Patrick's blog

Times are a-changin'

I have a new job.

I worked at my last job (we'll say it was at a credit union because that's less confusing than trying to explain what I actually did) for 12 years, four of those close to home and the other eight for the same company an hour away in Grand Rapids. I could easily spend the next hour writing about how much I loved my job and the people I worked with. Man, did I love the people I worked with. But rising gas prices and an uncertain future (again, a topic I could write a lot about) led me to leave.

My friend Alan, who I once worked with at the "credit union," recommended National City Bank to me. He said the people were great, the job was taxing but reasonable, and the pay was solid. Most important were the hours: I'd be home most days no later than 5:30 pm. That was huge to me, because when I was commuting an hour back and forth to Grand Rapids I often wouldn't get home until 8:15. That's just enough time to eat dinner and say good night to my kids. In addition, I worked a lot of Saturdays.

So I've worked at National City for about four weeks now. The people ARE great, the job seems reasonable, and the pay is pretty good. I love the hours. Whereas I once felt like I had about 4 hours of every day to myself, I now have 7 or 8. We're saving a ton of money on gas, even though it's gone from about $3.20 a gallon to $2.40 a gallon (go figure). Plenty of benefits, all in all.

But I really, really miss my old co-workers. With the exception of my boss, the rest of us were a close-knit group that had fun at work and outside of work. I look at the group of people at my new job and it's obvious: it's not going to be like that at all. I don't DISLIKE anyone I work with at National City, but as long as the current group of people is there, I'm going to go to work every day, do my job, and go home.

Here's a good example of what my old job was like. When I left, I had planned a party for my college graduation (I graduated in May). Several of my former co-workers (one of whom had been gone for five years) and their families drove the hour-plus to my parents' house where the party was located. We used to listen to the radio at work all the time, and we all had songs we liked, didn't like, would sing out loud, make fun of, whatever. Well, they made me a CD with about 12 of those songs on it. Different songs make me think of each of them for one reason or another. Pretty cool, eh?

I miss that. A lot.

posted by Patrick @ 2:48 AM