I have only been a Stay at Home Mother full time for 4 full months. Going into it, I was sure my management background would translate well into my new gig- I had been a manager at various levels for the past few years; some of those skills would have to come in handy now.
One of the questions my former coworkers and my friends ask is “What is life like outside the corporate world?’ Thank the upper management teams you work with, because out here, folks, you’re on your own–
- There is no longer an HR department to work with. When my 5 year old says he won’t do a specific asked task, I no longer have anyone to document his verbal warning to. How can I keep track of where he is on the performance plan without HR to back me up when it comes time to do the write up?
- Ran out of milk and bread late at night? Or worse, toilet paper? There is no Ops team to email to get that corrected. Also, no one provides a P&L statement at the end of the month to make sure my budget is on track.
- DM market visit have you worried? My in-laws just popped by and my house looks like a war-zone.
- The Xbox won’t log into Live. The camera ran out of batteries. Wi-fi is down and there’s no ETA for recovery. Not that tech support used to work the same hours my stores were open, at least I had someone to call. Now I am tech support.
- There is no Customer Care department to refer complaints to. Son doesn’t like dinner? Doesn’t like sock color? Tubby time too long or too short? 1-800-Mommy-I-Don’t-Like-This for assistance.
I tell my friends the truth- I have never been so busy, but never so happy either. There are things I missed out on that I will never get back because when I worked in sales, the bulk of time was spent on the road or in stores. However, I certainly miss all my coworkers and everyone I worked with over the years. Especially HR.
No Time For Wine 