So ends day one.
Life has just gotten far more hectic beginning this week. Well, I suppose it began two weeks ago. After a band rehearsal, one of our Alto Sax players who is the Band and Orchestra Manager for a large music store (not the one I worked for previously) approached me with a job opportunity.
Their Road Rep had finished a degree in computer science and had accepted a job offer. So they needed to fill his position. I was fairly interested. I had done that same job approximately a year ago for one of their competitors. It was fun and stressful but could take some long hours. So I knew what I'd be getting into.
Long story short, I had an interview, they seemed honest, paid decently (salary + commissions) and an employee discount is always nice. So I decided to accept the job and gave my current employer 2 weeks notice.
We had been experiencing a bit of turn over lately and my news, was not good news for my boss. Then two days before my last day, he made a counter offer. A promotion with a 25% raise + benefits. The catch? They couldn't justify having the two of us on the same shift doing pretty much the same things, so I'd have to move to another shift. Evenings was out, I do to much performing to make that work, now graves however, I'd done those for about 7 months and having some one responsible during the night would make things flow more smoothly.
I accepted, it would allow me to participate in my performance ensembles, go to school, teach, the whole shibang.
Now I had to tell my would be employer that my current employer had made a counter offer and I had decided to stay where I was.
I made the phone call.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
A thought.
What if I worked both jobs? The hours are such that they would never overlap. It would mean some long days, some possible hellishly long days but if I could do it, even for only a little while, it would be essentially a 255% pay increase with benefits AND commission, not to mention my discount.
The big drawbacks as family time and performance time now. My schedule is roughly midnight - 8am, 10am - 7pm, Monday - Thursday, then midnight - 8am on Friday and 10am - 6pm on Saturday. So spending time with Helen and the kids is limited to 7pm - 830pm (excluding the days I have rehearsals or performances, from one to three times per week), Fridays and Sundays.
Performance time is tougher now that the largest portion of sleep comes from 8pm - midnight. And losing up to half that sleep time to a rehearsal or concert can mean a very groggy next day.
I'm expecting to get about 6 hours of sleep a day. Some days slightly more, some slightly less. Four hours sleep from 8pm - 12am, then another 1.5 from 8am - 930am, and an hour during lunch.
Sounds extreme?
If someone offered you a 255% pay increase in exchange for 2 hours less sleep per day, would you take it?
Having survived on a shoestring budget for the past, oh, 7 years, we don't know what to do with all this (potential) money. Pay off all debts is #1. If we live off of our usual budget and apply the extra towards those debts, we will have no debts in a very short amount of time.
Of course, we would like to buy a house and do need a new van but we aren't as inexperienced as we were 7 years ago. We plan on taking it slowly and seeing if this will actually work before we get into a mortgage then realize that we can't make it if this proves to be to much.
Their Road Rep had finished a degree in computer science and had accepted a job offer. So they needed to fill his position. I was fairly interested. I had done that same job approximately a year ago for one of their competitors. It was fun and stressful but could take some long hours. So I knew what I'd be getting into.
Long story short, I had an interview, they seemed honest, paid decently (salary + commissions) and an employee discount is always nice. So I decided to accept the job and gave my current employer 2 weeks notice.
We had been experiencing a bit of turn over lately and my news, was not good news for my boss. Then two days before my last day, he made a counter offer. A promotion with a 25% raise + benefits. The catch? They couldn't justify having the two of us on the same shift doing pretty much the same things, so I'd have to move to another shift. Evenings was out, I do to much performing to make that work, now graves however, I'd done those for about 7 months and having some one responsible during the night would make things flow more smoothly.
I accepted, it would allow me to participate in my performance ensembles, go to school, teach, the whole shibang.
Now I had to tell my would be employer that my current employer had made a counter offer and I had decided to stay where I was.
I made the phone call.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
A thought.
What if I worked both jobs? The hours are such that they would never overlap. It would mean some long days, some possible hellishly long days but if I could do it, even for only a little while, it would be essentially a 255% pay increase with benefits AND commission, not to mention my discount.
The big drawbacks as family time and performance time now. My schedule is roughly midnight - 8am, 10am - 7pm, Monday - Thursday, then midnight - 8am on Friday and 10am - 6pm on Saturday. So spending time with Helen and the kids is limited to 7pm - 830pm (excluding the days I have rehearsals or performances, from one to three times per week), Fridays and Sundays.
Performance time is tougher now that the largest portion of sleep comes from 8pm - midnight. And losing up to half that sleep time to a rehearsal or concert can mean a very groggy next day.
I'm expecting to get about 6 hours of sleep a day. Some days slightly more, some slightly less. Four hours sleep from 8pm - 12am, then another 1.5 from 8am - 930am, and an hour during lunch.
Sounds extreme?
If someone offered you a 255% pay increase in exchange for 2 hours less sleep per day, would you take it?
Having survived on a shoestring budget for the past, oh, 7 years, we don't know what to do with all this (potential) money. Pay off all debts is #1. If we live off of our usual budget and apply the extra towards those debts, we will have no debts in a very short amount of time.
Of course, we would like to buy a house and do need a new van but we aren't as inexperienced as we were 7 years ago. We plan on taking it slowly and seeing if this will actually work before we get into a mortgage then realize that we can't make it if this proves to be to much.
posted by Mike at Tuesday, April 17, 2007
1 Comments:
I did two full-time jobs for about 5 months. No kids and few outside interests. I made big$$, but it was a strain on everything. It's good while it lasts, but don't bet the farm on it.
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