Fish Story

You remember the ooooooooooold episode of the Simpsons where Homer has the best job in the world at the bowling alley, but he gives it up to go work at the power plant because it's for the good of his family? That's what leaving carpentry was for me. I still maintain that it was the absolute right choice. And, to be fair to my current occupation, I have learned a few things I didn't know before, and the money is arguably better than where I was. But the fact remains that it was the happiest I have been in a work situation since my college internship.

Anyway, I had an interview for another job today, and I know everyone wants to know how it went. Well, everyone who reads my ramblings anyway. Except the people that are eating dinner, or curing cancer, or trapped under something heavy. But everyone else is waiting and trembling with anicipation to know how it went.

I have never had an interview go so well. Ever. By the time I was leaving, I was asking them details about the 401k plan as if I already had the job, and they were writing them down because -- though nothing "official" was said -- they did ask me back for a second interview, and they did say that they weren't really interested in doing any more interviews. They were so nice, and we laughed and talked more like friends than people dealing on opposite sides of an interview. Every time I asked a question, it was answered honestly and in exactly the way I would have wanted -- seriously, I couldn't have scripted the whole thing better.

So I told my wife, and my wife's mother, and my son, and they were all very happy for my great experience and they were all very encouraging, and we're all agreed that I should absolutlely take it.

Except...

Except that there's a substantial pay drop involved. Some of it you can argue with saved money on the commute, some you can write off as sanity insurance with no second thought. But we're still talking about a big drop. Anybody who knows me, knows that money doesn't concern me. If I have it, I'm happy to share it. If I don't, I just don't do things that require it. No big deal. But with a family, it's a whole new world. There are two other people's lives in the balance. The decisions aren't as easy as "do without." I don't want to ever see either of them suffer from want, and I would walk on glass for a living to see that never happen.

So, I feel Like Andy Dufresne after clibming out of the sewer. I feel vindicated, and I feel like there really is a business out there that isn't immoral and that doesn't want to rule its employees with an iron fist. I have peaked the mountain of jungle misery and glimpsed the gleaming temple in the valley.

But this time Andy climbs back into the hole because he knows he can't leave without Red. This time the natives catch up and drag me back from the crest. This one was big, but it's getting away. I'll call tomorrow and tell them not to worry about the 2nd meeting on Friday. They may try to counter-offer, then we may have more to think about. But really, they won't counter enough, so I'm going to let it go now.

But I have tasted freedom, and I want more.