I will absolutely bear that in mind, it is something really important to me as well. They’re only little once, after all.
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The biggest thing i’d think about is eating healthy on the road. Our family (3 kids 8-14) drives 5+ hrs pretty regularly to visit family, and we’ve gotten pretty decent at packing things to eat on the road so we don’t have to stop for a meal at all. But yea, it’ll be real tempting to eat out every meal, but that’s not sustainable from a health perspective. But, i’ve got heart disease (and i’ve got high blood pressure personally) in my family history, so i’m particularly concerned with sodium intake.
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Ohh yeah when I traveled I was eating fast food. Sleeping poorly and very sedentary (sitting in an office, on a train, plane etc) keeping healthy is hard when on the move funny enough. Utilize the gym at hotels, pools, walk the cities your in when you can, etc. if you get a per diem or expense meals make sure to use it. Don’t skip out to pocket a few extra bucks or save the company on your trip. This falls into set your boundaries. If you only accept decent hotels, good flights and rentals then no one will expect you to do less but if you accept less they will expect less and changing that later is impossible
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Good advice! I usually just get a king suite at holiday inn express when I travel for work, but I like to redeem my IHG points at Hotel Indigo.
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Honestly the boundaries advice is good even when you don’t travel but for all salaried positions.
There is enough work where I work that you could work 24 hours a day every day 7 days a week. A lot of folks come in and see how much there is to possibly do and they just work themselves until they burn out and go nuts or have health issues.
When there is that much backlog of work you just have to let stuff fall on the floor and prioritize what you can do. I work my 40ish and if senior leadership wants 80-120 hours or work done they can hire 1-2 more people. If I’m on call on the weekend and end up working the weekend I peace out in the middle of the week and recoup my time.
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Yes food!!! I need to be very conscientious of what I eat. I will have a good per diem (“I eat long horn 3 days a week” other tech I talked to) so like, clean protein and veggies HOLD THE DANG BUTTER. And gym membership. I wanna join the Y again, we have a reaaaaally nice one here, so I’d like to get the fam plan so my wife can go again. She loved it but we couldn’t afford it so we started collecting free workout equipment off fb market etc
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Hey man I just wanna apologize for my, what reads like, very defensive response to this. I know you are just replying with what I asked for and I got freaked out. It’s hard coming to terms with the fact that I won’t be around as much and I think I was trying to convince myself more than anything that I need to do this.
It I need to confront the painful realities of what I’m setting myself up for, and also keep an open eye on what my new employer will be asking. So it’s really important to watch for them creeping in on my free time, because if I end up like THAT, just a few short good hours with my boy, no money will be worth that.
And if it does go that way, more and more of my homelife gobbled up by travel misadventures or too heavy a workload, at least I’m already out of the auto industry and still have those transferable skills. And I’ll have the travel experiences and will have seen more of the country which is nice. Always said I wanna see every state, and some day make it overseas.
I’m a bit scared, cap, not gonna lie. This is so far outside my wheelhouse, it’s pretty intimidating, but ANYTHING, literally ANYTHING I can think of is better than staying in the auto industry. I may lose some short term time home watching paw patrol before bed, or getting yelled at for more strawberry milk for dinner instead of trying the meat or veggies, but I think I’ll be gaining some more time on the backend, shedding so much stress from this cursed career.
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Have you seen the recent trend of big tech startups and companies starting to do a 996 schedule essentially a 72hr work week to mimic the china market doing similar to try and win the AI war. I would rather bag groceries and move in with my mom at 40 than voluntarily work that kind of schedule at this phase of life. Heck there are times I dream of having a mindless job where I don’t have to think because tech is mentally straining. The older I get the more my time has value and I refuse to sacrifice it.
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Hey use it as a stepping stone hopefully you can shift it into something that brings you back to your family long term. Personally I did a similar thing. I’ve mentioned it frequently and I’m blessed that I took that experience and shifted it to so thing that affords me the time with my family. Not everyone is so lucky
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That’s honestly what my friend who is hiring me said.
He knows it will be a huge change but he’s pretty sure I’m going to love it and do incredibly well with the job, and if I don’t like it I could easily parlay it into something else. Even within the company I bet I could find a more localized position, they have a headquarters half an hour from my house.
But this is all optimism. The reality is that the next year I will be away quite a bit. Monday through Friday, 3 weeks a month I will be away from home. Monday and Thursday night/ Friday will be for travel, but I’m still away.
Fortunate in my local area, there are a few heavily industrialized areas, so I’ll be getting some work that could be even closer to home than my current 2 mile commute, so that’ll be REAL NICE when that happens!!! Which my buddy is assuring me is the goal, for that to be the more frequent thing.
It’s so hard not to just think about all this and only this.
