Thanks, But No Thanks!

Yesterday I turned down a job offer.

Well, it wasn’t a formal offer, but I had a good feeling it was going to be.

Normally, that would be VERY exciting news considering my current unemployment status, but as usual, it’s not that simple.

A few months ago, I was offered, and accepted, a one-month job across the country, helping out a company that requested my services.

It was a great experience, especially getting an opportunity to get back into the mix.

When I took the one-month job, I really wasn’t sure if it was just one month or if it was more of a trial to see if I could be a fit for them on a full-time basis.

I really enjoyed the work and enjoyed doing what I have done for the last 25 years. The upper management treated me with a tremendous amount of respect and really made me feel comfortable.

I was told that I was being brought in to help make their product better and give feedback to the employees to help make them better.

In case you were wondering, feedback is code for criticism.

Believe it or not, nobody and I mean NOBODY wants to be told that they are wrong, even if they ask for it.

When someone tells you, “just give it to me straight”, THEY ARE LYING.

What made this one-month job a little more challenging was that I was asked by the big bosses to make the product better, but I was working directly with a group that hadn’t been told they were doing anything wrong.

Well my problem with the one-month job was not with the job or with the employees, but rather with the person managing that department.

He clearly felt that there was nothing wrong, even though his managers felt different.

He didn’t like it that I was there.

He didn’t like it why I was there.

And I guess, the bottom line is, he didn’t like me.

I made it through the month, meeting with as many people as I could delivering feedback like it was a Domino’s pizza.

Every, well almost every employee appreciated the conversations, claiming that they had never been told anything before.

I made a point, as much as I really didn’t like their manager, to make sure I did not knock him in ANY shape or form.

Was it my mom or Carol Brady who once said, treat someone how you would like to be treated yourself.... or something like that.

Well, after the month was over, including the last two weeks where the manager barely acknowledged me being there, my service was done.

I met with the bosses with the ties and big offices and gave them my review -- all of it.

I gave them ideas of how to get better.

I gave them things I tried to implement to get better.

And I gave them the honest lowdown on how I was treated by the man in charge.

By that point, I knew that I had showed enough to be considered for a full-time job in the future and I wanted to make it clear that working for somebody who wouldn’t talk to me was not a position that I was going to apply for.

They thanked me and said they would be in touch.

Fast forward to yesterday, where one of the upper managers, notified me that there was a position that they would be making available in a couple of weeks.

He didn’t say as much, but I felt like he was offering me the job.

He also said that I would be reporting to the existing manager -- the guy who wanted nothing to do with me.

So let me get this straight, I was being asked to move my family across country to a job where my direct boss would not want me there, but I was being brought in to change the environment without the power to do it.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Now considering, that I have NO other job offers and very few leads, it feels very strange to turn down that opportunity as fast as I did.

But one part of life that is always going to be important to me is my happiness and as I told the big boss yesterday, I don’t want to be in a job where I wouldn’t want to come to work.

I’m not sure how much longer I will be able to be picky, but for now, I have no doubt I made the right decision.

I hope.