Frustrations!

Okay so I made this so I could get things off my chest and have a place to vent. I've been feeling really frustrated with life lately. It seems I always find jobs where I think I'm valued and then I come to learn that I'm just another expendable body. I have an IQ that hovers around 140 but I get treated like I'm running on half of that. I feel that I have a lot to offer, a lot of good ideas, that I'm a valuable edition to any workforce because of these things but I'm never appreciated.

I realize that this is largely due to the type of work I've fallen into. Working in a dog kennel isn't mind-expanding but that doesn't mean that all of us who choose to do this due to our love of animals are simpletons, incapable of doing anything else.

I really loved my time working in dog daycare, I was in that job for about 6 months. I felt like my presence was appreciated. I'm sure finding good help for those types of jobs is difficult. I was always on time, offered to work late, tried to implement better ways of handling issues, never complained. When it became obvious that things were just not being run right myself and a couple other employees went to the manager and voiced our concerns only to be told that plenty of other people would love our jobs and that we could be replaced. Is that the way a manager should act when employees are concerned for the way things are being handled including the welfare of the dogs under our care? I don't think so.

So I went back to work at a kennel I'd been at before. I shared my findings at the previous place, things I thought were more efficient that my new employer may want to look into. I recieved praise and thought I'd finally found my niche, my place. I even thanked him for appreciating me. Shortly thereafter though my schedule started getting screwed up, I started to feel taken for granted over a lot of things and for the first time in 10 months of working there I have to call in sick to see a doctor for a terrible sinus infection I get chewed out, told that I'm immature, called a liar.... out of nowhere mostly because, most likely, my boss was frustrated and needed a punching bag. So, being on time, dealing with schedule snafus, offering advice.... all of this meant nothing because I dared call in sick.

Last time I checked I was 31 years old and a responsible adult.... not a teenager who lies in order to have an extra day off. Seriously... I wanted the money and I liked the person I would have been working with that day. I wouldn't have left him high and dry if there was any way I could have made it through the day. Of course nothing I could have said made any difference. I was threatened with the loss of my job so I decided to just never go back. Truly I can't work for someone who would consider firing one of their top employees because they got sick.

I would really just love to get involved in something where I could use my mind, be valued, be seen for what I really am. Responsible, dedicated, intelligent, loyal to my company. I'd love to continue to work with animals but I don't know what to do in this field where I'm not talked to like a child. I allowed my social anxiety to rob me of a lot of opportunities. I never made it to college out of fear. Now that I'm emerging from the fog of that fear I find myself trapped in this dead end and I'm unsure of how to escape.