Smile and Nod

So I'm being hired by the company I've been contracting at since August.

This is a good thing, but I'm not going to be popping any champagne corks over it.

Why? Initially I thought my boss had offered me only slightly less than what I'd been making in Phoenix. I knew asking for that amount would never fly, but this was an acceptable compromise. Sweet!

But when the head of H.R. called to confirm the amount, it was obvious that there had been a miscommunication.  What I had heard as a yearly offer (because up until this time we'd been talking in yearly terms) was actually the cents portion of an hourly salary that translated to about $7000 a year less than I was making in Phoenix.

While it's $2.50 an hour more than I'm making as a contractor, the amount they were offering was still way below the "low average" for my job description in this region.

My boss was positively verklempt when this came to light. He accepted full responsibility for the misunderstanding and supposedly went back to management and tried to negotiate a higher salary, but returned empty handed. Afterward he admitted that he'd pretty much blown this year's budget by hiring the outside network consulting firm to manage our servers and infrastructure, not anticipating when I initially came on that I'd work out as well as I did and that they'd actually want to hire me.

He said he knew I was worth far more than they were offering. He also said the COO knew I was worth far more than they were offering.  And he understood completely if I wanted to cut my losses and leave.

I told him I wasn't going to do that.

So why didn't I refuse the offer that inspired the title of this post?  Several reasons. As is obvious to anyone who's been looking for work this year, the economy sucks, and finding another job—much less one that pays what I want—right now would probably be next to impossible. It took me nearly three months to find this gig, and it was simply by sheer luck that it happened when it did. In other words, "a bird in hand…"

And as long as the Republicans are in control of Congress (or god forbid, somehow manage to capture the presidency next year) the job situation is not going to get any better. When the GOP Clown Car views gay marriage as a greater threat to the nation than the tanking economy, you know they have no intention whatsoever of doing anything to improve it.

Secondly, I hate interviewing. Based on how the process went for me numerous times last summer, I don't want to have to go through that nightmare again any time soon.

And lastly, despite the horrible commute, this really is a decent place to work. It's not a hospital, I can wear jeans every day of the week, and there's no on-call nonsense. I start receiving benefits immediately (no 90-day wait) and my boss hinted that he may be able to do something about my salary when he gets a new budget in February. Not holding my breath, but I'm willing to at least give him the benefit of the doubt.