Anyway, let's just call our friend Cleverly Disguised. He usually has good advice to offer, and sometimes we even take it. At one point, the subject of my dissatisfaction with my work situation came up, and CD brought up the square peg/round hole analogy . . . and damnit, he's right. I am a square peg, always trying to fit in where I can't. I have yet to find an employer who knows what to do with an employee who's passionate about their work and gets emotionally invested in it, much less actually seems to want one. I know they have to exist, but I fear the jobs they have to offer are above my pay grade, so to speak. At any rate, it leaves me not knowing whether it's my failing for caring too much; theirs for not comprehending that not all wage slaves are there with the sole intent of extracting a maximum amount of pay in return for a minimum amount of effort; or a little of both....
I really had high hopes for the business when the new owner took charge. He brought in a couple of experts to assess both business operations and staff . . . and then nothing of real substance happened despite repeated promises of change. It's been sufficiently long enough since the takeover for him to have successfully turned the place around if he was actually going to do it. I find the whole situation to be very frustrating.
CD reminded me that the business decisions are not mine to make, and that having expectations regarding other people is foolish. (OK, so I don't recall him specifically using the word foolish, but that was the gist of it.) He's right, as usual. I'm just glad he's not prone to saying I told you so because I'd probably hear it far too often. He may well be thinking it, just not loudly enough for me to catch it. (Thanks, CD!)
So now I'm not sure if I should stick it out a little longer and hope that things actually will change, however unlikely that seems at the moment; try to find employment elsewhere (in this economy?!?); or find some way to become self-employed. The first scenario is the safest, but the last is probably the best option for long-term satisfaction. The biggest problem is what to do. Athos and I have some ideas, but living in Duck Crossing limits our options unless we want to regularly commute to TooDamnFar everyday or open an internet business from our home. The last could be problematic if we didn't live in an area where there are few zoning restrictions. Any place where you can legally discharge firearms just for the hell of it (within reason; safety has to be a primary concern or you shouldn't be allowed anywhere near projectile weapons!) and hunt in-season in your own backyard is unlikely to have a whole lot of restrictions on conducting business out of your own home, so long as you keep the tax collectors and appropriate state inspectors happy. Manufacturing foodstuffs for sale in my kitchen is a no-go. Unduly irritating the neighbors would be a bad idea, too, but I can't see us having semis making regular trips down our driveway. (For that, we'd buy the place just down the road that's up for sale again. The building's already set up for a manufacturing operation and has a truck-accessible drive. We think it'd be a wonderful spot for an upscale restaurant, but neither of us is really interested in getting into that kind of operation.)
Whatever we do, we'd really like to be able to steal a few friends away from their current employers. We're already know several of them would jump ship if we could offer them a position. One might be a harder sell, but good people are worth pursuing, right?
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