Can’t wait to be settled in and thinking about other stuff lol. I’ll certainly have the time in the car (and airports/ planes, empty hotel rooms) to ponder many things lol.
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Satellite radio is where it’s at when you’re on the road. I guess everyone just spotifys now though.
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I do use Spotify, as I am the family account holder for a few family members, but I also am stuck in 2005 and I keep an iPod fully loaded in my 4Runner that I mainly listen to while driving lol.
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I haven’t seen anything like that horrifying schedule happen. Expectation here is usually 40-50 max.
I have on occasion been on projects for a short time like a month where 12 hour days were mandated. When the project was over we were then allowed to screw off and be super low productivity. Haven’t seen that in like 6 years though and it was very rare like once every couple years.
I work in outsourcing and we actually hunt for stuff like this and fine and punish vendors if outsourced workers are working unreasonably high hours or for extended periods without weekends.
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First off… How does your wife feel about this?
Secondly, I know you said you have a confidence that the person you’ll be dealing directly with as your boss is also your friend. That can be a good thing and I can turn on you in a second.
Because even though the guy is your friend… If he’s your boss, and for whatever reason, you don’t meet his expectations, then there could be a problem, regardless of what your personal connection to him is.
If this position with the amazing benefits and all had good pay and everything you said come, if something, your boss is gonna make sure you’re adequately trained to move forward in your position, then he will probably work with you and understand that this is a pretty dramatic change of events for you.
No matter how lucrative it may seem in direct comparison to what you’ve done, you need to make sure that you get adequate training so that as you’re sent here and there you have the focus and confidence to do what he expects you to do. Unless you’re a genius, don’t let your boss friend Suggest to you. Hey, you’re gonna be good at this I know you can do it and everything‘s gonna be peachy.
If you ever played team sports when you were younger guy, you could be friends with everybody on the team and up until the minute the whistle blows, and the game starts you guys could all be cracking Polish jokes and slapping each other around and acting like besties. But as soon as the game gets going, and you drop the ball, things can change that fast.
I’m not just trying to be the devil’s advocate here… But I have been around the block a few times and besides my personal experiences in over 55 years of working here or there, I also have a whole quiver of friends that we’ve compared stories with what they’ve been through With their various fantasy job opportunities with unreal, benefits, compared to what they were doing before. As often as not the end well. But then again as often as not, they don’t. The contributing factors can be endless.
You won’t be the first guy that just jumps into a position in a pretty dramatic change of duties and responsibilities. But like you said the traveling thing… Especially that eight hours to drive here… And then maybe fly somewhere… And then maybe fly back… Or maybe drive back… Or maybe row a boat back… And then your wife is at home handling everything and she’s missing you as much as you’re missing her.
I am definitely not trying to discourage you… We’ve known each other for a bit now. I would encourage you to take the adventure. I fully understand what you were explaining about dead chemicals and filth and whatever… Having been in collision repair for over half a century And approximately half of that as a full-time custom painter and Harley motorcycle customizer… Combined with the fact that I used to give people a two hour lecture entitled how to survive in a body shop. When the OSHA people come by the shop that I’m at now. They usually learn something from me because I’ve been around since probably before their parents were born and I’ve learned a few things.
So there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you trying to escape the contamination that most mechanics of which I’m very familiar with because the current shop that I’m in has about 40 or 50 mechanics at any given time. Obviously a large facility. And we do everything change out engines transmissions entire electrical harness systems Etc. you name it. We deal with diesel we deal with gas we deal with CNG we deal with propane and now we have a partial fleet of all electric ready to explode, buses, large trucks and things of that nature. There’s contamination everywhere I see people blowing their nose and it looks like they just came out of a combine.
So that certainly a step in the right direction. Tell your boss friend you’re fully on board but also since you guys are friends first… You need to confide in him that since you are a married guy and you feel that you may be a little homesick for him to take that into consideration, if you start off a little slow When your motivation and enthusiasm hit partial roadblocks. Remember, it’s not just what’s in front of your eyes it’s what’s between your ears. Because of what’s between your ears isn’t focusing properly. It doesn’t matter what kind of bright future you think is in front of you. You have to get to the future to achieve that brightness, lol
You’re a smart young guy. And if you’re friend/boss, think you can do it, unless he’s an idiot, he’s probably a pretty good judge of your skill set and your character. And if that is indeed, the case, you got a friend on your side, not just a boss.
But like I said in other words… You gotta get your mental priorities straight. Don’t worry too much because let me tell you something about worrying. 90% of the things people worry about are not worth the trouble of worry. The other 10% of things that people worry about are pretty much things they can’t do anything about anyway so being overly concerned with them it’s just a waste of time.
sit down with a nice cup of coffee or a beer or some Matcha tea or whatever you like to drink at a table with some good lighting. Have a pencil and paper and sit there for a minute just staring at the wall. Think of about 20 things that you have to have in the proper mental alignment before you start your journey. Things like your wife… Family members… Your pets… Your friends… Everything that will be altered by you being away more than being actually there more.
