Real Life and What's Happening...

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Noble Knight Games's retail store is having an event this weekend. I would like to go, and it's close enough that I could (2.5 hour drive from Chicago to Fitchburg, Wisconsin), but I don't think I'll be able to. For one, I'm supposed to work. I do have leave that I could use, but it's my last remaining leave day of 2019, so I should probably hang onto it in case something more important than a game store event comes up.

Also, although Fitchburg is close-ish, it's far enough that I don't really want to drive there and back in one day. Normally that's no problem; there's a pretty nice hotel in Fitchburg with reasonably priced rooms. Trouble is, the Wisconsin vs. Iowa college football game is this weekend, so rooms are going for double the normal rate, which puts them out of my price range.
 
Working on NaNoWriMo, writing a novel (superheroes, but emotional stuff, with only some action, but I'm working on it.)
Anyway. Looking alright on word counts, but today will kill me. Likely not getting many in, sadly.
 
A little over a year ago I stepped down from a management position — chief of staff at a mid-sized cancer hospital — and transferred to another hospital to do what I’d been meaning to do for some time now.

This week, my old supervisor called.

He wants me back at my previous position.

I thought I was a terrible manager because I chafed at the institutional politics behind resource allocation (we’re part of a federal institute whose head is appointed by and answers directly to the Minister of Health) and at the bad attitude of many colleagues in my old department (equal parts spite, envy and long-established assholery).

Yet I held on to it for two and a half years before passing it on to someone I thought would be ten times the manager I was; older, more respected, more patient, more diplomatic.

He lasted, well, a little over a year.

Turns out resilience is a factor, who knew?

On one hand I have no reason to believe things are any better now. On the other, well... I feel partly to blame for my sucessor’s petering out, and somewhat loyal to my former boss, and I also chafe a bit at certain... differences between myself and my new bosses (80% technical, 20% personal). I think I’m a good soldier but these people and their bone-headedness sometimes get to my nerves.

Old boss, a good friend who’s also a brilliant clinician some ten years my senior, also tried to tempt me with a screed on how the local job market looks bad for practicing clinicians as local heathcare’s undergoing some serious capital concentration right now, with 3 or 4 big players gobbling up everyone and verticalizing everything, and how a career in administration is our last, best hope.

Rings true but I’m not feeling it.

So I’m a bit of a conundrum.
 
A little over a year ago I stepped down from a management position — chief of staff at a mid-sized cancer hospital — and transferred to another hospital to do what I’d been meaning to do for some time now.

This week, my old supervisor called.

He wants me back at my previous position.

I thought I was a terrible manager because I chafed at the institutional politics behind resource allocation (we’re part of a federal institute whose head is appointed by and answers directly to the Minister of Health) and at the bad attitude of many colleagues in my old department (equal parts spite, envy and long-established assholery).

Yet I held on to it for two and a half years before passing it on to someone I thought would be ten times the manager I was; older, more respected, more patient, more diplomatic.

He lasted, well, a little over a year.

Turns out resilience is a factor, who knew?

On one hand I have no reason to believe things are any better now. On the other, well... I feel partly to blame for my sucessor’s petering out, and somewhat loyal to my former boss, and I also chafe a bit at certain... differences between myself and my new bosses (80% technical, 20% personal). I think I’m a good soldier but these people and their bone-headedness sometimes get to my nerves.

Old boss, a good friend who’s also a brilliant clinician some ten years my senior, also tried to tempt me with a screed on how the local job market looks bad for practicing clinicians as local heathcare’s undergoing some serious capital concentration right now, with 3 or 4 big players gobbling up everyone and verticalizing everything, and how a career in administration is our last, best hope.

Rings true but I’m not feeling it.

So I’m a bit of a conundrum.

I really hate giving advice, because I mostly stumble through life like a crow chasing shiny things, but if I'm going to put my 2 cents in, when it comes to career, making any choice based on another person's needs or happiness will always lead to feeling unsatisfied. From the situation you describe, you are happier with your choice to change positions. While loyalty to your old boss is admirable, it sounds to me more like empathy on your part than obligation.
 
I have to say the end of Inktober left me somewhat unsatisfied. Perhaps it's that I'm studying accounting, a decidedly Right-brained activity, leaving the Left side of my brain screaming for indulgence. So I did this tonight when I should have been studying. \

Scan_20191110rsz.jpg

Perhaps I should, after this, start another thread to house my artistic dalliances. I'm considering at the moment returning to my Doodling D&D endeavour.
 
So I’m a bit of a conundrum.

Do what is best for you.

It sounds as though your old boss is trying to scare you back, with stories of how hard things are out there, or guilting you back by saying that your successor wasn't as good as you were. To me, it sounds as though you would be as unhappy coming back as you were when you were there.

Of course, if they offer you loads of money, reduced hours and the chance to play RPG games in work, then why say no?
 
I really hate giving advice, because I mostly stumble through life like a crow chasing shiny things, but if I'm going to put my 2 cents in, when it comes to career, making any choice based on another person's needs or happiness will always lead to feeling unsatisfied. From the situation you describe, you are happier with your choice to change positions. While loyalty to your old boss is admirable, it sounds to me more like empathy on your part than obligation.

Appreciate it, brother.

I was unhappy as a manager but I do wonder about the projects I drew up and never really took off. Did I give it my best? What if I tried harder? What if I tried again?

Of course, if they offer you loads of money, reduced hours and the chance to play RPG games in work, then why say no?

