Gypsy in a Bottle

Trapped--not just by a glass ceiling but by glass walls as well.

Once I was a Corporate gypsy, traveling the nation’s corners and all points in between. My company sent me out to speak and train, and as long as product sales were strong and client evaluations high, no one bothered me…beat me…or bribed me into performing. I was at the top of my game because I wanted to be. I was trained on strong mental attitude and proper selling techniques. I was publicly exalted and financially compensated for my efforts and performance. I was honored and proud to be part of an organization that was dedicated to improving people and their lives; an organization that focused first on empowering and pleasing employees so they could in turn empower, please and satisfy clients.

Today I’m trapped. Trapped into the expectations and limitations of a company that talks a good game and professes to “play by the rules” of integrity and high morals but in reality falls short. We have a bold corporate mission that involves helping and ministering to people but attitudes and practices that treat the employees as if they were expendable. Employees are bombarded weekly by numbers and sales goals, beaten and bribed with the proverbial carrot on a stick where the carrot is yanked faster than a Charlie Brown football when quotas aren’t met. Management talks about playing fair but then changes product rates for clients based on whims, discretions, and how much money we need to make to cover the bottom line. It’s an effort to survive and play the game let alone be my personal best.

I’m not interested in reaching the top. The ceiling is not too high, it’s just too hypocritical. Management preaches faith, support, and charitable giving to our clients, knowing that philosophy leads to bottom line profits. But our company leaders withhold those very profits from its own employees choosing instead a “do as I say not as I do” practice. Our CEO is making $970,000 this year yet I was forced to take a 50% pay cut. My yearly income, with a college degree and 25 years of experience, is now at the poverty line.

The walls are closing in.