So don’t just focus on you being homesick. Focus on how many things that you normally do and just take for granted you will not be there to do. That doesn’t mean that people won’t step in and step up to the plate for you. But just remember Recognize, that all the time you will be gone you will not be home doing stuff you normally do without anybody saying anything to you or things that you’re expected to do because you’re there.
Obviously, there’s a certain amount of guess work. I got going here because I don’t know exactly, what your travel versus home schedule is going to be?
Not to be redundant, but as I’ve said, I’m sure that you’re gonna be sharp enough to do the job. But just remember an old saying, which still has an application in his assistance. It says battles are one and lost in the planning stages.
So before you step up to the plate for your next battle, you just need to make sure that you got your plans and potentially alternate plans in place.
I’m sure that everybody on this forum wishes you absolutely the best possible outcome in your next adventure.
I’m certainly not deliberately trying to give you some harsh reality type of a perspective. It’s just that because I’ve been around the block a few times I could tell you a few stories of the best laid plans of mice and men.
If you got the skills and you got your head on straight and the people around, you are willing to cooperate… Things are looking good.
As they should… Trust me, I wouldn’t kid you
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Well so first off many good points raised and thank you for the overall encouragement as well as the dose of reality.
So as far as my wife, she has been extremely supportive and was the one to give me the push to accept the offer. It was the third offer over the span of 2-3 years. She knows how miserable I am in the auto industry, and can tell this will be good for me in many ways and good for the family financially at the very least.
She was single until she met me. I was her first serious boyfriend, and we have been together since 2012 and we have been married since 2019. She assures me that she is comfortable and confident with her independence. She says it will be easier having less food to cook, laundry to do, etc etc. it almost felt like she’s excited to get a little breathing room haha. I talk with her everyday about this and she is 110% behind this transition.
As for FriendBoss™️, we have also discussed this several times. He made it clear that friend time is friend time, work time is work time, and if expectations are not being met it will be made clear, and I totally respect that. I am a diligent, dedicated hard worker, and I do not want to let him down. He is directly putting himself on the line with this and I know it and respect it.
Training for the position will be done over a 3 week hands on period, and I’ll be shadowing another field tech till about mid march and then set free upon the land. They will make sure I understand everything completely, as I will also have to do some client training on site.
The work week so far as it has been (repeatedly) explained to me will be as follows:
Average week:
Monday- drive/ fly to this weeks location
Tuesday- consult with client, initial evaluation of the machine
Weds/ Thursday- do the thing, prepare/start travel home if finished
Friday- travel home
Weekend- FREEDOM!!
One week a month will be at the local-to-home headquarters for telehelp/ hangin with the boys at the office waiting for said calls.
Drives will be a maximum of 7hrs, anything further and it’s a flight.
There’s a good chance for lots of local work too, but that’s optimism. I will be doing a lot of cross country travel at first, which I m excited for. I love to see new parts of the country, hopefully my off time can be spent enjoying these new places.
BossFriend™️ is fully aware of the adjustment I will need, he has asked me over and over if I understand that this is 75% travel, no way around it right now. The future should have me home more, but for now I’ll be seeing many new places.
After lots and lots and lots of thought and talking with him, wifey, friends, family, strangers, the doctor, my mail main, some dude walking though our parking lot, my dog, my 4 y/o… im going for it. It’s time for change, its time to work somewhere with a future. It’s time to make cars a hobby once again and not an abysmal, unfulfilling career. People have suggested fleet work or Hd diesel, the easy street of the auto world apparently, but I’m just over it. I can’t do it anymore.
I will do exactly what you suggest, sit down with nice warm cuppa, and write. Either list form or a journal entry, I used to be so big on keeping a journal…
As for what I do for those around me now… I do a lot. I fix everything, I’m the problem solver. I worry about that I’m not gonna lie. But I will be home later in the week to get the list of things to do I’m sure… fortunately my mom is retiring the same day o leave the auto field, she will be here to help with my son, and to spend time with my wife as well if she would like it. They get along really well, thank goodness haha.
I agree, some adjustment and growth and uncomfortable feelings are ahead, but the futures bright.
Thanks again doc
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I’m a traveling millwright, ironworker, industrial insulator/asbestos inspector and welder… it’s a rough life on the road with a family back home but at this point in life, gotta do what you gotta do.
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Does traveling between 2 theme parks 68 miles apart count? Recently I’ve been not just at my home site but traveling to now sister park to help their team out.
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I would say that would count, thats a lot of driving it sounds, you do that daily?
Today’s the big day! Loading up my tool box on its final ride in a couple hours. So many emotions, I’m really looking forward to when I’m settled into my new path.
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