tough decision

I'm in a work dilemma. I've had what might be a good opportunity almost fall in my lap. I don't know what to do. A couple of months ago, I was asked to relocate to another building to help the new boss out until his new assistant started. It meant trying to do both jobs at the same time and it was a wild week, but I did it for a week and a half. The new person came, lasted 6 weeks and poof, she's gone and I'm up there again. I've been there a week and a half again, but this will be longer. My dilemma: I'm thinking of going for the job. It's a high position, but a demanding one. I'm not sure that I want to take a chance at this time in my life or invite more stress. The big thing is that I'm worried about the hours. I like my lifestyle. On the other hand, I have been doing well on this job. We seem to work well together. He seems to like the work I'm doing. I think my writing skills have been a big plus. I'm not good at making decisions and I'm afraid of the what ifs? What if it doesn't work out and then my job is gone and then what do I do? What if I can't keep up this pace? How do I leave the people I work for now. (Yes, I have one person I report to, but work for several people.) I'm always being pulled in every direction. It would mean more money and I wouldn't do it unless it's a lot more (and it could be) but money isn't the whole issue. A fortune teller told me just before I was doing this job before that it would not be temporary for me. I laughed. I'm not laughing now. Part of me feels like maybe I should go for it. Then there's the other part of me What do you think?

Is it work you enjoy? Have you been around the people long enough to find out if you like working with them? Can you look at the job realistically regarding hours and time involved?

You sound very qualified, or they wouldn't have asked you back to help out. I think if you like it, and you can handle the hours, you ought to go for it.

Kathy

I've been there for 8 years. I know everyone and am getting to know the new boss. Don't really know him yet though, but I've enjoyed working there. I work full time now and don't want to end up working on a salaried job and working more hours. When you're salaried, they don't care how late you have to stay to get things done. Right now I punch and they don't expect you to stay late or want you to. (Except for right now. I can work over and get the overtime.) I'm not looking for overtime, but it will come in handy in FL at the end of the month. It's the hours. I have to find out more about that first.

Louisa, the only advice I can give is to listen to your intuition. When my boss gave his notice, he asked if I wanted the job and he would put in a good word for me. I had no hesitation in saying 'no' as I knew I didn't want the extra responsibility. I 'retired' over a year ago and only took this job because it's part time with no responsibility, no big decisions but decent pay. I'm living very frugally now on my pension and my part time pay, but don't miss the 'big' money at all. You have to do what you feel is right for you. It could be that the hours might be longer in the beginning, but once you know the routine and what's expected, you will be able to tweak how many hours you work. Is there any possibility that some of the work could be done from home? If I could do my job from home, I would. It has also been my experience that if I didn't take a chance, I would always wonder 'what if' I had taken it. If I took the chance, and it didn't work out, at least I took that chance. I have decided that taking a chance and having it not work out is better than not taking it and kicking myself later. I usually listen to my gut instincts, and they're always right. Things seem to end up the way they're supposed to, even if I took the long way around to get there.

Don't know if this helps, but good luck with your decision.

How many more years do you plan to work before retirement?

If the job clearly has broader range of responsibilities that require higher level of skills, then abit more money might be useful to inquire...only IF you plan to be there for several years. Instead of a few months. Otherwise you might be shooting yourself in the foot abit.

If you deliver what is required on the job within work time, then your new boss knows you maybe motivated to work well so that you don't put yourself in an overtime situation..because you prefer not to do it.

Even managers who clearly cannot offer overtime pay to their employees and generally don't expect the employee to work overtime, it is helpful in the odd occasion for rush service/work. Such as occurring once a month or less.

As for a job with extra stress, I don't know how to respond to this ... except if it's just occasional stress rather than constant. ..isn't that ok?

I can't imagine a job with no stress... I've never had a job like that.. The higher you are on the organizational chain OR the greater range of task responsibilities that you have to perform which have serious reprecussions/risk to your organization if you weren't around or if you did something incorrectly, then there will be some stress embedded in the job.

I recall as a new university graduate in my lst professional job but in an assistant capacity to a highly experienced professional who was my manager, I saw her cry briefly once.

She cried openly in front of me...it was stress of dealing some political issues with senior management, the board and her department budget. I realized if I wanted professional jobs that intellectually challenged me, put my department in the limelight, greater responsibilities, then I must be prepared for the stress also.

Looking back, I'm so glad she had the humility to break down just a little in front of green graduate and confide to me. It was something I never forgot. It was a teaching moment from her (a much older boomer woman by the way, she is close to 68). I'm 48.

If you take the job Louisa, just love your non-work destressors for your own peace of mind. I love my cycling homeward after work for this.

Louisa, I can understand your dilemma. If I were 10 or 15 years younger I wouldn't hesitate in expanding my business. But at this point in my life, I am looking for more free time and less stress.

What you consider a good quality of life should help you decide. If you think the challenge and excitement of doing something new could give you that adrenaline kick that may possibly take years off you…then do it. If you think it could wear you down and make you yearn for your regular hours and free time, then don't do it.

I just got an extremely interesting offer to sell a huge hotel complex in Austria, and am standing before a similar decision. If I get an exclusive on it, then I will take on the responsibility…if not then I will turn it down. I don't have the nerves anymore to take on a job, and not have the guarantee that I have the exclusive sales rights. Maybe you could make your decision according to set times or not. And do you know why the other lady left?

Hope this has been helpful.

The word "salary" caught my eye. They can work you to death for the same or less money than you're making now.

Have you put both jobs side by side on paper and compared them? That always works for me.

You are thinking about taking a new position and I am considering retiring to a new life. It isn't easy to make these life altering decisions.

