Buyer's remorse

I haven't even started the new job and I'm already having loads of it.

To make myself available I turned down a show I wanted to do (which was also going to pay twice what this new company is offering!) This week has been entirely waiting around for them to finish paperwork and decide when I will start. Rather like being on-call for Jury Duty; I can't make other obligations because I can't tell from day to day when they might actually call me in.

So they finally are having me come in on Thursday. And now...almost two weeks later...it's all about their schedule and their needs. You Will Be Here, period. Of course that's when UPS is going to show up with the new metal (you guys couldn't wait even a half-day longer?) And I could have put three days in -- heck, I could have put the week in at the show I turned down and not hurt this new company any. Oh and right...I actually do have Jury Duty, early next week.

Oh, and just to add insult, the one working lathe at TechShop is booked up all day today, so I can't run in to get a little more work done on those M40 orders. Grr. I feel all sorts of energy today. Don't want to waste it sitting at the computer drafting in Fusion 360.

So, best case (for the job), they like me, I stay on for months. That's still a measly $13/hr (I was getting $18 to $25 for some of my theater work). And they don't seem at all flexible about giving time to work shows, which means all the contacts I've built up over the past year are going to waste; at least three companies that want me back to design something next season (not counting the painting job...)

And my new TechShop membership also less useful -- less time to devote to it, and more of the blocks I'll have available are evening when the commute is longer and the access to the machines is significantly less. The only possible positive angle is they were talking up a 6 AM start time, which would give me a little more time in the early eve for other things.

Oh, yeah. And losing most of this week, means instead of getting paid (for painting) on the 28th, I'll get something like a quarter as much some time in September. Which is shaving it really close for paying my rent, and pretty much is going to make it impossible to renew my auto registration before I have to pay a fine on it.

So so far, all I've gotten out of this new job is a nice tour of a fancy shop floor. The rest of it has been frustration, and it is going to get worse...slogging at long hours without quite enough money for lunch and no assurance that it won't end as suddenly as they want to start it.

Seriously. I should have stayed with Aida.