The Trade

Seven Years.

I have been comfortable. I have carved out a little niche, made a place to call my second home, going through days and years relatively content. Then my first day back this week, before the workday started, my supervisor calls me in to talk. Of course, I’m thinking the usual talk is about to take place; your sideburns are too long, your shinny 80’s jacket is too shiny, or most likely, your Moustache competition has come to the attention of the big boss. So, I brace myself and get ready to give the standard apology, but sadly, that’s not the talk we’re going to have this time.

“Aaron, you know we have a whole bunch of new people coming over, right? With so many people coming here it’s leaving the other facilities empty…”

At this point, my mind is drifting because I already know where the Sups going with this conversation. He is going to volun-tell me to train some newbie’s. I began to think to myself that I am actually getting very tired of training people. It use to be fun, but it’s getting old quickly. Sadly, this is not the talk we having.

(Apply brain-brakes! Screech…. My mind drifting comes to a halt and I’m snapped back into the conversation. What is he talking about????)

“Well, with all the new people coming over, we need people to go over to the other facilities, and you’re on the list of people to be transferred. “

I’m not sure if he continued talking, because I swear my Sup just hit me in the gut. A violent hit. He took me outside and with a smile on his face, hit me in the gut. I doubled over, my face was wearing that Oh-man I can’t breathe face, and my eyes kept flinching to hold back the water welling up. Man, why did he just punch me?

Oh yeah, he did say something more, “I don’t really no anything else except that you start the 19^th. “

My head was spinning. If you asked me what year it was I probably would have said something like, “It’s 2003.” It was a hard hit. But no one asked me the year, instead I asked the silly question, “When’s the 19^th? What’s today?”

“Next week, Aaron. You start next week.”

So, this coming week, I start at a new facility, which is really like starting over. I’m no longer the trainer but the wide-eyed trainee asking stupid questions and trying to figure out how to survive being a minnow in a tank of sharks.

I knew the day would come; I prepared myself yearly for the fateful day when I would be traded to another team. I live to close to the other facility not to be on the trade table. I’m a little surprised it hasn’t happened sooner, in fact when I first got hired I thought without a doubt that this would be my facility, only to be surprised when the higher-ups said, No we want you to drive a little further away.

Don’t get me wrong there is a lot I’m looking forward to about the new place. It’s closer to home which means more time with the family. There is possible overtime. I haven’t seen overtime in two years. This means less time with the family, but a couple more bucks for them. A new challenge. When you’re not learning something new it’s time to retire. Or that’s what someone told me. Lastly, this move is helpful for my career. To say, I’ve worked at other places and can work within various systems looks good when trying to move up the ladder.

I just don’t like change. I am not the proud recipient of change. I don’t like being the new guy, the guy trying to prove himself. I like being the old, crusty guy people look to for help.  Being the old crusty guy, I get cranky when taken out of my element.

On an upbeat, I was told this was only for a short period of time. However, I’ve seen many transfers who were told the same thing and walked into that black hole waiving and saying I’ll be back shortly, never to be seen again. So, the pessimist that I am I will prepare for the new page in my life.

This week begins my new adventure.