Part 3 of "Where I've been since 2013"
Continuing on from Part Two
After I'd been on maternity leave for around 6 months, I realised the thought of going back to work at Lush, made me anxious. Having had distance from the job, I realised in many ways it was entirely unsuitable for me and my skills and opinions would never be valued there. I wasn't one of the cool kids and therefore missed out on every opportunity for travel and further developing my skills with the international teams. I constantly had demeaning tasks allocated to me and was subject to bullying on more occasions than I can count. I have to be careful about the level of detail I go into here because honestly, it's so upsetting to even think about it, so instead I'll focus on what didn't make me feel at all welcome to come back.
For starters, my bosses didn't call or message me or send flowers when I had the baby which struck me as very odd because we did flowers, card and cake for every birthday and when someone left the business. I wasn't kept up to date with changes within the business or included in company-wide surveys. No one in HR helped with Centrelink payments (no paid Maternity Leave you see) so I went without income for months until I figured out what to do. I wasn't sent big meeting minutes to ensure I knew what had been happening within the business while I was away (this is basic Maternity Leave 101 and there are numerous government websites that literally walk you through what to do and when) and I truly believe they had no intention of me coming back once they found out I'd moved. Hell, even my exit interview was cancelled. Thank you very much.
I'd worked there for 6 years. All the way up from Christmas Casual to a very senior position. I'd worked the hardest I'd ever worked in any job. I truly believed in the vision and I let a lot of things go and sacrificed so much of myself personally in terms of health, relationships and energy for the good of the business. And the business lets me down, like, woah.
After agonising and mourning through the decision to not return, I took what I thought was the easy way out and resigned, claiming that I wanted to spend more time with my daughter and I wasn't returning to work. There didn't seem to be much surprise on their end and my final pay (consisting of accrued annual leave I'd tried to have paid out before I left but Payroll didn't process my request properly so I missed out) was paid promptly and I was sent on my way without a goodbye, thank you or even good luck. Seriously.
I'll be totally honest with you. It broke me. It broke my heart. Leaving Lush without so much as a kind word from my bosses that I routinely bent over backwards for, broke me.
So, in my Tower Card moment (yeah, I'll get to that) I turned to what I'd always used in times of massive change and stress - Tarot and Crystals. Yeah. I'm woo-woo. And I turned it into a business! I took that trauma and anger and channelled it into something healing. No just for me but for others. My most popular Tarot reading is the Career Reading. So many people are disenfranchised with their jobs. Especially when they give 110% for so long they get to a burn out stage and realise they're unhappy and have no idea what steps to take next. They're my people. I get those people. I can climb down into the mud with them and bring a ladder because I've been there. Some days I feel like I'm still down in that hole. I help them see what's amazing about themselves, what fuels their passion - what they can do differently or what they can do next. It's healing for us all. That is my way to make something beautiful out of something so ugly.
That business is called The Song of the Winds. Named after a Project Pitchfork song and yes, I'm unashamedly a big industrial goth at heart, haha. Check out my website if you'd like. Right now I have a small but beautiful section of crystals and of course, Tarot and Oracle readings available.
But, I'm feeling a bit too raw to go on right now. So, in the next blog post, I'll explain how The Song of the Winds leads me back to Sailor Mouth Soaps and where we are today.
x Aliya
After I'd been on maternity leave for around 6 months, I realised the thought of going back to work at Lush, made me anxious. Having had distance from the job, I realised in many ways it was entirely unsuitable for me and my skills and opinions would never be valued there. I wasn't one of the cool kids and therefore missed out on every opportunity for travel and further developing my skills with the international teams. I constantly had demeaning tasks allocated to me and was subject to bullying on more occasions than I can count. I have to be careful about the level of detail I go into here because honestly, it's so upsetting to even think about it, so instead I'll focus on what didn't make me feel at all welcome to come back.
For starters, my bosses didn't call or message me or send flowers when I had the baby which struck me as very odd because we did flowers, card and cake for every birthday and when someone left the business. I wasn't kept up to date with changes within the business or included in company-wide surveys. No one in HR helped with Centrelink payments (no paid Maternity Leave you see) so I went without income for months until I figured out what to do. I wasn't sent big meeting minutes to ensure I knew what had been happening within the business while I was away (this is basic Maternity Leave 101 and there are numerous government websites that literally walk you through what to do and when) and I truly believe they had no intention of me coming back once they found out I'd moved. Hell, even my exit interview was cancelled. Thank you very much.
I'd worked there for 6 years. All the way up from Christmas Casual to a very senior position. I'd worked the hardest I'd ever worked in any job. I truly believed in the vision and I let a lot of things go and sacrificed so much of myself personally in terms of health, relationships and energy for the good of the business. And the business lets me down, like, woah.
After agonising and mourning through the decision to not return, I took what I thought was the easy way out and resigned, claiming that I wanted to spend more time with my daughter and I wasn't returning to work. There didn't seem to be much surprise on their end and my final pay (consisting of accrued annual leave I'd tried to have paid out before I left but Payroll didn't process my request properly so I missed out) was paid promptly and I was sent on my way without a goodbye, thank you or even good luck. Seriously.
I'll be totally honest with you. It broke me. It broke my heart. Leaving Lush without so much as a kind word from my bosses that I routinely bent over backwards for, broke me.
So, in my Tower Card moment (yeah, I'll get to that) I turned to what I'd always used in times of massive change and stress - Tarot and Crystals. Yeah. I'm woo-woo. And I turned it into a business! I took that trauma and anger and channelled it into something healing. No just for me but for others. My most popular Tarot reading is the Career Reading. So many people are disenfranchised with their jobs. Especially when they give 110% for so long they get to a burn out stage and realise they're unhappy and have no idea what steps to take next. They're my people. I get those people. I can climb down into the mud with them and bring a ladder because I've been there. Some days I feel like I'm still down in that hole. I help them see what's amazing about themselves, what fuels their passion - what they can do differently or what they can do next. It's healing for us all. That is my way to make something beautiful out of something so ugly.
That business is called The Song of the Winds. Named after a Project Pitchfork song and yes, I'm unashamedly a big industrial goth at heart, haha. Check out my website if you'd like. Right now I have a small but beautiful section of crystals and of course, Tarot and Oracle readings available.
But, I'm feeling a bit too raw to go on right now. So, in the next blog post, I'll explain how The Song of the Winds leads me back to Sailor Mouth Soaps and where we are today.
x Aliya
