Glued To The Ladder

They were working me like a field hen today at the job. Ironically my next post topic (aside from the 7 More Things that I need to work on) was going to be on work, since I hadn't talked about it in a minute. A few interesting developments are happening.

I had my mid-term review with my slightly less annoying boss this week. The gist of the review is that everyone loves my work & I'm a great asset to the team. He reminded me of how much I was missed when a critical job to our daily process went down while I was on vacation in Seattle. I actually was paged & assisted for about 15 minutes to resolve it over the phone. Isn't it nice to be wanted?

On the flip side, a promised promotion has been taking a bit longer than expected. Honestly I'm not that pressed about it, however I could definitely use a nice raise. On a total sidenote with relevance to this topic (so is it really a sidenote..*LOL*), I chatted with a long time co-employee of the company during my weekly bowling session. She was telling me about an opportunity in another area that upon further inspection would actually be a good fit for my current skill sets. The one negative, the job would be a lateral move, meaning I'd be at the same level.

I decided to mention this opportunity during my review. I debated back and forth on doing this but decided to just to see my boss's reaction. I could tell he was taken aback a bit. But he quickly went with the company spiel. He said that he wouldn't stand in my way if that was what I wanted but he reminded me that he's really, really close to getting that promotion for me (he projects mid-2006) and joining a new team with just a lateral move would set me back a bit. He kinda had a point, though he recently promoted (six months ago) someone with less years on the job than myself. But I didn't trip because that person did have a higher profile stressed project and he likely did it to keep her from quitting. I'm too nice, huh. But like I said, I don't get too pressed on promotions (though the way I'm talking about it tonight, you wouldn't know that..*LOL*). However, he did have a point. The area I was thinking of moving in already has four people at my level. If I joined there, it'd be five, so there'd be four other people who were there longer, competing for the promotion and I'd likely be bottom on the totem pole, unless they all suck, which is possible, but why take that chance...*LOL*. As it stands now, there's three people currently in my group at my level. I'm definitely next in line for a promotion since I have the 2nd highest seniority and they claim I'm so invaluable...*LOL*.

I'm glad I threw the opportunity out there at least. It may hopefully wake management up at least. At least they can't say I'm too laidback...*LOL*.

But I suppose I have a few luxuries that I try to take advantage of every now and then. For example, I'm able to start a bit later in the morning (when I don't have meetings and such). Plus I sometimes take a little longer lunch every now and then. Whenever I have long ass days like today, I remember why I take advantage of luxuries where I can.

I actually had an exciting work related story to share but I'm a bit tired so it'll have to wait for another entry.