Good luck with your job interview, Chris1976. It's good to hear that someone else is looking for work. I will be attending an orientation for a job search program run by the county of San Diego.

HELLO CHRIS, IF THIS JOB IS BEST FOR YOU, THEN MY BLESSINGS TO YOU ON GETTING IT, YOU ARE SO KIND TO HAVE SUCH FEELINGS TOWARDS YOUR COWORKERS, BUT SOMETIME YOU GOT TO MOVE ON, LOVE LUCY***

I understand bonding with coworkers, it can be very hard to leave them behind. I wish you the best of luck in finding the right situation for you.

Leaving co-workers can be so hard.... you spend so much time with them out of your days.... and in a not so great work environment people tend to depend on each other to vent or feel connected and not so alone. I hope you can get a new job soon because working in a toxic environment can be so damaging over a long time. I tend to relate adult things that happen with how it felt as a child too.... the loss and abandonment feelings come up alot for me.... i do my best to challenge those thoughts. Maybe in this situation try challenging that thought with something like...... Its ok for me to move on with my life... my co-workers will too someday when they get a better opportunity

Thank you so very much for your support. The management on the place I work for now is very unsupportive in spite of all the great things we've done. At one point my team and I didn't get along well, but things started getting better as some people left and some things changed. But the upper management is very unprofessional and careless...

So my interview went well. In fact, it was after I was out on my way back home that I came to realize how much I have grown and made positive changes in my life. I remember the days when negotiating salary was the most terrifying and uncomfortable thing in the universe. My horrendous underneath feelings of not deserving good things were always in the way (I have stories about it that I now think are funny).

Today I asked for a very high salary, well fair salary, what the industry pays. I gave my absolute minimum but I added: "This is my absolute minimum, but the additional perks have to be so great that I'd take this minimum, otherwise, no". I couldn't believe that this part of the interview went so well to the point that I didn't even noticed till after I left! Before I felt like I was begging to like me and would accept any salary they'd offer me.

In all honesty, I know the competition is tough, I know that I may not get the job, but I left with such a great sense of accomplishment, feeling like all the work that I've done in myself, all the support I've reached out for, all the hours of therapy, support groups, crying, grieving, finally is starting to show. To me that's the best perk.

Thank you again for your support.

I am happy for you Chris, happy that you are getting assertive; I know this can take a long time. I am still working on being more assertive, that was something I never learned; I always wanted my mother to love me and have a normal house to live in. Wish you the best for the job situation. Yes sometimes it is very hard to leave coworkers, but sometimes you can not get out of there fast enough; I had one of those experiences too. Peace and Love.

Chris, it sounds like the interview went great.

As to leaving co-workers behind, that happens, but isn't always sad.

When I accepted a new job, I discovered due to family situation I would need to move out of state, I actually arranged with the new employer I was supposed to work for and a co-worker I was leaving behind from the old place, to have the co-worker take my job at the new place. It worked out wonderfully. And both the new employer and the co-worker were happy. My hope was that the co-worker would move people from the old place to the new place as they possibly could--that had been my idea and the good team from the old place would have gradually moved to the new place. Keep that in your mind wherever you go as openings come up.