WJC's wife is pregnant. They've been trying for a while, and eventually went the IUI route. This was their last-ditch effort, and had it not worked, they would have just accepted not having any. WJC has never been excited about having kids, would be fine with or without them, but she really wants them, and since he talked her into moving here to be with him (she's from New Zealand), he figured that he sort of 'owed it' to her to try this route (that's a poor choice of words, but I can't think of how better to phrase it!?).
...And here's the part where I make it 'all about me'! ;-) Since he's now going to be a dad, he decided that he's not making enough money (understandable concern). One of our outsource companies has been courting him in secret for the last several months, and they made him a very good offer. It's not any closer to his home, but there's opportunity for advancement and income growth, which is a bit limited at our place. He did, however, talk with our boss's boss (one of the company directors) to see if they would match the offer (he should find out Monday). He really doesn't want to leave, but he's trying to think of his soon-to-be family's sake.
I don't blame him in the least; I think it's the smart move, whether he goes to the new place or not. It does present me with a problem though. He and I have worked together for years, and we work together well; we've got a system down, and we're very efficient. Also, there's one particular job function he does that I haven't learned yet. Really, what I'm getting at is, if he leaves, my job is going to be hell. There are still only two of us in the department (full-time - interns don't really count), and not only do we do all the measurements for our two plants here in town, we quite often do them for our other facilities on the coast, and in Mexico. We're barely able to keep up now as it is - if he leaves, something will have to be neglected. If they do manage to find someone else, it'll be even worse for me, because this new person will have no experience with our systems/processes, and will require a metric shit-tonne of training to get up to speed. I'm already slowed down by having to train our interns just to run and debug the programs we already have written (which isn't really going well), and on top of that, they just fired the last guy in charge of the gauge calibration system and moved a new guy into the position, with a total of two days training (training provided by the guy they fired because he wasn't good enough to do the job, mind you), and I'm the only one in the company who knows the ins-n-outs of that system. Guess who'd unofficially the new guy's trainer?
So what I'm concerned with is:
double the workload - hours spent training interns - hours spent training calibration guy + (more mistakes from rushing + redoing work) = too much over-time + still falling behind.
There is a major dearth of talented people in my field... *nobody* can find qualified, quality people. I mean nobody. WJC has been getting calls for years (I have too, to a lesser extent), so I doubt that my company could find anyone worthwhile to replace him. Basically, the only people left in the marketplace are the people nobody wants to hire. I like stability, I like my job, my employer, my location... everything about my current situation, less one thing; I'm stuck where I am. The only place for me to go in my current situation is up, meaning, department manager, which we currently don't have (our department is self-directed by WJC & me, but "managing" is being handled by an overall group manager). I'm not a people-person, I don't want that job, and believe me, nobody else wants me to do it either.
My only opportunity for advancement would be to leave for another company. I like my city, I like my neighborhood, I like the social scene (what little I see of it), and the idea of moving out of town is a bit intimidating. I mean, I've often thought about starting over somewhere new, but the reality of it is that I'm isolated enough as it is; if I were to move somewhere else, I'd have no idea how to meet new people, especially if I'm not drinking (like now). I've also dreamt of moving out of the country, but I don't know that I could bring myself to do it. Not that I wouldn't love it, but (and this may seem dumb) there are a few things I really don't want to leave behind - I mean, most of it I could eventually ship over if I decided to stay for more than a couple years, but my motorcycle? My Dodge? Ugh. It doesn't really matter at this point, because even if he does leave, I'm not getting any worthwhile offers anyway, so I'm stuck where I am. Hopefully, our company matches the other's offer & he gets what he needs so he can stay. At least then I'll have a bit more time to weigh my options & lay some ground work in case I need to make a move in the future.
On the plus side of this situation though, if WJC goes to this new company, he would be in charge of their measurement department & I might be able to get some contract work out of it. They're looking for programmers like me & I could likely work from home on the weekends (would have to; they're over an hour's drive from me). Not that I want to kill myself with overtime, but something short-term to build up a cache of cash (ha!) towards fixing up the Dodge would be nice.
On another topic, ever since I had that "great" back adjustment, I haven't been able to sing because it hurts too much. I haven't been back to an open mic night since. Well, I'm guessing that might change soon, because some days I can sing now, so it's getting better... know why it's getting better? Because that "great adjustment" is no longer fixed. My body's going back to the way it was, and the more my back hurts, the better my voice gets. I don't think the universe allows everything to be right/good all at the same time, ever. At least my lifting is going alright (back issue aside).
11:04 a.m. - 2016-06-19
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