Honestly, no. But I would rather have him running around unsupervised than some of these dickheads out there on youtube. I trust Markm a hell of a lot more than most politicians and reported, not that is saying a whole hell of a lot, but still. And besides he can’t be as bad as the jackass who’s ad I just saw pop up local advocating converting rifles to FA.
Not lower pay, but I took a creative/prestige reduction in order to be happy.
I worked for one of the most prestigious high end retail architecture companies in the world. Their office was in Manhattan and I worked on high end retail projects in really cool locations. I designed the Dior store in the Bellagio and a couple more in other placed. I was working on a huge outlet mall in Busan SK. I had a large personal office with windows overlooking Lexington Ave. Unfortunately, the hours were 9-6 which caused my bus to always be in traffic going through the tunnels. I would leave the house at 7am and would consider myself lucky if I got home at 8. Sitting on the bus for 4 hours a day was terrible. I was always moody, my wife said I was a bear to deal with. One day, my wife called me crying and terrified, she was involved in an MVA on the highway on the way home. She was hurt, scared and in the middle of being transported to the hospital. I ran out of the office but had to wait 45 min for the next bus. I did not get to her for almost 2.5 hours. That was the last straw.
Now, I work less than a mile from home. Sure my office window looks over a parking lot and the projects I work on are not as glamorous but I am immeasurably happier. Its a small family firm and I am second in command. The owner is an awesome dude, I got him into firearms and every once in a while we cut out a few hours early and go to the range. The Jr Architects that work here are smart and agar to work, no egos like you find in NYC.
I did not take a cut in pay, but it did go backwards creatively. That’s okay by me however, I am a lot happier now.
Absolutely.
I’m doing it right now. But I’m building my part of the business up, while still keeping to no more that 42-43 hours a week, and enjoying life outside of work. Gone are my days of 50-60 hour work weeks. That shit is for weirdos who live for their jobs.
Wow. Just checking back in here… Lots of good replies. Especially Honu’s. Thanks!
I took a pay cut in locality pay to get closer to family, bout it. I’m past the point now of stepping backwards, only moves I have left are moving up in the food chain. 197 more months til retirement, I can almost smell it…
This^^!!! I used to start feeling like I was physically ill on Sunday evenings and just loathed getting out of bed each morning. Now I am still not thrilled with the alarm clock but once I’m vertical, I enjoy each and every day, even thought I’m still not back to the salary I was making in 2006.
I am convinced that life is 100% better if you enjoy your job, even if it means making less cash.
There’s a lot of truth in that… I’m retired, I retired in july’14 I worked 33yrs as a pipefitter… I traveled a lot, working in 10 states before I hung it up. Within the last 15yrs or so I notice a disturbing trend… That of working more and more hours and more days per week. When I left, the “normal” workday had morphed into a 10hour day,from 8 (and usually the foreman would come around about 3:00 or so, and ask you if you wanted to work more hours, in the summer, this could be as late as 9-10 Oclock at night.) and the “normal” workweek was now 6-7 days, and you were expected to do this for months at a time… As soon as I figured outI could retire at 60, I walked away from it. My advice to anyone is to find something you love to do, and if it’s possible to make a living doing it then by all means do it. If you’re working a job that’s driving you batshit crazy, leave ASAP. It’s simply not worth it. Your mental health is far more important than any pile of fiat paper money ever will be, and as was pointed out, you’re not going to find anyone on their deathbed, who wished that they had worked harder, or worked more hours… I’ve seen too many guys in the past who, while chasing the almighty dollar, would miss their kids birthdays, school functions, wedding anniversary’s work holidays like thanksgiving, Christmas, and then wonder why they end up getting divorced…
We cut the cord last spring. We already had a Roku, Netflix & Prime. I added this antenna http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Ultra-Thin-Amplified-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B00DIFIP06/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1423247789&sr=8-2&keywords=amazon+antenna we have plenty of options. A Chrome Cast keeps the kids occupied too. TV is a huge time waster anyway.
Words of wisdom. Honestly I love my job and hate my job at the same time. I have a good deal of vacation, sick time and holidays off. This lets me spend time with my kids. They are my world. I’ve had leukemia twice and Honu hit it out of the park. I knew I needed to spend more time doing what was important to me. When you are dying or in my case think you are, you realize what truly matters. Work is waaaaay down on the list.
on the dive thing
I used to joke I had a office with a view and you paid big bucks to come stay on island and then pay to come out on our boat 
used to get folks who would say I wish I could do that but I cant used to say sure you can !!! you just have to take the leap and realize there will be some changes in life
as I say if someone is doing the job you want to do now it means it can be done
these were a while ago not current when I was in my 30s
my office 5-6 days a week being forced to sail and then dive hahahahaha:) I am the dude on the right
this is what I did
and saw some insane stuff I got to see
I have several friends who retired from the military around the same time I did; some took jobs that paid very well indeed. I decided to become a high school teacher.
