[Skooz]

I’ll admit it. I’m a hypocrite. If I had my way, the agency I work for would not exist.

But, I’m too old to start from zero again. I have a family depending on me and a mortgage to pay. Plus, I had several jobs before this one (I started college late at age 26 when I grew tired of being a roofer) and I learned that no matter what the salary, if you have a hard time getting along with coworkers it isn’t worth it.

And the people I work with are anything but the cliche of the “federal employee.” These are supremely dedicated, hard working, highly intelligent and motivated people who also happen to be easy to get along with. It’s hard to leave such people, at my age anyway.

[bvw]

Well, I worked with some mob-related guys a few times. I do remember the one talking to me at a bar, talking about an arson job. Actually he owned the property, NJ Shore, old building. He torched it collected the insurance and built a two new buildings, made much more in rental. I asked why he did it, said I hated to see the old Victorians destroyed.

He said, "I have a family depending on me and a mortgage to pay. I've got to save for my kids college tuitions."

Same as you. He was in his fifties. I was young and had very marketable skills. But after that my attitude changed, I never used my family's welfare as an excuse for taking on "any" work. Almost, that is. I managed to convince myself that getting into debt collections for a notorious company was okay. That was a big mistake, and it cost me my health for the stress. I thank G-d it DID stress me out to the point of breaking my health, though. Better that than working for such a bad outfit. Now I'm better than before and out of that outfit. Good all around.