When you get an e-mail like this… you know your day is not going to end well:
Hello Friends,
{Sic} asked me to inform you of an employee meeting being held tomorrow, May 28th at 10:30 a.m. to discuss plans for the Charleston office
At said Employee meeting, it was announced that the Charleston office, my office, is closing (or relocating rather) to Pittsburgh, PA. Further announced was that ‘some would get offers to relocate, others would not.’ Despite what particular piece of paper they had in store for me, my fate was already sealed – given the choice between the unemployment line and Pittsburgh, PA – I choose unemployment line. No offense Steelers fans, its a personal choice to stay in West Virginia. Not too terribly long ago, 8 months to be exact, I arrived in Charleston, UHaul in tow after giving up a great career in search of a more balanced life and coming home to the great town I grew up in, was more important than some fancy schmancy title on my business card. So, to make such a drastic change just to turn around 8 months later and follow a ho-hum job to a city I’m pretty sure I won’t like just for the piece of mind that I’ll have a paycheck to support children I don’t have, seemed a bit unnecessary. I mean let’s face it its not like I need to buy formula and diapers – Lean Cuisines, beer and dog food are pretty much my only true life sustaining necessities (the dog food’s for Tucker, not me – more on him later). So, for the last 10 days I’ve been feeling pretty good about everything – I’m proud of myself for being confident enough to sacrifice financial security for personal happiness (I did that once already when I left Washington, DC in October, might as well do it again) and ‘cautiously optimistic’ as I like to say about the prospect of finding a new job.
So, effective immediately, the job search has began. If, in 3 months, this blog still exists, we’ll have to see if I have a new token phrase, because ‘cautiously optimistic’ would have to be revisited.
