My promotion

My freelance career has been put on hold while I test the waters in-house. I’ve traded my home office for a one-hour commute, my bedroom slippers for a door with my name on it, my one-woman show for a company of 50,000+ employees.

I work in a translation department with a staff of 20. They are 20 people who share a love of language and a dedication to the craft of translation. It is the other 48,880 employees who worry me.

I met a manager from the logistics department. When I told him I was a translator, he said “that’s okay. You have to start somewhere right?” … He assured me that I would be promoted soon enough.

Most of the employees at the company change job titles and departments every few years. It is a phenomenon that stretches across all divisions and departments with the exception of one. The translation department. Most of the employed translators have been at it for decades.

I told my logistics manager that I am a translator by choice. That it is my pride and joy. Though I fear the message did not get through. I fear that he has already made up his mind- probably convinced that as a foreigner living in Germany, I wouldn’t have too many options, and working as a translator was probably the only job I could get.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I hope never to be a manager in logistics.