The Perfect Ending

"...This is just a plot twist. That means things always have to go wrong once before you get to the happy ending."
- Viewtiful Joe

Oh, I couldn't have phrased it better myself.

Just when I was all set to leave Progressive (and the Pee Dee), things up and get screwy on me. For the sake of space, let's recap the chain of events from the past year...

June 05 - Quitting CCF / Starting with AXA Financial "full-time"
June-Nov 05 - Jumping through hoops and doing the song and dance routine for AXA. Why? I was promised a spot in the Greenville territory
Nov 05 - Tired of jumping through hoops (and not being paid), I take a job with Progressive in Florence, just in time for Christmas.

At this point I think to myself, "Sure, you have no desire to live in Florence. But we'll tolerate it for 6 months, then transfer to the Greenville office." I'm sure I even wrote that down somewhere, but I'm not up for digging through the EAP's archives. What follows next is completely unexpected...

Dec 05/Jan 06 - 2 full expenses paid trips to Cleveland. Sure Cleveland sucks, but I'd never been before. And I met great people and had an awesome time. Plus Progressive also footed the bill for trips to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the NFL Hall of Fame, a Nintendo DS, and courtside tickets to Nuggets v. Cavaliers.
Feb 06 - Full expense trip to Charlotte. Sure, its just Charlotte, but hey I'll take it.

Somewhere in there, I started to enjoy my 0ffice. 5 awesome coworkers a pretty fair manager and decent hours. 4 of my coworkers left...

Apr 06 - Aug 06 - You ever try handing insurance claims for the ENTIRE Pee Dee area during the summer with just one other person? Believe me, it wasn't fun. I think that if it weren't for the "character" I built while at CCF, I would have left during all of this. But since then business has picked up...

• I've been rewarded handsomely TWICE for all the shit we had to put up with during the summer.
• We've gotten 2 new people in the office who are more than awesome. Talk about a great work environment.
• I've finally gotten the hours I want. 10am-7pm. I can stay up late and sleep in. This also came with a 5% raise.
• Somewhere in all that mess during the summer I qualified for my Casualty and Property Damage certifications. Which each came with a 2.5%. (For those keeping track, that's a 10% raise, and no I haven't had my yearly review yet -- which comes with another raise)
• The company is doing well and my Gainshare (8% of my annual salary * whatever our profit multiplier is) should be quite nice.

With all this happening, I can truthfully say I don't want to go anywhere. And why should I? I'm making good money, great hours, and an aweseome work environment. Life is good. But that's where the issues comes in...

Do I lay back on what I want? Trading in the lovely upstate region of SC for the Pee Dee was not what I had planned...
Do I postpone grad school? Do I not go at all?
Do I quit? Do I stay? Do I hope and pray that a position opens up in Greenville and that my manager is gracious enough to release me?

I don't know. No clue at all.

All I can do is hedge my bets.

USC's Moore School of Business gets and MBA Application along with Clemson...
Hopefully a position opens up in Greenville. If not, I'll take Columbia....

Lots of questions with no answers. I do know one thing, no final decisions will be made until after I know what my grad school status is. Once I find out where I can go, I'll concern myself with where I need to be. In the meantime, I'll just concern myself with whether or not Clemson can win the ACC and making sure my car payment is in on time.


Life's too short to worry.


there's always a plot twist before you get to the happy ending