I have made a big decision. A big move. I got a new job.

Steadily the demands of my job have grown ever-more all-encompassing. The hours I work in a day have stretched out to the point where an eight-hour day seems like a half-day. The number of days I put in during a week have pushed into my time with family and robbed me of the things that make life more than drudgery. When I am at work the chaos and frantic pace leaves me feeling like I’m trying to bail out a leaking life-boat with a holed bucket.

Some time ago my company decided there was too much ‘fat’ in the operations department and cut staff and resources. My boss told me that in a management meeting one of the big-management guys had described his plan to ‘cut the B&C players and dump their work on the A-players.’

I suppose I should be pleased they consider me an ‘A-player’ but the fact is the way things have gone I had to wonder ‘what’s in it for me?’ – especially since wages have been stagnant for the last several years and the B&C players who rode out the attempts by the company to make them quit walked out with severance packages.

So, about two-weeks ago when I was called in early on a Monday after just finishing a week with twenty-hours of overtime I decided to take a look around and see if there was somewhere else that might hire ol’jack.

I had a great meeting with another company and they called me in for a second interview at which they offered me a job. Straight days, twenty-five percent increase in pay. Their office is clean, calm. They are well-organized. They were interested in my ideas and liked what I had to say about dealing with people, planning and communication.

So – how about that?