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| Oh god. I look older than I thought. Sad face. |
I like these people (mostly): I do. And I love that our foundation gave away six million dollars this year. Do you know how happy I am cutting those cheques? I once worked for a company that shipped arms to Iraq under the Bush administration, and stated that their number one asset was their equipment. Yay, Maersk!
So there's a toss up when it comes to my job. Some of the antics are almost non-starters. But being able to walk to work, and donating millions of dollars to charity every year? It makes you suck it up a little.
Michael's job, on the other hand, has reached epic proportions in regards to stress, being on call and unpaid overtime. It was always bordering on the unhealthy and now it's kind of surpassed that.
Let's just say that if I won the lottery tomorrow? The first thing I would do would be to take a limo down to Michael's work, light his desk on fire, take him by the hand and leave. At "our age" children is not an option, but with Michael's work it wouldn't have been an option anyways which makes me wonder how people with kids that work there do it. I want to do whatever it is I can to get him out of this situation.
We're debating a move. Maybe the Island. Perhaps Abbotsford. I don't know. But we've debated this debate before and we never seem to come up with a cohesive game plan, which lands us in the same situation that we're in this weekend, wherein Michael is stressed out of his mind and will likely work until 6am in the morning and say "I'm never doing this again" but then things will return to normal.
I have had too much wine.
It's very, very good wine. Started out with J. Lohr at lunch, and now have gotten into the d'Arenberg's Laughing Magpie Shiraz/Viognier blend. As one who is training for two half marathons does.
Oh, and I turned 39 recently and almost drove myself into the ground as one does when one can't say no. DINNERS AND DRINKS EVERYWHERE ALWAYS.
Fundamentally the point of this post was to be about making a change with Michael's work because it's so terrible, and I don't know where that change might take us. Or if it will even happen. But I'm just getting really tired of his job and so I hope something happens.
And so that is what I wish for for Christmas. A positive change for Michael.
Tell Michael to watch out for that stress, it can lead to bad things happening. It's lucky he's in good shape (judging by what you've said of your running/biking regimes), but stress can still sneak in there and do nasty things. I speak from experience; my heart problems are a direct result. Oh, and happy birdsday, as my German grandma used to say.
ReplyDeleteYes, he does the best he can to manage it, such as running marathons and doing Granfondos, but it's still insidious. It's amazing how out of touch some companies are when it comes to how they treat their employees. Hopefully he can retire from there in the next few years.
DeleteAlways punch the time clock. Literally, don't take a salary job, tell them you want to be paid by the hour and punch a clock. Make them pay what you're worth by the hour. My husband does, and he ends up being paid close to $40 an hour. He's worth it to the company because he shows up everyday at 6AM, and he gets the job done in 8 hours then he goes home. He's rarely called in to stay late because he's guaranteed time and a half overtime. But when they need him they know he'll do the job in record time, he's not one to dick around on the clock just to get a bigger paycheck. In his business, he's known for this and the companies that he's worked for agree to the arrangement. In his experience, when he was paid a salary he has ended up being taken advantage of by his bosses. If the company doesn't want to put him on hourly and insist on a base salary, then he won't work for them. Time off is just as valuable as having a job.
ReplyDeleteMichael would if he could. It's funny (not really): we both have salaried jobs but I get to routinely leave early, or am taken out for two hour lunches, whereas Michael works huge hours. Hourly isn't an alternative for him. In fact, some years ago our provincial government removed overtime pay for IT employees in BC so that we could better compete with California. It's pretty grim.
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