While this is not really MB-related, I thought I would share with my "friends" here.
And it is LONG-winded....
First, a bit of background.....
In 2001, I had a good job. I was a manager for a wireless company, making way more money than someone who was 25 without a degree (and without having to sweat) probably should have been. I was very well-liked/respected (actually, I still am.) by everyone there. Got WW a job there, she proceeded to have 3(+) A's with co-workers, but that's the downside of the story......
My direct supervisor and I were both young and fairly new managers. He was 29, I was 25. We both wanted to succeed, both wanted the company to excel, but our styles of management were different. We clashed quite often. We were "friends" (he went on my bachelor party, so did OM1.... I can pick 'em, huh?) but we were often at each other's throats....
To make a long story short, I was a really good manager, but I made a p!$$ poor decision one day. It didn't make me a penny, but it (slightly)benefitted those that worked for me.
So while I'm being chosen for committees, training other employees, being nominated for stuff, and all in all kicking butt, he's planning my demise. In Feb. 2002, I get called in, and I...ummm....resign.
Three weeks later, I get interviewed and hired by the nation's largest wireless provider. Same position, more $$$, great for me! Except that they didn't tell me that the store I was selected to manage was slated to be closed at the end of August. Even with all that, I doing a great job, by all accounts, respected and loved by my workers, etc. Store closes on Aug 31, 2002. I'm out of a job again.....
Stock market goes in the toilet (remember when it was at 7800? I do!) From Sep. 2002 to Jan. 2003, I'm gainfully unemployed. Nothing says fun like Christmas and unemployed, right?
Jan. 2003, I get re-hired in a lesser position by the previous company, but I'm actually making more money. This $$$ got WW and I into our now sold home. I was performing well, but it was a little stressful. Our manager, who I was friends with, (I managed his W at my store but managed not to sleep with her, who knew???) left for greener pastures. I get blatantly passed over for the promotion, (sure we'll interview you, oops don't have time, meet your new boss) <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="images/icons/mad.gif" />
September 2003: I get offered my current job, selling computers, (ick) minimal bump in salary, but I was TOLD that I would easily match what I was making in commission. Not close. In the past year, I've taken almost a 50% pay cut. Fun, huh? Add to that the pressure and stress that this job has. Wow. So I'm looking. Again. Have been for 2 years solid...
January 2004-Fun with affairs! Yay!
To present: At my current job (also a sales job), our boss gets canned, three employees in my dept. left. Me, with management experience, coworker A, with management degree, and coworker B, with neither. Care to guess who gets the job? Admittedly, my performance early in the year was a little "lackluster." (Wonder why?) So, I intensify my job search. I send out a resume to , of all things, sell fire trucks! Sometime, in June. I'm praying pretty heavily at this point, the stress ($$$ and otherwise was eating at me.)
I get a call out of the blue one day about three weeks ago. It's a friend from wireless company #2, telling me about an open job. Somewhere between management and sales, but better $$$ than current, right? And I know the company. (Third times the charm, right?) I kinda felt uneasy about it, (back to a retail schedule) but hey, it would have helped. I was a "shoo-in" to get the job. At this point, I figured that if God wanted me there, he'd put me there. I interviewed on a Friday.
That following Monday, I get a phone call. Not from the wireless company, though. It's the fire truck place. It had been almost three months since I sent my resume. They're really interested in me, want to interview me. The $$$ is really good. I do a first interview, then a second last week.
They called today to offer me the job. I'll be working for the nation's 5th largest fire truck manufacturer, making 1.5 times what I am now. The company has doubled in size in the past 5 years, and it's a "ground-up" company, where my work should get recognized. I haven't been this excited in a long time. It's a job that I feel like I fit in at, it's stable, I'll be good at it, and most of all, I'll enjoy.
And it came out of nowhere.
Here's the part that ties it in to MB......
I had set three checkpoints, to see where I'm at in this M/A/S/D/I don't even know mess.
The first was our anniversary, the second was the 6 month point of Plan B. The third was finding a new job.
How's this for coincidence? Ann. was Tuesday. New job came today. 6 months of Plan B is Sunday.
Guess it's time for me to re-examine, eh?
Ethan
<small>[ October 14, 2004, 04:16 PM: Message edited by: thefurnitureman ]</small>
