You'd never know it from the lack of entries but I am really trying to post more often .... things have been a little out of hand here lately and time is at a premium. Before I go into what's going on right now, though, I must say that I always find time to read other people's writings and apart from Dland I am especially loving reading about Blueshoe's adventures in Japan. I am learning so much about the culture of the place from this and from our webcam chats and although I don't really have any desire to travel the world I am getting a lot of vicarious pleasure from this.Anyway, to more mundane things ... Ric finally took the bull by the horns and resigned from his job yesterday morning - YAY!! He has been so ill and so stressed this year (no prizes for working out the obvious connection there) and a rather nasty episode on Friday with an aggressive worker and no support from management provided the catalyst, the last straw. He has a friend who has been literally begging him to come and work for him in a thriving business in which he's a partner and which is growing way too quickly for them to handle at the moment and Ric made his day when he called him on Friday afternoon and agreed to give it a go.
He went out to have a look at what it is they do on Sunday morning and came home announcing that he can do this job on his head.
It's a traffic control job setting up the safety signs and cones and blocking off the work area at worksites. They set it all up and then apparently don't do much else while the work is being done, usually by gas, electricity or council crews. A lot of the guys either pitch in with the work crews (strictly unofficially, of course) or catch up on their reading. There is more work than the company can handle at the moment; some people are having to work up to 65 hours a week, so they are desperate for more workers. Ric has been assured that he will be a crew supervisor once he has found his feet and that from there the sky's the limit. They are talking about setting up a new safety division, for example, and Ric is the guy they would like to run it.
In the short term, he may be bored, but boredom is exactly what he needs right now. Every day brings a different worksite, so there's some variety and Ric will learn the business from the ground up. He does need to take a break as we have had only one week off (in Ardrossan) in the past 16 months and he will be able to do so around Christmas. He was hoping to take a couple of weeks off before he started but apparently they are so busy they need him now. So Plan B applies, which is to start on the Monday after he finishes at his present job, work for two or three weeks and then take three weeks off.
It's going to be a bit different for us but I think in a good way. There will be some work away and some weekend / night / call-out work but that's no problem to either of us. Best of all these guys sub-contract to the company, so Ric is finally working for himself, which is the aim we have had for five years now. Okay, the idea originally was that we would work for ourselves together in the same business, and we won't be but at least neither one of us is "working for the man" any more.
I like that idea .... although coincidentally I am trying to source some temp or contract work at the moment outside of home because I really am getting a bit stale and bored with my own company. I figure a stint in the outside world will remind about all the stuff I hate about the corporate world and bring me back to my senses though ;-)
So it is all go here as usual and busier than ever at an already busy time of year. However we have finished our Christmas shopping and posted all of our cards, which is a first for us (we're Last Minute people) so I am feeling really proud of us .... there's a first time for everything, as they say in the classics!
