Joining Middle Management, or The Evil You Know

Tuesday I got a job offer. Wait, let's rewind:

I work in an office. I have a job that that doesn't use more that 20% of my brain, doesn't use my degree, and rarely uses 8 hours in a given day. It pays too little and requires less. I don't help the planet, and I'm not going to get rich. Overall, though, I'm not dissatisfied. I have a great boss, I have the best coworkers, I have flexibility and I have a lot of leeway.

Months ago I was referred for a job, doing about the same thing I was doing a couple years ago but for more money and with a longer commute. Much longer. Much. I made it through the third round of interviews. I Smiled, acted like a responsible adult, looked squarely in the eyes and all the middle aged women who shook my hand. I even wore a watch, a watch that half way through the second-round interview I realized was stopped. The position didn't turn out. They lost funding for the job or some such nonsense and I continued to drag myself to my job as a corporate drone.

This brings us to Tuesday, when more-money-longer-commute company called me up and made me an offer. Slightly higher base salary with a bonus structure that would translate to about 10 to 15k a year. I was so excited, I was thinking, "Yes! A change! Possibly a challenge!" I accepted the job yesterday and was planning on giving my notice today. I didn't expect my current job to match the offer.

Today I called up my boss to tell her. She asked me if I would consider staying, and I said yes. 7 hours later, she calls me back. Current employer matched the new base salary. No bonus. New title: Manager. I accepted. Here's why:

The math. Given the extra wear and tear on my car and the price of gas, I'd hardly be earning $100 more a month. That $100 would not be enough for me to:

1. Sit in my car an extra 8 hours a week
2. Work in a town that regularly gets about 100 degrees
3. Reconcile my environmentalist ideals with my commuter lifestyle
4. Give up riding my scooter to work
5. Have to make friends with new coworkers
6. Lose the amazing boss and coworkers that I work with now
7. Take a step back in seniority
8. Lose flexibilty with my schedule
9. Work for a smaller company that is less secure in the today's crap economy.

Overall, I think I did the right thing. Maybe I should have asked for more money from current employer, maybe I wouldn't have gotten it and maybe they would have walked me out of the building for going to work at a competitor. I don't like to think about the maybes. No, I'm not going to get rich doing what I'm doing. No, I'm not going to change the world. I make enough to live and live pretty well. I make enough to travel a bit, to eat out, to buy organic produce, and to be comfortable in the world around me. That's not bad. Not bad at all.