You jest but I’d be looking at (slightly) reduced hours, (slightly) higher pay, and enough of our staff gamed or was curious that I did jokingly vow to run a game for them in the meetings room some day. (Great table.) Never did, of course.

Regarding my old boss, I think he’s being honest in sharing his world view, and I do wonder whether I’m being dismissive of a second chance...

But it’s absolutely looking like a “no” so far.
 
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I have got myself a furry murder machine, also known as a cat. I got her from the cat shelter a week ago and she is adopting to her new life at my apartment. As she has lived two of her five years on the streets (her original owner died, and she got out when they came for the body), she is a bit shy and easily scared (run and hide is the tactic of choice), but have made quite some progress.
 
You can just walk into Ikea, and buy half a ton of furniture! In one go! They'll let you do it!

I know that's literally how shops work, it just doesn't seem like it should be so easy. I'm now the owner of... half a ton of furniture well, i will be when it arrives, anyway.

Also, the previous owner of my flat left a bunch of stuff behind - somewhat stained bed frames that there is no way in hell I am willing to sleep on, and some reasonably nice sofas that I just don't want - so that's what I've been dealing with this weekend. It won't be ready to move in for a couple more weeks, so I'm still living with my ex until then, but things are definitely progressing.
 
There's a busker just outside the Marks and Spencer on the corner of Fenchurch with an electric violin. I've only ever heard him play the same passage from Pachelbel's Canon in D. I'm not even sure he's actually playing it.

I've seen something similar in the Underground where a busker seemed to just repeat the opening bars from Stairway to Heaven. Playing a familiar segment must be the optimal way to get tips.

Bonus: Pachelbel Rant.

 
We are adopting a puppy. He’s a rescue; a Labrador Retriever-German Shepherd mix. He’ll be sent up here from Mississippi and will arrive on the 30th. We are excited, my daughter has been asking for a dog for a couple years but we didn’t really have the room until now.
 
Mrs. Savage and I were watching a documentary about ramen at 3:30am when I heard a strange racket outside. I thought it was the neighbor fucking around with tools. Then I hear what sounds like a flamethrower over and over. I look outside and the house across the street is on fire. Like, a huge fuckin' blaze. There are three vehicles in the driveway and one of them is already on fire. I'm no firefighter but it's obvious no one in the house is gonna get out alive. I called 911.

Mrs. Savage is only 24 and a little shaken up so we're watching some American Dad and drinking egg nog.
 
Mrs. Savage and I were watching a documentary about ramen at 3:30am when I heard a strange racket outside. I thought it was the neighbor fucking around with tools. Then I hear what sounds like a flamethrower over and over. I look outside and the house across the street is on fire. Like, a huge fuckin' blaze. There are three vehicles in the driveway and one of them is already on fire. I'm no firefighter but it's obvious no one in the house is gonna get out alive. I called 911.

Mrs. Savage is only 24 and a little shaken up so we're watching some American Dad and drinking egg nog.

Sad.. How many people died?
 
Sad.. How many people died?
I don't know. I am the sole Caucasian in an Asian-American neighborhood where people keep to themselves and I only talk to one neighbor. A Google search doesn't mention anything about the fire so I am hoping the homeowners were out of town and no one was hurt.
 
It’s amazing how times have charged. I grew up in a suburban neighborhood in Indiana and almost everyone in our development (40 houses maybe) knew everyone else or at least had heard of everyone else in the area. Thirty years later, totally different. Before we moved we knew about ten people in our condos out of 90+ units. I could actually start seeing the changes in the 90s in how neighbors interacted with each other.
 
I lived in LA for four years. I knew two of the six neighbors in my complex. I wasn't super social at the time so I don't know if that says more about me or them.
Come to think of it, it's probably me because I didn't know any of my neighbors from college on. I know them now. I suppose as long as I viewed things as transient I didn't see the point.
My plan now is to never move again. My wife though is probably even less social than I am by an order of magnitude.
 
Sometimes man... work has been goddamn nuts. Like the good kind of nuts where I am not in Danger of not having a job for at least the next 5 years kind of nuts but holy cow. I need to get some new people in. Making time for gaming is getting hard.
 
It’s amazing how times have charged. I grew up in a suburban neighborhood in Indiana and almost everyone in our development (40 houses maybe) knew everyone else or at least had heard of everyone else in the area. Thirty years later, totally different. Before we moved we knew about ten people in our condos out of 90+ units. I could actually start seeing the changes in the 90s in how neighbors interacted with each other.


The death of communities is something I've noticed acutely in my lifetime as well, even in the suburbs I largely grew up in.
 
I've been having a rough go of it lately at my job. I handle two stores for my work and one of them is great to work with and the other since a management change a couple months ago has gotten to the point where I don't want to go in there anymore. I sell and merchandise for my job as a background, so last week I was putting up some seasonal product in the store and a couple days later the manager comes over and tells me that it was too much and that i was basically stupid. I immediately contacted my supervisor and she said she would talk to him. Then today I go in there and I check out with another manager and he said that it seems that he hadn't talked to me in months, even though he's the one I talked to initially when I put out the seasonal merchandise. Again, just a while ago, I contacted my supervisor and told her what happened (she hadn't even talked to them about the first incident yet). She is going in there tomorrow. I honestly don't know what to do at this point. I was insulted by one manager and lied to by another. I think the relationship is not salvageable for me at this point. I had no problems in this store a couple months ago. Years ago, people would tell you to just suck it up, but I'm done sucking it up. I'm a sensitive person about stuff like that and I'm not taking it.
 
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