working together there must be some structure. Having structure is not the problem and it most necessary to doing anything.  It is when the foundation of the structure is diseased with greed, which in most cases describes the foundation of a corporate structure.

From this diseased foundation forms all the rules and business practices.  Employees are simply to follow the rules and business practices of the diseased foundation.  The only free-thinkers allowed in a corporation are the people at the top who formed it.  Other than those few, free-thinking is not encouraged.  Being an obedient cow in the heard is what is rewarded.  The squeaky wheel gets replaced, not greased.  

Anyway, I learned a lot being an employee.  First, I learned that I can do it if I have to.  Regardless of the drama that goes on in the name of greed, I still found that when I closed the door to my massage room and put my hands on that person, it was just me and them.  There were no liaisons, enemies and cliques.  There was no selling, no upgrading, no us and no them. It was just two people coming together, sharing the same place at the same time.  No matter where that is happening that, dear friends, is the only thing happening.