Hi everyone,
I’m a creative, working for an agency specialised in healthcare. I’ve lost my Dad just about a year ago to cancer. Horrible. My Dad and I were super close (not by distance - my family live in a different country), he was always interested in my work and we could discuss our respective jobs for hours, both really passionate and sharing the same work ethic, always happy to share a joke or two.
When he was diagnosed, my world collapsed, despite being given treatment, his health deteriorated very rapidly, 8 months later he was gone.
I had a little support from work at the time, where they let me take a bit of time off and work from abroad for a few days, but the company has been going through mergers and restructuring at the same time. I did not loose my job, but my careers’ goals were brushed under the rug, some of my colleagues that I didn’t know well were quick to judge me by my appearance rather than my skills, and the promotion I had been working towards didn’t go through. I should have been promoted by the time my Dad was first diagnosed.
Since then, I kept working as hard as before, sometimes breaking down in tears (when sadness comes knocking - thankfully I work remotely) but my company is now having discussions around promotion again, and again… The feedback I get regarding “if they’re going to promote me” is that I’m too cold in appearance to progress. I can’t change the way I look or rub someone’s back because they like it that way, that’s not me, never was.
I’m not sure what to do about it, I’m a direct person who tells it as it is with the well-being of others in mind, including the clients we serve, but somehow being honest doesn’t work in this company, it’s ironic considering we work for the healthcare industry.
Sorry for the rant, thank you for reading.