Sometimes I wonder if Unis is fuckin’ with me or just trying to reward me for my patience. Possibly she just REALLY wants me to think hard about my choices. I have a problem knowing if I’m making the right choice when it comes to ordering off of a menu. So when there are PROS and CONS in a decision that effects me and also effects my children’s lives plus there’s an issue of conscience you can see why I might feel a burden making either decision.  Determining which one is right and which one is smart can be a struggle. Especially, when they both seem right in different ways.
   For her first trick today I finally got the business cards that the company I work for had made for me. I am listed as a Service Consultant. Then not even two hours later Unis had a follow up trick or possibly treat. I got an offer to manage a shop Monday through Friday 9 to 5 for over 13k more a year than I am making at my current job. My current position requires me to work 7:30am until 5pm Monday through Saturday. EVERY SINGLE SATURDAY. I do get two Thursdays off a month but still. I have been with this company only nine months. Other than being a yoga/fitness instructor for seven years this is the longest I have been at a job since I had to rejoin the workforce almost two years ago. Not that I am unreliable or a flake but when put in a situation in which I was suddenly a stay at home mom I took the first job that I could find that allowed me to continue teaching most of my yoga/fitness classes mornings and evenings. I was working graveyard shift doing very physical grueling manual labor in an industrial laundry and I did that for seven months. I had earned the unofficial title of “Longest Lasting White Girl” after two weeks. That job was extreme even for a very physically and mentally strong person such as myself. I stuck with it until I was offered another job. I felt awful when I scheduled a meeting during the day to speak with the manger and Personnel Dept. I was supposed to be sleeping since I worked all night but the office was closed at night and I felt as a responsible adult that I needed to give two weeks notice and explain my reason for leaving. I thanked the manager for choosing me for the job seven months before and saving me and my children from homelessness. I was truly grateful and I offered to continue to work nights for the first two weeks of my new job. The manager thanked me kindly but said “as you know people quit this job every single day. They leave after working just two hours or just never show back up after their second day or a week or whatever their breaking point is. You have been a very reliable employee for seven months and I wish you luck with your new job but there’s no need to work two jobs for two weeks. Thanks for your service” So I moved on to my second full time job as a single mom.

    There’s always issues for me leaving anything that I have commited to even when it’s the smarter choice. I felt bad about leaving the laundry hanging (wink wink) but the new job was offering me a position running an office at a small business for twice what I was making at the laundry and for daytime hours. Monday through Friday 9 to 6 and every other Saturday meant that I would have to QUIT teaching my morning yoga classes 😦  but that I could still teach my evening classes if I rushed straight from work. Turned out I was late to class sometimes twice a week which bothered me more than I could stand. I stayed with that job for only three months because the office I was running turned out to be crooked and I had a problem with forging documents and lying to state government officials. Even working at the all night laundry was preferable to working days in a prison laundry so I didn’t feel bad about leaving my position without notice. The business was audited and cited for multiple violations months after I got the hell out so I felt that my move was definitely the right choice. Also I was able to I earn a salary that is over 15k more a year than that crooked job and I get $200 a month for fuel allowance since I work forty miles from home. Not a bad move up for a single mom that had been out of the workforce for almost eighteen years. The biggest problem with switching from that job to my current position is that the hours are so long. I am gone twelve hours a day and had to quit teaching yoga entirely. I could occasionally teach a Spin class but have recently broken it off with my girlfriend and I was teaching at her facility so there goes that. I loved teaching all of my classes but that’s life I guess. With such little time for my mom duties and practically no time for my self. I do what I need to do but am exhausted and I’m still struggling financially. When I get paid I pay the bills, buy groceries and gas and then I am out of money. A couple times a month something bounces through my bank account like the dot on a sing along song video. More money and more family time plus free time should make decision a no-brainer right? Not for me.

    Considerations that would keep me from accepting the new position:
1.) How much training would I recieve before being expected to manage a shop? I am a quick learner but I need to find out the duties and expectations of this proferred position before I commit to doing them. If I get in over my head I may cost the company AND/OR end up out of a job completely.  Switching jobs is a gamble.
2.) The company I already committed to has been good to me financially and they’ve done for me what they said they would do when I convinced them that I would be reliable and trustworthy.
3. The company I currently work for went to the trouble of ordering and paying for business cards with my name on them.
4. The company I work for JUST  gave me my paid vacation two months before it was due for a non work related conference. I literally just returned to work the day before yesterday.

    Now all of the reasons to take the new job:
1.) The great hours
2.) The great salary
3.) No more dealing with the unbelievable ASSHAT service manager at work that yells and screams profanity at me and comments to the other employees in this mostly male work environment about my female private parts in vulgar ways. I have hated few people in my life but I have hated him. Now I see him as a big, loud, pot bellied grumpy toddler but he makes days at work just beyond ridiculous and sometimes I hate him still. He messes with my positive energy because HATE is not something I want to spend my energy on. For months I would actually DREAD going to work and not because of the long drive or the long hours. I would dread having to deal with that douche ass manager. Days when he isn’t here run just as smooth as silk. The only reason I stay is because I can afford to be jobless for one day. If I wasn’t a mother I would have left the first day. Or gone to prison for extreme murder. Seriously.

   I am going to the interview on Thursday to see if I think I can handle the new responsibilities. Thanks Unis for giving me more big decisions to make on my own 🙂