6/1

I've mentioned here before that I'm one of the least patient people in the history of the world (that one was for you Wildflower!). Anyways, I've been experiencing the downside of impatience the past week at my job. Basically, I keep going back and forth between, "I have a good job. I LIKE MY JOB! Money is not the most important thing," and, "You can take this job and ******* (deleted for fear that one day my employer might find this site. Let me repeat again, I love my job. I just get very frustrated sometimes).

In the "for-profit" world, if you have a valuable employee, you might do things like, give them bonuses, raises, or "attaboy/girl" awards (which is the worst possible name for an award - ever). If you gave them more responsibility, you would compensate them accordingly. In the non-profit world, if you have a valuable employee, you might do things like force them to work 55-60 hours per week, give them a $7 gift certificate for a turkey at Thanksgiving, make them feel bad for asking for more compensation, or continue to heap more and more responsibility on them while continually reinforcing their position in a "supportive capacity".

I've committed my life to working in non-profits, but it is harder than ever right now to try and raise a young child on the lowest possible salary. I want to get a MA or a MBA and I would like my employer to pay for it (or at least support it). I don't know what to do. Do I wait until I have enough experience in the field to try and get a higher paying position, or do I get out now, and try and find a job at Barnes and Noble and forget about reaching any imagined potential?

Sometimes the Barnes and Noble road is only slightly more attrative than being a barrista at Starbucks. Only a little, though.