Growing up.

So, as I mentioned, I received a job offer from Google.

It's in Mountain View, California, which is kind of a long commute from Tempe, so I'd have to relocate. Before you ask, no, I don't actually know the job title or responsibilities yet. Google is über-secretive, and they also seem to let people get acclimated before choosing an area of focus. Which is good.

If I accept the job, it'll be the first time I've lived outside of Arizona, or moved anywhere without a social support network. I think I'm ready for it, but it'll be interesting nonetheless.


As if to seal my decision, I arrived at work on Monday to find a performance bonus waiting for me. I'm glad Choice likes me, but the bonus — for expanding their customer data system to handle Canada, French, and the like — amounts to 1/40^th of the pay increase Google's offered me.

They also announced that we would receive an additional 24 hours of personal time next year. "Personal time" is time you can take off, without pay, without getting fired. This is in addition to my thoroughly meager vacation allotment (currently 1/3 of the starting allotment at Google), meaning that I can now take a week vacation at some point during the year, and still have three days of unpaid leave available. Yay? I'll just burn my (paid) sick time, thank you very much.

I also received a small refrigerator magnet, for some reason. It's like the "My mood today" magnets, in that it has a bunch of little pictures and a sliding indicator-box. It's labeled "Today I need...." I found some of the options particularly ironic:
- "A day off!" (Using my new unpaid leave!)
- "Some respect!" or "A promotion!" (Rub it in.)
- "Overtime!" (Why would anyone ever use this setting?!)
- "A massage!" (There are two companies competing for me; the one that doesn't offer massages gives me this magnet?!)

Beyond the overt thoughtlessness of giving your employees an "I need things I can't have!" magnet, there's a practical issue: my cube contains no magnetic surfaces. I nailed it to the wall.


So, it's looking like I'm going to exercise a different kind of unpaid leave. The kind for which you give notice.