I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately (yeah, like that’s news) and most of it had to do with my job, Mitch’s job and our future. Let’s try to work out the progression here. Last week Mitch got sent to Traverse City to “get more experience” in one of their branches. Well, he hated it. He did less there than he did in Cadillac, had less responsibility and basically spent most of the week working in the teller line. Now, he’s been performing all the duties of an office manager at the Cadillac office but has not actually received the promotion yet, which was starting to grate on him a bit. They’ve been telling him for months that he would be the new office manager, they wanted to transition him in, blah blah blah, but they’ve been in no hurry to do so. As this is brewing, he has that crappy week in Traverse and kind of gets a taste of what it’s like for me to really not like my job. Those two factors also kind of crack his commitment to Cadillac; when he started, he felt they were really committed to moving him up, etc., but with all the stalling, his sense of loyalty to them is weakening.
Now right about this time, the thought pops into my head that when my cousin Rosie gets her new job, I should apply for her old one, which is the marketing director at the Ann Arbor Art Center. I interned there a few summers ago and the president loved me, so I think I’d have a good shot getting it, with all my experience. Problem: it’s Ann Arbor and Mitch would have to get a new job, too, even though it would probably still be with Fifth Third. Encouragement: Mitch had already been scooping out other 5/3 opportunities after being a bit unhappy about his current situation. I kind of let it stew in my brain for awhile. In fact, I let it stew all weekend (while I was in Indiana) and when I came home, we sat down after dinner and talked about it.
At this point, I kind of knew I wanted to go home. Though Mitch is my best friend, I was lonely for my family, missing my friends and discouraged about meeting new ones here. But I didn’t want to come on really strong and pressure him or manipulate him into getting what I wanted, so we started talking about what we liked about living up here. We were both enthusiastic about all the outdoor recreation – mountain biking, lake, skiing – but I pointed out, and Mitch agreed, that we could have that if we were back down where my parents lived. Skiing not so much, but we’re traveling every weekend as it is. How bad would it be to go up North for a few weekends for some skiing? Plus we could climb more. So that took care of recreation and kind of showed us clearly that, though the natural atmosphere up here was a perk, it was not really enough to base our future plans on.
Next came the whole people thing. We talked about how we know our friends, even those who have graduated and settled down, will be scattered all over the place. But it’s pretty unlikely that they’ll scatter up here, unfortunately. We’ve also discovered that the opportunities to meet people our age here are very, very slim because there are no young people in Cadillac! And those that are here never really left, so we’re pretty different from them, especially in likes and dislikes. They also have their own group of friends already. What kind of surprised me was the fact that I work with a girl who graduated a year ahead of me and moved up here without knowing anyone, too, yet she hasn't made any effort to introduce me to any of the people she hangs out with or help us get used to the area. But that's just a little tangent.
Of course, we discussed the fact that job opportunities are really scarce up in this area, too. In fact, we talked about a lot more things and in the end, we pretty much decided that if I got a job in the Ann Arbor area (we don't want to go east of Novi, because that equals city which equals pretty much horrible) or thereabouts, we would go. I've already applied for two jobs (one at Borders corporate office and one at the Chamber) and will spend my days off next week doing hardcore research. It's more time consuming than looking in GR or TC because I had already identified companies, etc. when I was doing my fresh-out-of-college job search, but at least I know where to start.
So that's the plan for us. Let's see how it unfolds.
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