thebitterbabe

When I moved out of L.A., I left behind three potential job opportunities. One would have been a promotion and the other two would have been lateral moves into positions located in two of the toniest zip codes in the country. With one of the latter, I could have walked to work, as I was able to in the position I left.

Now I’m looking at taking one of two potential positions (that is, if I even get an offer) that are several rungs down the ladder. In fact, they are the equivalent of where I started thirteen years ago. The pay is a bit dismal and the commutes are twice as long as I would prefer.

Thus my glumness for the past few days. I’m starting to realize, however, that things are brighter here than they appear.

In terms of the offers in L.A., the promotion would have been a grind and would have removed me from the possibility of meeting anyone other than my coworkers during the workday. In order to have a bearable commute, I would have had to move to an area that would have eaten into all the promotion money. While the lateral positions were in glamorous locations, in reality most of the people in those locations are married, and I probably wouldn’t rate a second glance from the ones who aren’t. If I had moved to be closer to work, I would have paid a small fortune in rent.

The potential job locations here are a suburban area with lots of professionals (most probably married) and an urban location with a hipster flair. Although I don’t have a great deal of faith that I’d find a partner in either place, the odds are greater that I would do so than in any of those potential job locations in L.A. While I hate the idea of commuting, in the long run, promotional opportunities here are in much more desirable locations than they were in my L.A. organization. And reviewing the pension and benefits, I’ve realized that they are much better here.

Perhaps I am rationalizing, but I think I’ve made a good strategic decision in the long term.