Work, then and now.

Stepping outside after 8 hrs in there I noticed the sun shinning and it felt good. The breeze took a bit of my hair and moved it across my forehead. I felt unusually light in my step as I realized I was leaving work behind without it following me home. Nothing about it was going home with me, not the worry of being on call nor the thought of wondering if the just finnished shift was my last, and nobody told me I'm not welcome at their after work gatherings.

When I left work that day I had nothing in my hands except a plastic bag with a tupperware bowl and lid, no bag of study materials or recently passed out orders to be followed. No on-call pager or phone, no need to wonder if I'd be stuck on nights for a month or a year or more and no being pulled away from home at 2:00 am to listen to an old lady bitch about the medical equipment she's renting, or to fix it by... plugging it back into the outlet.

As I stepped out into the sunshine I realized right then and there what it feels like to be able to leave work and leave work behind. That very day I was complimented (twice) on the good work I was doing. Talk about a change! I'll not ever take this job for granted. It will be a pleasure to not waste any time and to work as best I can to help ensure the long term viability of this company. I've not really given a hoot during the past 8 or nine years as it was obvious to me that my eight year employer, until September of last year, and lets call this "job 1", could give a rats ass about what was doable or not. The control-freak that managed the department the last two or three years did not want to hear how we as the employees (doing the day to day work that made the place exist at all) felt about anything regarding the work.

The people I worked with from November till mid March, at "job 2", were a click to beat all clicks and did not welcome "newbies" by any stretch of the imagination. I recieved direct and not so subtle indications that new people are not appreciated. The management there was preoccupied with being a neo-militarilistic, controlling type with the belief, apparently, that saying "good work" or "thank you" is a sign of weakness. Not one employee I spoke with nor any of the conversations I overheard indicated anything other than the idea of being complimented was forbidden and being written up was the order of the month... No kidding. Did I mention the "bad-ass" guy(s) that didn't sit down while working at thier stations who apparently thought playing kick-ass video games somehow made them kick-ass, cop wanna-be types? Again, no kidding.

So, a few weeks ago, before I left the para-militant employment camp (job 2) I interviewed and was hired for the work I'm doing now. I went back to work at job 2 the next Monday and and looked around there in the frown-factory and noted all the overweight, overworked, tums chewing, constantly bitching and overly stressed coworkers. Yup, not only was I barely able to keep up on the new-hire training curve, but I didn't think I needed to be so stressed out. So, I left the place behind me. I put all the company owned property in my locker and never went back.

I won't even discuss here (much!) the eight years at job 1 that were pretty good but slowly morphed into a control-freak play ground and ended on a bad note. I did not appreciate the job and i admit it. However, I know that the employee's well being is of little interest there anymore now that the over-compensator is at the helm. He seemed to be a tightly wound, insecure and therefore over-compensating type who's insecurity unknowingly makes him control freak. The sales mngr/department supervisor, when he wasn't on his knees in front of referral sources, was trying to kiss their ass in any and all situations and therefore came off as a spineless "manager wanna-be" due to his method of fixing problems by simply blaming the people in our department, no matter the issue or the source of any issue. The guys working in the department now are for the most part looking for other jobs. I discovered this while speaking with two of them recently. It is not the place it used to be! And now that "Oba-Mao" got his "health care" (uh-huh) bill passed there is no doubt that the job 1 business is going to be stretched to the financial limit and one wonders if they might even survive the next ten years... Glad I'm no longer there for that reason and so many others!

So, I'm happy at work now. I don't make quite as much money but the quality of my work is way up as is my contentment. My wife supports me in this and we are still very happy together and that is something I KNOW Mr. Overcompensator can only dream of in his own home! I think I'll leave how I know that to be true unwritten here...

I just put the bike away (2009 Heritage Classic) after a great afternoon ride and poured a cold Fat Tire. I don't mind, now, that weekends are only two days.