I wouldn’t trade places with them for any amount of money.
A few thoughts on the matter . . .
I think EVERYONE at one point or another has a job they loathe. We abhor our jobs for one reason or another. I read a lot, a lot of career articles and the like and the norm these days is for people to change careers and or employers every two to five years. Most folks do not stay in the field they obtained an education and or training in. What these articles DO NOT tell you is that the vast majority of people change careers and or employers so often not because of the actual job per say, but it is the average threshold we as humans can tolerate the ****ing oxygen thieves we have the pleasure of either working for or with. There are those amongst us who are lucky and find a place where this does not happen but it is not norm. And if you pony up and become your own boss, i.e. small business owner this problem is only complied when you have to manage those people you’ve hired underneath you.
I never understood it, I mean for those of us who choose not to live on the streets or be a card carrying member of the FSA you would think that people would figure out that no one really wants to be a work and that we all have to put food on the table so we might as well work together, get along, and make things easier on everyone. But NO, the human psyche has to come into play and with that you get the idiots.
Next month my son will be born (our first) and let’s just say that really puts things into perspective for me. I work weekends, nights, and holidays 40-72 hours per week and I’m on call 24/7. **** that noise! I will be changing jobs shorty after I come back from my FMLA protected time off. I have amassed a staggering sum of vacation/comp/holiday/sick time over the last decade here at my present job and will be looking to make a change after I’m back from taking time off for his birth and tie up some loose ends. Why did I stay at my current employer for over a decade you say? Easy, concerning “the grass is always greener on the other side” mentality I always felt that if I went to another job to get away from either a boss and or coworkers that I would simply be trading one group of a$$holes for another. I mean their names and faces would be different but as humans they would be the same narcissistic, back stabbing, brown nosing, clowns that I had just left.
Life is too short to spend it miserable. Find out what’s important to you, for me that is time with my family.
Q: How do you spell love?
A: T-I-M-E.
Fwiw I prefer to describe my coworkers and subordinates as “peons” and make reference to them as such when their mouth breathing antics begin to pile up. Seems to help as it adds some levity. Works for me
Excellent post. Most ‘big’ decisions I have made I have made because of my family, and my desire to a) have the most time with them, and b) put myself in a position to have the best job security so as to protect them. I don’t always like my job or the people with whom I work, but I have been in far worse jobs and worked with far worse people. Generally speaking I am in a good place in life, and while I have made more money, I work in a field that is recession/economy-proof, I have paid off my mortgage, have excellent insurance, and I get pretty much the time I want off. Is it perfect? No, but then, nothing is.
I lost nearly 1/3 of my income moving from car sales to LE. I was making damn good money, starting to work my way up the ladder and was being groomed for management. I also routinely worked 6 day weeks, 10+ hours a day and had almost no social life. In my new career I have time off, overtime pay, better benefits and time to go out and enjoy life and take vacation without taking a pay hit that month. I’m happy at work, get to see my friends and when I leave work I leave my job at the office.
Another trend that I find disturbing is the work to life ratio in this country. Use to be with a forty hour week one could carve out a decent living. Now days it seems the average work day for most folks is 10hours on top of trying to juggle family life and all that entails. This is one area where Europe gets it right. In the private sector there are more and more careers opening up that affords one the ability to work from home with the advent of modern technologies. My wife works a white collar job and is salary; I cannot remember the last time she worked an eight hour day. At least at my job I have to be paid for anything and everything over forty hours. Needless to say she is also looking for a new job after the baby arrives. Several companies that she has submitted her resume allow working from home with the occasional popping into the office for a meeting.
Some of my greatest work memories came from working as a younger guy in the car biz as a lot attendant. I loved being around the lunatics that are Car salesmen. They did have the dog shit hours though… Most weekends from bell to bell.
That’s just where my current soul suck is headed, and I’m not sticking around… not just the hours… it’s the ridiculous waste and inefficiency due to imbecile management. We’re getting the same thing done with twice the pain and effort… and no more pay. I’m counting the days until I can say AMF (Adios Mother F*&ker!)
I have and I don’t regret it.
A more disturbing trend to me is that in most families these days both parents are working.
When our first child was on the way (over 30 years ago) my wife and I decided that having one parent at home at home was more important than two incomes. We had some awfully lean years early on, but we made it work, and for us it was the right decision.
For the record, I’m not judging those who do things differently. I just think it’s sad that so many families seem to need two incomes to make ends meet.
That was one of the beautiful advantages of us having our own business. The kids never went to daycare and they also got to learn job skills way ahead of most children. I’ve always admired those families that figured out how to keep one of the parents at home.
My first was born in 2004, my second in 2006. My wife stayed at home with them until both were in school. Those first 5-6 years is when they need to “learn how to learn” Daycare doesn’t provide that like a caring parent does. I didn’t make big bucks by myself, still don’t but we made it work and our kids have benefited greatly from it.