Manager

Hey, guess what, folks. It looks like I may be stepping across the Big Divide and becoming what my business card says I am: Head of Technical Services. The Divide to which I allude is called Management. I have lived with someone belonging to that evil cadre for around 10 years (since he became a manager--I lived with him longer before he joined the cult). The new boss mentioned in passing that I will soon be doing job evaluations for certain individuals who do a lot of tech service stuff.

Yeah. I have an attitude about Management. I have never aspired to it. You can put that on being the youngest member of my generation in my family, you can attribute it to my undergrad days in Russian history classes, whatever. I don't wanna be a boss. I had a taste of it over 20 years ago, and the taste was foul. I know it was the recipe that was used, but y'know, once you've tasted something that made you physically ill (and it did, in my case, make me physically AND mentally ill), you're not really inclined toward tasting it again.

And, I like being the proletariat. I've no interest in becoming part of the problem, personifying the Peter Principle. (see "attitude about Management" above).

It's odd. My dad owned his own company/ies. He was Management most of his life. Of course, he was also Chief Cook and Bottle Washer, CFO, line staff, and PR department for many of those companies as well, and what it bought him was heart attacks at 47, 60, and 67 (not to mention the one that killed him at 74) and years of sleepless nights. The sleepless nights and heart attacks were all about the Management aspects of his work. The actual WORK of his companies he loved. The organizing of stuff he loved. But the hassles surrounding coordinating employees, finances, and customers...not so much love there.

On the other hand, I've also been Management for at least the past 16 years. I'm Head Scheduler, Financial Officer, Chief Goal-Setter, and General Shit-Taker for Sparky (this isn't meant to suggest that Beast does nothing, but he doesn't get into the scheduling and planning as much as I do simply because he travels so much among other reasons). That role has been lessening exponentially over the past couple of years, so it's probably a good thing that I'm being asked to do similar things for pay.

I wonder if I get a raise...? I wonder if I'll get more hours, and benefits? hah That's right: the economy still sucks, and it has started hitting our budget due to the vagaries of property taxes. Nevermind. I need to figure out a way to work smarter (i.e. more efficiently).

And suck it up. But, I still am not a fan of Management. Any more than I'm a fan of Lawyers. There are exceptions that prove the rule, of course. Hopefully I can become one of those while still remembering why I have Management Issues.