One Chapter ends, a new one begins.
A little over a month ago, I was heading to lunch with Amy when I got a phone call from Dave. The moment he said hello, I could tell something was up.
Thankfully, it was good news.
He was receiving a promotion the following week.
It something that we had seriously waited years for. Waffle does promotions a little backwards. You decide when your ready to promote, apply for the position, they interview you and if they decide your ready, you sit and wait till a job in that position opens up.
He had been waiting for four years.
We had seriously gotten to the point that we thought it would never happen.
It is a huge deal for us.
When people say promotion, most people think of pay raise, but financially, its not much of a difference for us. However, lifestyle wise, it's a game changer.
During his last position, we were told repeatedly by the higher ups that if he could move one more step up, life would be so much easier. The position he spent the past four years at, is well known as one of the hardest in the company. You spend a lot of time away from home and yes, you are even required to work on your off days. Even the top dogs of the company have been known to say that was their least favorite position in their career. It was not an easy four years.
One month into the new gig and I'm happy to report it feels as though the clouds have parted and the sun is shining again.
I've gotten a lot of questions from others asking how we're adjusting to the new job and I cannot even begin to stress how much I love the position he's in now.
Holidays and weekends are still permanently on the calendar, but in this position, his schedule is much more flexible.
He now has the same off days every week.
He has never had set days off since we've been married.
The weekends are actually some of his easier days and he's usually home by 3 on a bad day. More often though its even earlier, so we still have time to fit plenty in.
Since he isn't technically filling in for anyone any longer (which was what he basically did his last position), he can actually arrange his schedule to come to any activity Olivia is participating in. Which is a huge deal considering she's starting dance at the end of the summer.
He is still averaging about 70 hours a week and most of that is time spent away at home. There are three days a week that Olivia and I are pretty much on our own. Those days he rises way before I even turn over (and I'm usually a 6am girl) and he doesn't come in till way past Olivia's bedtime (and sometimes mine). Those days are long for him, but with his set schedule now, he recovers much more quickly.
The constant phone calls have ended.
WHICH IS A HUGE DEAL.
Very few people realized how much he was on the phone. We had to switch to unlimited minutes years ago because we were going over our cell phone bill by a couple of hundred dollars every month. I would get so frustrated when we would be trying to fit in some family time and he would end up on the phone the phone the entire time trying to staff stores because his managers couldn't do their job. Yeah, harsh but true.
We were guaranteed a middle of the night phone call at least three times a week.
We haven't had one middle of the night wake up call since he was promoted.
Someone close to us made the comment the other day he seemed much less stress since starting this new position and he is.
He suddenly seems like a new person and happy with life again. The stress and frustrations from the past few years have been hard to watch as a wife. Life these past few years has been hard on both of us.
Most of this probably won't translate well to those who don't really understand David's job, but I've been getting a lot of questions from family on how we are adjusting and the blog is always an easy way to explain to everyone at once.
There will still be times he's super busy and there will be times he has to work more due to unforeseeable events, but overall, things really do seem to be so much better and we've settled nicely into our new routine.
Last fall he did almost reach his breaking point and did go for a few interviews. He was offered a job somewhere else, but he turned it down at the last minute because he wasn't just ready yet to give up on what he had been working towards. Six months later, we're so happy that he stuck with it just a little longer. Taking the advice from some older and more wiser mentors paid off.
We're excited about this new stage of life and now even more excited about the next. It makes the last four sucky years totally worth it.
Thankfully, it was good news.
He was receiving a promotion the following week.
It something that we had seriously waited years for. Waffle does promotions a little backwards. You decide when your ready to promote, apply for the position, they interview you and if they decide your ready, you sit and wait till a job in that position opens up.
He had been waiting for four years.
We had seriously gotten to the point that we thought it would never happen.
It is a huge deal for us.
When people say promotion, most people think of pay raise, but financially, its not much of a difference for us. However, lifestyle wise, it's a game changer.
During his last position, we were told repeatedly by the higher ups that if he could move one more step up, life would be so much easier. The position he spent the past four years at, is well known as one of the hardest in the company. You spend a lot of time away from home and yes, you are even required to work on your off days. Even the top dogs of the company have been known to say that was their least favorite position in their career. It was not an easy four years.
One month into the new gig and I'm happy to report it feels as though the clouds have parted and the sun is shining again.
I've gotten a lot of questions from others asking how we're adjusting to the new job and I cannot even begin to stress how much I love the position he's in now.
Holidays and weekends are still permanently on the calendar, but in this position, his schedule is much more flexible.
He now has the same off days every week.
He has never had set days off since we've been married.
The weekends are actually some of his easier days and he's usually home by 3 on a bad day. More often though its even earlier, so we still have time to fit plenty in.
Since he isn't technically filling in for anyone any longer (which was what he basically did his last position), he can actually arrange his schedule to come to any activity Olivia is participating in. Which is a huge deal considering she's starting dance at the end of the summer.
He is still averaging about 70 hours a week and most of that is time spent away at home. There are three days a week that Olivia and I are pretty much on our own. Those days he rises way before I even turn over (and I'm usually a 6am girl) and he doesn't come in till way past Olivia's bedtime (and sometimes mine). Those days are long for him, but with his set schedule now, he recovers much more quickly.
The constant phone calls have ended.
WHICH IS A HUGE DEAL.
Very few people realized how much he was on the phone. We had to switch to unlimited minutes years ago because we were going over our cell phone bill by a couple of hundred dollars every month. I would get so frustrated when we would be trying to fit in some family time and he would end up on the phone the phone the entire time trying to staff stores because his managers couldn't do their job. Yeah, harsh but true.
We were guaranteed a middle of the night phone call at least three times a week.
We haven't had one middle of the night wake up call since he was promoted.
Someone close to us made the comment the other day he seemed much less stress since starting this new position and he is.
He suddenly seems like a new person and happy with life again. The stress and frustrations from the past few years have been hard to watch as a wife. Life these past few years has been hard on both of us.
Most of this probably won't translate well to those who don't really understand David's job, but I've been getting a lot of questions from family on how we are adjusting and the blog is always an easy way to explain to everyone at once.
There will still be times he's super busy and there will be times he has to work more due to unforeseeable events, but overall, things really do seem to be so much better and we've settled nicely into our new routine.
Last fall he did almost reach his breaking point and did go for a few interviews. He was offered a job somewhere else, but he turned it down at the last minute because he wasn't just ready yet to give up on what he had been working towards. Six months later, we're so happy that he stuck with it just a little longer. Taking the advice from some older and more wiser mentors paid off.
We're excited about this new stage of life and now even more excited about the next. It makes the last four sucky years totally worth it.
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