Money, Man!: Part VII

Hello again, Dear Reader! Welcome to Part VII of my never-ending series of posts on how my job experiences and my relationship with money brought me to wanting to FIRE. Should you want to drown yourself in peruse prior posts in this series, here are links to Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI. 

When last we met, I detailed another chunk of my experience working at Employer #5, and with Boss #9, who was my favorite boss. as an employee Today’s post will cover the beginning of an interesting twist during my career. 

After having worked for Boss #9—and suffered Vice-Boss #1—for a few years, I decided to maybe test the job market. The reasons were several. For one thing, for as much as I liked Boss #9, I still was a little sore about his having rejected my proposal to shift what I focused my work on (even if I totally understood his reasoning). I didn’t so much hold a grudge as retain a desire to do the work I’d proposed. Second, I was fit to be tied with Vice-Boss #1. His awfulness, evident from the start, never abated. And third, I’d become generally open to a change of scenery and by this point had enough experience, skill, and confidence in my abilities to believe that I could secure a desirable job with a good salary. I decided that if I came across an attractive job posting, I’d pursue the opportunity. 

Soon thereafter, just such a position popped up. One like none I’d ever seen, in fact. It was right up my alley. At least, that’s how it appeared on paper. I applied and ultimately received an offer from the organization, Employer #6. Better yet, the salary was a not-insignificant amount more than I was making at Employer #5. 

Employer #6

Boss #10

My boss at Employer #6, Boss #10, was someone I’d met once or twice over the years. Although our interactions had been brief, I knew her to have a good reputation in the industry and had heard good things about her. The stars were aligned for a great experience.

And then came my first day on the job. When all sorts of alarm bells went off. 

Uh-oh. 

Day two was as much of a dumpster fire as day one. Never in my life up to this point, nor thereafter, had I ever had an experience in any context—job-related or otherwise—in which I realized almost immediately that I’d made a colossal mistake. Sure, I’d blundered plenty over the years. Just like everyone. Some mistakes were minor, if regrettable. Others far more significant. Some even were life-altering and/or highly unfortunate. But never . . . never . . . an experience like this. 

Sometimes I think back and wonder if I was (and am) being too hard on the place. Then I recall that two people I knew and liked at Employer #6 came and went—running and screaming no less—from the organization during my short stint there. 

How did I detest Employer #6, Boss #10, and several others my group? Let me count the ways. 

For one thing, the job that I ended up doing bore little resemblance to the job description. Worse, I spent an inordinate amount of time on a task I had no reason to believe that I’d handle other than sparingly, if at all, and that I generally disliked in the first place. 

Also, my job was a newly created one. I was told during the interview process that I’d have significant say as to how to define it. That was a delicious prospect.

But it didn’t happen.

Anything I proposed (invariably, together with a close colleague (the group’s one awesome person)) was only grudgingly and unenthusiastically signed off on and usually watered down or rejected out of hand. Instead, I was told to focus on areas I’d neither understood I’d have to focus on much (my colleague shared my understanding as well), nor liked. It was awful.

Another problem was the lack of (sensible) processes in the group. And I say this as someone who’s never been, or wanted to be, a process guy. I don’t like chaos, but I’m comfortable with enough wiggle room that I can determine and execute a way of working that works for me and produces good and timely results. My group at Employer #6 wasn’t a complete hot mess as to processes, but it certainly was in critical areas, which affected my day-to-day work and happiness. My (and my colleague’s) suggestions for changes were met by a look from Boss #10 that can be described as “I have no idea why you have a problem with the way things are.” “Why are you wasting my time.” “You’’re an idiot,” or all of the above. 

Compounding this was that the people in the organization (but outside my group) with whom I worked were at least as exasperating as their counterparts at Employer #5. Which is to say, they regularly made me roll my eyes and take a deep breath, while firmly biting my tongue. Far worse was that many of them were out and out [INSERT EXPLETIVE] jerks.

Most colleagues in my group were truly awful, too. I’d experienced some bad apples here and there over my career. And some people with whom I just didn’t get along well, too. The number of people in both categories, however, was pretty small. Not at Employer #6. Hands down, it was the worst group of people I’ve ever worked with. I’d never (and have never since) experienced anything like it. 

Overlaying all this was that it turned out that long hours were expected at Employer #6. It had been a while since I’d been in a workplace like this, and I’d long since learned that I hhhaaatttee working long hours, and the expectation of doing so. As a result, not only was I doing work I disliked, and working people I didn’t like, but I was doing it for more hours during the day than I wanted. Blech!

But the worst part of my time at Employer #6 was Boss #10. She was bad in almost every way conceivable. Even worse than Boss #5, whom I wrote about earlier. I won’t go into detail, but Boss #10 remains the only boss (and only one of two coworkers I’ve ever had, the other being X, whom I wrote about in an earlier post) about whom I can say next to nothing good about. For what it’s worth, several of my coworkers shared my feelings about Boss #10. 

Before joining Employer #6, I’d since determined that to make a job experience good for me, it’s important that I have coworkers whom I like, respect, and can rely on. I’d essentially also decided that I’d forego at least a little higher salary if it meant working with good people. During my time at Employer #6, however, that resolve became set in stone in my brain. I resolved never to work in a toxic workplace again, and that I’d forego a higher salary in a heartbeat if it meant not working in such an environment. 

Also, much as had been my experience at Employer #3, while I was enjoying my highest salary to that point in my career, I hated my work conditions as much as I ever had. If the ground had been laid for me to be highly interested in FIRE before joining Employer #6, my experience at Employer #6 spread the layer of rich fertilizer necessary for me to immediately and enthusiastically take to the concept of FIRE once I discovered it. Never again did I want to get caught in a position like I found myself in at Employer #6.

As to the details of that financial success I mentioned, between my healthy salary, The Missus having gotten to a position in her job where she was earning good money, and lower expenses resulting from Thing One (The Elder) and Thing Two (The Younger) become less expensive imps, our emergency fund and retirement accounts were growing faster than they ever had.  

Although we weren’t on easy street, we’d reached a point where we had a very healthy shock absorber should a job loss and/or major financial challenge come our way. But while I recognized that, my severe scarcity mindset had long since been set. So, letting my guard down completely wasn’t happening, regardless of how much I might have wanted it. 

And in the end . . . 

Dear Reader, thanks for sticking with me for so long! As I mentioned at the outset of this post, this post is the first segment of one of the more interesting turns in my career. Tune in next time for Part VIII of this series, where I’ll explain the full scope of the twist.