A Sad Story With No Commentary

This is a sad story about a friend of mine.  I relate it to you with no commentary of my own.

After getting her BA, she floundered around in the wide-open marketplace.  After a couple of years of lackluster jobs, she decided she wanted to be a paralegal.  After researching programs, she decided that she wanted a master’s degree.  After enrolling at a well-known college, she started her program where many of her classes were actually at the law school.  She was doing the same classwork as future attorneys in those classes.  She graduated at the top of her class and was hired on at a mid-sized firm.

I ran into her about six months after she started, and she was already looking for another job.  She said the culture just wasn’t a great fit for her.  I wished her luck.

A year later, she called to tell me she left the profession all together.  Shocked, I asked why.  This is what she said: I loved my job. I loved the work I was doing.  But I thought I was going to be treated like a professional.  Instead I was looked down upon by an attorney that I sat next to in one of my classes. In fact, I made an A in that class – he didn’t.  I thought I was going to be respected.  Instead, I was treated like a child that couldn’t be trusted.  When that happened at the first firm, I thought it was their problem, but that’s not true, is it?

Now she works in another industry that values all the skills she gained by becoming and being a paralegal.  She makes about the same amount of money, but she’s respected at her office.

Again, I will add no commentary.