"Can I Come Too?"

 

Aside from the poor laid-off co-worker, looking back at this time I consider them the halcyon days in my current job.

I'd built up enough experience and credibility among management both there and in town to be trusted as the sole tech writer, taking the Accelerated Retrieval Project through, I believe, four more ARP iterations. Three of them, as I recall, totally on my own.

Were the documents perfect? No. They're not perfect now. But they were good enough to get the job done, and that was a good feeling.

Some days were hectic, with document changes needed almost immediately, often within hours, sometimes before the end of the day.

I didn't complain. I just did the work because I enjoyed my co-workers, the relative freedom from oversight, and the general feeling that what I was doing was making a contribution to a big project.

Those feelings have faded over time.

I'm trying to learn new things.

But the trust has eroded a bit. As has the git'r done attitude.

In fact, I await castigation on Monday for a job poorly done in which I was poorly trained and not given much time to practice. Not that the latter two will matter all that much.

I have co-workers from the better days who have moved on, who have retired. Whenever I interact with them, this is what I feel:

That's at least ten years down the road, depending on the economy and so many other factors it makes my lips numb just thinking about it.

A friend says he can work at any job for about ten years, but after that it gets harder. I've been at this job for in the neighborhood of 16 years. The "getting harder" part is here in spades.