From a Closed to an Open Mind

It has been six months since I have quit my job at Jiffy Lube. I worked there for over five years, and my experience there has taught me a lot about how one should approach life. For example, my former manager Vi gave me a hard time when I first started working at Jiffy Lube. During the first year, Vi and I would always get into arguments about him making me do everything at work while others were slacking off. When he hired more workers, Vi gave all of them a hard time as well, but he became a little more lenient with me. This was when I realized that my manager would always give the new guys a hard time, and that I should not take the things he said too personal. 

Even though Vi still gave me somewhat of a hard time over the years, I learned to bite my tongue and be patient. This brings me to what Erich Fromm said which was, “One’s own person become an instrument in the practice of the art, and must be kept fit, according to the specific functions it has to fulfill. With regard to the art of loving, this means that anyone who aspires to become a master in this art must begin by practicing discipline, concentration and patience throughout ever phase of his life.” (102) In order for me to be open minded, it took many practices, which allowed me to become more discipline. When I was able to achieve the ability to be open minded, I was able to look at my manager’s point of view, and not just my own. I learned to accept my responsibilities as an individual and as an employee. I began to understand his point of view as a manager, and how tough his position can be.  

I stopped thinking about how tough my manager was being towards me, and started to really understand him as an individual and as a boss. When I paid attention to all of the things he did as a manager, it made me understand that he had a lot of responsibilities to carry because his job was always on the line. Every time one of the employees made a mistake, the regional managers would always blame it all on him. The only way for him to keep his job is to be strict at times, and follow every rule in the book so that mistakes can be minimal. Vi’s job was probably more important than ours because he has a car payments, house mortgages, and a family of his own to care for. Don’t get me wrong, we still had our moments where we wanted to tear each other’s head off, but I grew as a person as I practiced to be patient and discipline myself by being the bigger person and walking away. 

Vi is the main reason why I no longer work at Jiffy Lube because I knew that if I were to stay any longer, all of my hard work of being patient and open minded would disintegrate. I quit my job because I was tired of being the bigger man. I kept an open mind for many years while I was working there, but everything just became too unbearable for me to handle. The things that Vi expected of me were too much of a demand, which lead me to quit because they were things that I could no longer offer as an employee. However, I walked away from my job with respect, and my head held high because my experience with Vi allowed me to be objective with the rest of society. I started my job thinking only one way, which was my way, but I became more open minded during and after I left my job. Vi was a difficult person to deal with, but I took it in as a life lesson for the future because there are other employers who are just like him.