Monday, May 4, 2009

It's So Hard To Say No


While we were in on vacation in Williamsburg a few weeks ago, my husband received a call on his cell phone. Nothing unusual since he never seems to be off work completely! However, this time he would not tell me if it was work or personal. Ok....I figured if it ended up being important, he would say so. I took the kids and continued shopping while he went outside to take the call.

A few minutes later he came back. I took one look at his face and knew something was up. He quietly told me that he had been called for an interview in Martinsville, VA. Oh, I made such a fool out of myself jumping up and down with excitement! His first call in hundreds of resumes sent. I couldn't believe it.

After spending a good portion of our vacation looking up Martinsville and researching the company, we got home and my husband had his phone interview. When he called me afterwards, he sounded a little cautious. He said it went well, but he had questions about how the company was surviving with so little money coming in and the fact that they admitted they were having trouble retaining employees. Well, we still wanted to wait to see what happened because the company said they were still interviewing other candidates the next day. But when my husband received a call the very next morning before work even started, he was quite surprised. They were calling to offer him a second interview, saying they wanted to bring him in and begin to introduce him to everyone, basically hiring him on the spot. My husband not only wondered what had happened to the other candidates, but thought the whole process was moving a little too fast. Before he agreed to the second interview, my husband asked about salary and benefits. He was told with some reluctance that the company could not pay him nearly what he makes now with his main job (not very much, let me tell you) let alone meet his income from all three of his jobs. Plus, medical insurance was going to be over $1,000 a month for our family. There was no way we could afford to pay that amount on that low of a salary. After we talked about it, we decided to call them and turn the job down.

We are seriously blessed that we are not desperate for a job like some people in this economy, but I was still so disappointed. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get to live in my home state again. It was very hard to make that last call to say no.

8 comments:

Kathy said...

Awww... I feel for ya! I am not sure what part of VA you are from but it has gotten so darn expensive to live down there...especially Northern Virginia. Good Luck!!

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

It is expensive in the Northern area. Not so much further south, yet anyway :)

CountryDew said...

I am sorry that didn't work out for you. Hopefully something will turn up.

I think, though, the recession is really starting to hit here. At first I thought it might miss us to some extent but now that seems less likely.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Yeah, it seems like it's about everywhere. Pittsburgh is also a bit insulated and they keep saying it hasn't hit here yet. Pittsburgh is usually about 20 years behind everyone else in the county, though, so maybe by 2029? LOL!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Oh, too bad. Martinsville is not far from us. In fact, my husband's boss owns Martinsville Flooring. Hubby manages Franklin County Flooring by the lake. They're telling me business is picking up. What kind of work is your husband looking for?

www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

My husband is looking for a managerial job. He works in County government as a bureau chief for the dept. of Aging now. He also teaches college courses for a local university. His third job is doing all day seminars on psychology across the country.

I think it must be the out of state thing. I guess it's easier to hire locally and I get that. It's just heartbreaking for me. I really wanted to raise my kids where I was raised.

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Ooh, your husband sounds like a very interesting person.

Don't give up. I can tell you this: good workers are very hard to find down here. And who knows? When one door closes, another opens. The economy is getting better down here. Maybe there will be something soon that is better paying. Maybe that same position will open up in the future with better pay!

www.GreenerPastures--ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Debi,

Thank you so much for your encouraging words. It means a lot. I'm glad to hear the economy there is getting better. That is hopeful. All we can do is pray and keep applying like crazy!