The post about infringement of freedom in the workplace generated further discussions among my peers.
Some people actually said that I made them very depressed by putting into words realizations they try to avoid. I would like to remind these people that the Welcome page of this blog, Reason to Share, clearly expresses my belief that sharing frustration gives us therapeutic relief.
Others felt that my "uplifting" statement that one can always quit was clouded by the suggestion that most CFOs and Controllers cannot afford to do so. Indeed, I keep talking about how difficult it is to find a CFO/Controller level job nowadays. That's why I don't suggest quitting without lining something else up or having sufficient funds to keep yourself afloat during the job search. The truth is, you need to establish an emergency fund anyway – as I always say, there is no such thing as job security for anyone in this new world.
But let me tell you from my own experience, there comes the time when you just know you cannot deal anymore. You are so frustrated, anxious, depressed, angry and hopeless, you cannot breath. No matter what you do to get a grip, it feels like your balance is slipping away. If that's the case, it is time to make your move, because otherwise the suffering is going to destroy you either psychologically, or physically, or both.
I have many stories about people pushed too far and, hopefully, I will be able to tell them here at one or another point. However, for this particular post I decided to use, as means of a more familiar illustration, a Hollywood classic by Billy Wilder – "The Apartment" (1960).
The main character (forever great Jack Lemmon) is not a CFO or a Controller, but he is an ambitious person and the gist of the story is very relatable to subordinate employees on all levels. You see, he really wants to climb the career ladder. So, he lets the VPs to use his apartment for their extramarital encounters. He even lays out snacks and liquor for them to enjoy.
When he allows himself to be convinced by his boss to leave his apartment on a rainy Christmas Eve, he is angry and frustrated, but he keeps his mouth shut. And finally he gets that "big promotion" he'd wanted.
Jack's character falls in love with the elevator girl. He doesn't know that she has been to his apartment with one of his bosses as well. When the moment of truth finally comes, he feels so overwhelmed, he realizes that he cannot be a doormat anymore. The time has come to be a human being.
So, gives up his job. Of course, as in all Hollywood fairy tales, he gets the girl (an adorable Shirley MacLaine) as a reward for his courage. But it does not matter: rewards or not, everyone has their own threshold of pain tolerance.
The Frustrated CFO 