The Rat Race

Well, it's official. After a record breakingly short interview consisting off "Is the 2nd good for you?" and "Aye, go on then!", I'll be heading back to work on 2 November. Although the interview was only marginally shorter than my previous record of about 2 minutes which consisted of "Is a window desk ok for you?" and "How much money do you want?".

I'm not saying that I'm good at my job, but I've built a bit of reputation over the years and recommendations from people like past Chief Executives of the Law Society of Northern Ireland don't do me any harm either. Still, I'm not complaining, I hate those interviews where you feel like you're being tested and have to justify your very existence. Thankfully only had one of those in all my years.

Not that being really good at your job serves you well in the UK, in fact it can do a hell of a lot to hold you back. My mum always used to spout little wisdom's like "If your boss had been any good at your job, he'd still be doing it". Funny at the time, but rather depressing once you think about it.

Even the poor husband is finally starting to realise in his industry that the good guys really do finish last. His problem is that he really is brilliant at his job and he's proud of his work, something that's hard to find these days. Have you ever heard your boss makes a wise ass comment about nobody being irreplaceable. Nobody ever made that comment about Robert, they know full well he's irreplaceable so unfortunately the powers that be will never wilfully put themselves in the awkward situation of having to replace him. Which means that because nobody else can manage to clean up as many OPMs (other people's mistakes) in any given day, the guys that regularly make the mistakes my husband spends him time fixing will be promoted past him just to get them off the tools.

I feel for him, I really do and because his reputation also precedes him it really wouldn't make any difference if he were to move to another company, they'd all want him to be the fixer.

But anyway, enough of the grumbling. I'm kind of glad I'll not be heading back to work straight away and waiting until the 2nd November means I have another blissful six or so weeks to myself to just kick back and relax.

Yeah, right!

Of course, now is the time that things are picking up, I'm currently working on six custom orders and I have a couple more on hold for December but I'll be starting those sooner rather than later to get a wiggle on. There's a possibility that one of my pieces may be featured in a magazine at the end of October and I figure it's probably a good idea to have at least one in stock rather than it be listed as custom made, although I may change my mind about that later depending on how hectic it gets around here.

But I'll still have all of those lovely school holidays away from work and home with the family to look forward to which for me is the most important thing.

No kids sent to childcare in this house, no sir!

Also I was very pleased to log into Folksy yesterday morning only to find that I'm a featured seller, so I'm very excited about that and just want to say a quick thank you to Anne for featuring me. In case you don't know, Anne is our extremely hard working and very irreplaceable admin over at Folksy.

6 comments:

  1. That's great news. I hope the job works out to be something you enjoy, or at least tolerate.

    As we've discussed, I'm in the same boat as your husband. Unless I make a HUGE jump away from the industry I'm in, I'll be the fixer for years to come.

    The bitter irony is that before I was just the fixer, my last employer moved me into management and in a few short months I turned a resource nobody wanted on their job into another fixer.

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  2. Hi Leanne,

    You totally deserve it, so no problem. [Dunno about 'irreplaceable' btw, but thanks anyway!]

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  3. Well done re the job. Thanks for all your brilliant ideas on my blog too! You have been really helpful. Loving the sound of the washcloth bag!!

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  4. Congrats on the new job. What will you be doing?

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  5. Didn't you say this new job will only require a couple of hours a day? That sounds ideal!

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  6. Sounds like the perfect job interview - I have not had a job interview since 1986!

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Your comments make me smile. I love that you stopped by.