Good luck, Louisa. I am sure you will find the answer that is right just for you.

Thanks, Anno. You're right. And, I love your new picture.

No, Dianne, but I was thinking of doing that.

Yonuh, I may have felt that way a little when I passed this up 2 months ago. (Kicking myself) On the other hand, I think of my lifestyle and don't want that to suffer. I love spending time with Katie and my vacations and just playing. I am always complaining about not having enough time to do things I want to do.

Orchid, I had planned on retiring in two years at 62, but it's not possible now with the cost of healthcare. I am covering both of us now. I can't retire that soon. My only thing would be if I could cut down to 30 hours and still get insurance, but then all my money would go for that and it would be difficult to find that job. So now I'm thinking if I have to work another 5 years, why not do it in a position where I will make a lot more money? Like dianne says, they will work you to death at any rate.

Thanks for your input. I need to think this over carefully. I do like some of the job a lot. My writing skills are coming in handy. Most people would not get to try a job out first the way I am with this one.

I hope God gives me the strength to make the right decision. I'm terrible at making decisions. But He knows that.

Louisa, I think I know you well enough to know that your free time with your fmaily is a huge part of what makes you tick. If you are already stressed about not having enough time, make sure you have a true picture of how many more hours you will need to work in this new position.

Two questions:

Why are you afraid of taking the new job?

Do you like the job you had before helping out with this new position?

Oh, and at this stage of the game, I think we're all into less stress. Consider that.

I've been doing this now for 4 weeks. The hours have been choppy, but I can do the work. I even like the challenge. Tomorrow, we are going to have the big "talk." We'll see. I intend to make it known that my quality of life is important to me. I don't mind working later some days, but I need to know just what he expects. I don't want to work late all of them. Of course, I will start going in later. I don't think he even knows what time I come in.

Stay tuned..

Good luck!! Let us know how it goes.

I'll be interested in hearing what happens too.

I'll let you all know.

Curious to hear what happens.

me too.

It went well. He told me what he expects and I asked the questions I wanted. The hours still bother me and that holds me back. He said there could be some 50-60 hour weeks but that when that happens I can take a day off later. I don't know what I want to do. I wouldn't have to deal with all the pain in the neck stuff I do now and wouldn't have to fix the jam in the copier every time someone puts the paper in wrong, "fix" the fax machine when it's out of paper, get someone a box of pens when I'm in the middle of something. I'm supposed to be thinking about it. In the meantime, I'm doing the job. I can do it, I just have to make up my mind whether or not I want to. Maybe being away will help. Maybe I'll win the lottery?

Be careful about "taking a day off later". I worked most of one summer with the promise that once school started I could take days off. Didn't happen; always too busy. I basically worked for free, since it was a salaried job. Never again.

Oh my, you mean theres a chance for me yet??? I wanna win, I wanna win!!!

I'm back now. Gave it some thought on vacation, but I didn't want to ruin my vacation thinking about work so I tried not to think about it that much. He's away right now. I'll see how I feel getting back to it. Kathy, there shouldn't be a porblem with comp time. Management there does it a lot. Great Maxine one, Chick I thought about applying for a job in Disney while I was there, but Cinderella was taken so I came back.

Louisa, I bet they may need another Cinderella. Don't give up on that one!

Anything new at Desney you want to share? I was in Animal Kingdom in March and had a blast with my animal loving daughter.

Funny, I once took a trip to Disney and was very prayerful while there about leaving a job. I chose to leave it and never looked back.

I'm sure you'll make the right decision. Just keep us posted.

I have thought about you off and on over the past month. You sound like you are asking all of the right questions and being extrememly thoughtful in your decision. Way to go, Louisa.

There were some changes in Disney. Some we didn't like, but there's always change. We did LOVE the new Italian restaurant at the Swan Hotel. There's a new ride in Epcot called The Seas. It was about finding Nemo. It was cute but nothing that wonderful. I like the Figment one better. We only went to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot this time. Those are my favorites. We don't do all the theme parks every time. We hotel hopped one day. Went to the Wilderness Lodge and the Grand Floridian. We played miniature golf at the Fantasia Gardens. That was a first for me (and a last). We spent an evening at Downtown Disney so I could shop my brains out. Again, found a new restaurant, the Raglan Cafe. We ate outside. It was a gorgeous night. I got in some pool time and some jacuzzi time. It was a nice relaxing vacation.

As for decisions, I'm not good at them, but I have to make one soon. Can't keep doing two jobs, even though they are finding summer help to do some of my regular stuff. I've pretty much decided, just want to clarify a few more things before I make a move like this.

Well, ladies - I did it. I took the job today. Dotsie, I think my fear was/is that it might not work out, I might not like it afterwards, or stress. I liked the job I had, but I was getting tired of it. I never thought I would have another job. I thought I would do what I was doing until retirement. Things just surprise you sometimes. I wasn't looking for this and there it was. I think I made the right decision. I didn't want to be kicking myself later for passing it up as Yonuh said. We'll see. I moved into my new office today.

Yea!! Doesn't it feel good, though, to have made that decision and be moving forward? You'll do great, I just know it!

Kathy

Louisa, it's good that you took the time to think this out. I'm sure you made the right decision.

Moving right up that ladder, Louisa! Congratulations!

Thanks. Right or wrong, it wasn't a snap decision. But, yes, it does feel good knowing I finally made a decision. I hope I don't fall off the ladder and break something, Hannelore. Thank you all for your comments and input.

I don't think you'll fall off. I'm sure you put enough thought into this decision adn will do a fantastic job. Seems you already are, right? Now you'll only be doing one job!