Monday – Back In The Saddle

[ninanevermore]

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I woke up extra early this morning, for the first time in almost 4 month. I drank some diet Mountain Dew in an attempt to float my eyes open, dressed in the clothes I'd pressed the night before, and woke my sleeping Sweat Pea and got him dressed to go to his babysitter's.

I interviewed last Thursday. He made me an offer on Friday. My first offer in three and a half months. There is a great recession going on with what is projected to be a slow and painful recovery period that we are just now (maybe) entering. What could I do? I accepted it.

The new job pays less than the old one, which paid less than the one before. In fact, it puts me back about 10 years as far as compensation goes. That part has me feeling a little melancholy. I don't know how I feel about the job itself yet. My feelings about the company are neutral, which I suppose is better than walking into a building with a feeling of dread. Everyone seems nice enough. Kind of average. Not too scary.

I'm in a cubicle again. Like my last one, it has crown molding, but not as wide as the crown molding in my old cubicle. In all my years in cubicles, it strikes me as funny to get two in a row at two different companies to have this bit of structural flair at the top of the wall of a cubicle. It's an unexpected visual luxury in a place where it seems oddly inappropriate, like walking into a McDonald's and seeing they have marble floors.

It has one huge advantage over my old job, and the one before: I'm not on the road so much. As the crow flies, it's about 12 miles from my house. Since I am not a crow and don't have wings, it's 19. Since I have to swing by the babysitter's house, on some days it's 24. Still, that's half of what I was driving before. There are some good jobs deep in the heart of Houston I could have applied for, but didn't. That drive liked to have killed me. When I took it, I thought I could handle it. I couldn't. All the miles and miles and miles that I drove – between 80 and 100 a day depending on whether I dropped off my son and picked him up or my husband did – in the slow crawl of Houston traffic was isolating and exhausting.

We'll see how this goes.

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Comments

[jenandbronze.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the new job! HUGS

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[magsmom.livejournal.com]

congratulations on the job. It is indeed something to be treasured in this economy. And the cut in pay will probably be more than offset by the shorter commute. Hope so.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm hoping, too. Not to mention working in a less hostile environment than I was before. So far, no bad vibes (which started in the first few days I was at my last job).

[mercurygrrl.livejournal.com]

Congrats on your new job! :)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thank! :)

[simplecity2htwn.livejournal.com]

Best of luck Olive Snook!!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

No matter what kind of luck she has, Olive Snook always survies!

[waterlilly.livejournal.com]

I hope the new job turns out to be unexpectedly good. And I don't blame you for not wanting the long commute. I've had to do the here to Fort Worth (nearly 100 miles round trip, every day) and you're right, it's isolating and exhausting. It eats all your free time and gives nothing in return.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Indeed. No matter how well it pays, you're too spent to get any joy out of what you have in the bank.

[mersipan.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!! And I too hope this one is unexpectedly good - even if the pay is not as good, if the people are nicer that goes a long way :)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thank you. And yes, that makes a big difference. Nice matters. :)

[ithoughtsheknew.livejournal.com]

Good Luck! Hope your week goes very smoothly. :)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Me, too!

[rottzilla069.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention what kind of work it is.

But in any event, Congratulations on the new job!!! :D

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Administrative flunky assistant.

[hermes-wade.livejournal.com]

Crown molding on cubicle walls? How odd.

Good luck with the new job!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

At Big Death, the whole 8th floor has crown molding, cubicles and all. Here, the office is very tastefully done, complete with the crown molding. Yes, it's odd.

[basketcaselady.livejournal.com]

I'll call off your intervention now.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I just reached level 28 tonight. The trick is to plant longer-growing crops...

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

Good luck today Nina! I hope it went well for you! *HUGS*

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Dawn! **hugs back**

[lil-ms-drama.livejournal.com]

Hope you had a great day! One of the problems I had with my last job was the commute too. I know exactly what you mean about it being isolating. It sure didn't feel like time to myself. It was such a drudge day after day to get up just to drive for over an hour to be told all day how inadequate of a worker I was and drive home another hour just to pick up my son, cook dinner, and go to sleep to do it all over again.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Living and making a living should not be mutually exclusive. I didn't accept interviews for companies that were too far from my home this time around. I'm not doing that again if I can help it.

[jessnhalinda.livejournal.com]

If the dress code allows you to keep your soul with your person, then I'm very happy for you!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Start up company. No HR department. No employee manual, even. Thus, no written statement about whether my soul is allowed in the office or must be handed over for the duration of the job. I'll let you know when I have more info. :)

[adamant-turtle.livejournal.com]

Well, at least you got something, even if it's not quite what you had in mind...I don't mean to be in the "be grateful you have a job" camp, bc I hate when people do that (like you should have to put up with everything and anything bc of "the economy"?) But I do see many others, including my own mom, who've been searching fruitlessly for over a year now, so you have to look at it that way too, I guess...

I'm hoping things go well and you find even more pros than you just listed, too :-)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I am grateful, if a little leery. Something just doesn't feel like this is "the one." But who listens to woman's intuition? Certainly not the women who have it...

[suspiria.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I hope it goes well for you. If nothing else, it's something to keep you busy until the right thing comes along!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

No kidding. I just got another job offer tonight for a company that pays (even) less but with people I like a lot more. Annoying.