Feeling appreciated

Are you like me? Do you work better and harder and happier when you are praised as well as being pulled up when you need to be?

I don't do well at all when I'm picked up for everything I do wrong, but no thanks or recognition for doing things well.  There needs to be balance.  

I thought about not writing this because the person concerned may read it.  Then I thought if I didn't, I would stew on it all night and that's not good either.  I don't want to get upset about it at work.

I had a really good day today.  I was really proud of myself for keeping things under control at work when my boss was uncontactable for the day.

Things went relatively smoothly.  

We always confirm our jobs for the next day with our customers, especially during covid.  We have jobs out of town tomorrow and one of the first ones is a considerable way out of town and I hadn't had confirmation from them.

So I tried to ring and there was no answer (I think I forgot to put that note on the job).  The next job had not confirmed either so I called her to check she was still Ok with us coming and let her know that there may be a chance we would be there earlier as our first job hadn't confirmed.  She was happy with that.

I then talked to the 2 workers going to the job and told them  I'd put a note for them to call the customer before they left to see if they could get hold of him.  I told them that if they couldn't, to ring the next customer and go to that one early and then to ring me and let me know so that I could get into the office and get jobs booked for the rest of the day for them, which wouldn't have been an issue, I had a few up my sleeve.

I left work feeling great and feeling like I had everything under control.  I managed to leave at a reasonable hour today because I had got myself up to date as well.  I leave anywhere from 3 - 5.30 and today I finished at 4. I went for a walk for One Foot Forward, picked up my son, came home, cooked and ate tea.  

Then I get a message from one of the workers asking me if the job we had talked about had been pulled.  To my knowledge it hadn't so I looked at the notes.

Instead of ringing me to ask what was happening with the job and my plans for the rest of the day, my boss had tried calling the customer again, not been able to get hold of them so cancelled the job and reorganised the rest of the day, and left a note for me basically saying I should have cancelled it and got everything rebooked today and I hadn't left enough time to get things sorted.  One phone call to me before he tried the customer would have put his mind at ease that I had it under control.

I get where he's coming from.  It's his business, he needs it to run smoothly.

Why did it bother me so much?

It bothered me because a lot happened today that I took care of - I left a lot of jobs and notes for him in regards to today - that is the only one he has put back onto me with notes on and the notes are because I've done something wrong.  Admittedly, I shouldn't know about it yet, I would normally see it when I got into work tomorrow and then all the other notes would be there too.  But it's not tomorrow and I have seen it, so hence why I'm getting it off my chest before I go to work.

Please understand - I KNOW I need to be told when I've done something wrong.  It would also be really nice if I could be told when I've done something well.  I do get a, "thanks mate" quite often, but it's not for anything specific, and usually just because I'm going to lock the gate on my way out.

This is not just this job, it has always been the case.   It seems the more I do, the more I'm expected to do, but in the same timeframe I was doing everything in before - with no mistakes. I go above and beyond - because that's who I am - and usually don't get acknowledgment for it. 

BUT, it certainly gets noticed when I make mistakes, but heaven forbid should you point out  any mistakes made by any of the bosses I've had over the years.

Honestly, I know why some people go to work, do what they have to do to get paid and no more (sometimes a lot less) and go home. 

It's just not in me to do that.  If I do, it only comes back to bite me in the arse because I get behind on everything, stress myself out and then get asked why I'm falling behind. 

I truly love what I do.  It keeps my mind busy and it's never the same.  Yes, I have to do the same tasks everyday, but they are all different in their own way - that probably doesn't make sense but I know what I mean ;)  I have a beautiful place to work, my boss and his family are truly lovely people.  My colleagues are awesome, they shit me sometimes but I shit them too, so that's even.  I have reasonably  flexible work hours and can work from home if I need to. It really is my dream job.

My only wish is that acknowledgement for doing the wrong thing and doing things well, were equally dished out.

I think that's it.  I just want to feel appreciated sometimes.

Thanks for reading.

HUGS xxx