Two years ago I bought a 7th row ticket to see King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard at Red Rocks, Colorado.
I’m 40, a family man, and I’d never taken a trip by myself. I’d also never seen a show at Red Rocks. Finally, I’d never seen King Gizzard, one of my absolute favorite bands, perform live. I booked flights, a hotel room, and a rental car for what was supposed to be a two-day trip full of personal firsts. My wife was really excited for me to go as well, because she travels a lot for work and thought it was a bummer that I’ve never traveled alone.
I notified my boss and team of the trip two months ago, and those two measly days had been marked as OOO on my Outlook calendar ever since.
A little background about my job: I work in paid social media advertising and took the job six months ago. I turned down the offer twice from my recruiter, even though it meant a $20k salary increase, because I was happy where I was and the last job I had at an ad agency destroyed my physical and mental health. I’m a creative guy and my social media management background leans heavily on my design, photography, and writing skills. I did NOT want to end up glued to a computer 12 hours a day doing math, creating spreadsheets, and fighting Facebook Business Manager again (it had happened to me twice; hiring managers said they wanted my creativity on their team but end up sticking me with left-brained roles). She twisted my arm, both she and the hiring managers made promises to alleviate my reservations, and ultimately I accepted.
The role I agreed to was pretty much like a creative director. I was told I’d be mostly ideating and that I’d have a team to produce creatives, build ads, and do all the left-brained stuff I’m terrible at. It started out that way, and I used to like my job, but for the past few months I’ve been dealing with a client from hell. Their needs have turned my role into the exact thing I was promised it wouldn’t be. I’m drowning in spreadsheets, getting requests at all hours of the day/night, doing budgets, and absolutely nothing related to creative.
It’s been especially worse the past month, and a couple weeks ago I was informed that I’d been tapped for a work trip to the client site. You guessed it: it fell exactly on the two days I’d be on my Red Rocks trip that they’d known about for two months.
Initially they told me not to worry about it; I just needed to prepare some slides and remote in to present for an hour. Still sucks, but at least I could still go on my trip. But in the days leading up to the client visit, demands became INSANE. I couldn’t plan or prepare for my trip at all; work was nonstop. I completed what I could before the day of my departure, and the Sunday of my flight I set boundaries by not responding to any more texts, emails, or calls.
I didn’t silence notifications so that I could stay in contact with family or in case of emergencies. My phone was BLOWING UP. Asks we’re being made of me at all hours. So many alerts blocking my phone’s GPS map that I nearly got in a few wrecks. I stuck to my guns and didn’t respond until I had to say “look, I don’t have my computer, can’t help you,” but the “guilt” of not being available put me in an anxious spiral. I broke out in hives and I stayed glued to my hotel bed instead of going out and exploring. I had a few brief moments of enjoyment hiking Red Rocks and seeing King Gizzard, but the entire time I was fighting off the spiral.
A person should be able to take two days- that they gave two months notice for, and booked TWO YEARS ago- undisturbed. It ruined the entire experience. I don’t even want to think about the money wasted or I’ll puke. I am absolutely quitting.
Just helps to vent. Thanks for reading.