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BPAL Madness!
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R.E.M.'s optimistic nihilism

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darkitysnark

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panic-button.jpg

Packaging reads: Disco, optional

 

So, after a brief brush with the concept of single-income-dom a few months ago (that was circumvented with a lateral career move), it looks like The Mister has finally reached the end of his rope with his current employer. He's meeting with his supervisor sometime today to announce his intention of resigning from his position effective the end of this month.

 

Snarky will surely panic later, but currently she is feeling oddly fine about things. It's not the end of the world... just the end of the world as she knows it. And when she looks around, she sees all sorts of things that can be trimmed away to make their impending financial strain less panic-inducing.

 

Snarky grew up not quite poor, but very, very frugally. She can re-create some of the methods her parents employed to ensure that the important things remain covered.

 

Normally, and this was proven in very recent history with The Mister's last "I've had it!" moment, Snarky does not handle the threat to her creature comforts well. But this morning when The Mister reached over to take her hand, it was shaking violently enough that she thought he was rapidly squeezing her hand for some unknown reason. She gave him one of his emergency panic attack pills, cooked him a quick breakfast, and went out into the rain. Now she's wondering if she should have stayed behind to provide moral support while he prepared for this life-changing day.

 

In slightly better-perhaps news, she pointed The Mister to the "Be an Actuary" site that antimony suggested a while back, and he was very intrigued. Turns out the actuarial field was one of his top picks based on some sort of career choice evaluation he did a while ago.

 

In the meantime, Snarky knows The Mister well enough that he will land on his feet. It will be rough going, but they will get there.

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I know so many people, miserable in their jobs and subsequently - their lives.

My sister once took on a position which drove her, after 2 months working there, to commit herself to a week's stay at a "restful facility" (to this day I have no idea what that means but she tells me it involved making alot of collages). And she is a mental health counselor!

 

If he truly had reached the end of his rope, and there was no hope of tying a knot and hanging on, then that only leaves one alternative and so it was best that he got out. At least in my opinion. And if he is already intrigued with pursuing alternate paths, then more the better! Nothing worse than a depressed and jobless man with no prospects and no interests hanging around and cramping your style - Sort of kidding about that, but seriously, The Man, when he was consulting, was jobless for awhile and IT DROVE ME NUTS.

 

I am sure you will be as supportive as you can be, and in the meantime we will certainly be supportive of you :blush:

 

(and ifn' you don't mind, I'd love to hear about these frugal thrifty methods - come the new year I'm embarking on a major no-buy)

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I know so many people, miserable in their jobs and subsequently - their lives.

My sister once took on a position which drove her, after 2 months working there, to commit herself to a week's stay at a "restful facility" (to this day I have no idea what that means but she tells me it involved making alot of collages). And she is a mental health counselor!

 

If he truly had reached the end of his rope, and there was no hope of tying a knot and hanging on, then that only leaves one alternative and so it was best that he got out. At least in my opinion. And if he is already intrigued with pursuing alternate paths, then more the better! Nothing worse than a depressed and jobless man with no prospects and no interests hanging around and cramping your style - Sort of kidding about that, but seriously, The Man, when he was consulting, was jobless for awhile and IT DROVE ME NUTS.

 

I am sure you will be as supportive as you can be, and in the meantime we will certainly be supportive of you :hug:

 

(and ifn' you don't mind, I'd love to hear about these frugal thrifty methods - come the new year I'm embarking on a major no-buy)

 

I gotta break the third person thing to say: Thank you, dear! :blush:

 

Ahem.

 

Snarky would've tried to lobby for some middle ground on The Mister's decision, but that happened back in July/August. This truly is the end of the rope for him. He has worked himself into a state of actual physical jeopardy because of this job (most likely compounded with the five years at his previous hellaciously bad job) and has confessed to thoughts of not-exactly-but-close-enough suicide, bleakness, and worthlessness. It's time.

 

A few quick cheapie pointers: buy generic when you can, set the thermostat for fah-REEZ-ing and bundle up, weatherstrip doors to the exterior, insulate the water heater, if your windows aren't double paned got those weather-proofing kits and seal 'em up (sort of like plastic wrap for your windows), if you eat meat opt for the non-skinless (be-skinned?), non-boneless cuts and do the butchering yourself, plan oven use around several dishes for several meals to make maximum (and one time) use of the heat, etc. etc.

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Wow. No job is worth it, really, truly. The Mister will probably find something sooner than ever imagined. I wondered what had happened, since I remembered that he was going to call it a day with the current employer some time this fall. I've been waxing philosophical with a friend the last couple of days about what's important in life, and truly, in the end, what you did to make money isn't one of them. Or it shouldn't be, in my option. It's who you connected with and that you got to enjoy them, and they got to enjoy you. If a hellish job has started to poison Mister's entire life, then it's high time he left that toxic situation. And often, it's hard to picture the future until you get out of such a quagmire. You two are a couple of smart, resourceful people, you'll make things work out. In the meantime, both congratulations and hugs!!! I'm pulling for you!

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Thank y'all... deeply and truly. The Mister seems to be doing alright, considering. His immediate supervisor told him: "As your supervisor, I'm upset by this. But as your friend, I'm glad you made this decision". So yeah. This has not only been a long time coming, but it isn't even a surprise.

 

The Mister is probably meeting with one of the presidents of the company tomorrow as well (as his supervisor went straight to him after his lunch with The Mister).

 

Snarky doesn't think meeting with the president will change The Mister's mind, but maybe it will give him the kind of real closure he needs to be able to start thinking that he's worth something again. That the Snarks' life together in this fantastic city is something worth fighting and demanding more for.

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