Would you rather have someone sugarcoat the news or deliver itto you straight? For this salary survey iteration, I confidentlyopted for the latter.

We'll just have to see how it goes. When pouring over thisyear's results, the Claims staff was intrigued, indignant,and yes, disconcerted. The brunt of feedback  echoed adefeated, overwhelmed tone. Reported pay increases? Those werenegligible. Accolades from management? Fat chance. What about thecustomer-claims interaction? Eh, those policyholders are a bunch ofwhiners.

Even my “very steady pay for humane hours” logic was deflectedwith seemingly countless (in reality, hundreds) of variations of“scrimpy wages and lack of recognition.” None of us are immune tothose Rodney Dangerfield “I get no respect” moments but there issomething truly frightening about “I get no break” and “I feelutterly trapped.”

To preface my analysis, which begins on page 22, I am a personwho read Nietzsche of her own accord. His stance on meaninglessnessseemed kind of “meh” to me. To each his own, or so they say. Now,at the time, I was experiencing burnout and disillusionment atwork. For all the over-analyzing and silly diversions, what Ineeded most was to look at the solution staring me in the face, andto put everything into context.

When taken out of context, an unfortunately timed remark or arandom statistic can spell disaster or disastrous thinking at thevery least. What you may not infer from the above is thatI am an optimist, especially when it comes to our tenacious, ofteninspiring claims brethren. There is no glossing over the fact thatthe world—our microcosm particularly—can be a scary place toinhabit. But at the end of the day and despite stagnant pay,emotional outbursts from policyholders, and 60-mph winds, this gigisn't all bad. In fact, I'd say the bumpy ride is well worth it.Trying times have taught us to elevate our game and to taketechnology risks that we otherwise wouldn't have even entertained.Along the way, we have become stronger and discovered the truemeaning of excellence from those who profoundly impact the lives ofmany.

There are true innovators in our own field, too numerous tomention. The road may not be smooth or even paved in someinstances, but we are in this together. Make no mistake: I am notadvocating staying at a position or in a career that you loathe.I'm not saying we should be grateful to be here and work, sometimesto the point of exhaustion, for a decent living wage. But I urgeyou to put it into context. Let's hang in there.