Changes

Ronnie has accepted a new job. He will be a chef for a local hospital group. He will be the sous chef over the cafeteria. As part of this new job he will go to Atlanta for a week for company orientation. He gets back from that & goes to a city 4 hours away for 3 more weeks of training. Yep, I'll be a single Mommy for a full month. At least he'll be home on weekends, so Paige & I can spend time with him.

The benefits with this company are amazing. First the pay is about double what he's making now, which puts him back at what he was making at the college. The paid time off policy is to die for! On September 1st they allot your PTO for the year. You must take it by the end of August the following year. For employees with 0 to 5 years, you get 5 weeks of PTO. You read that right, 5 weeks. Wow. He'll have some PTO to use even before then. They have wonderful medical & dental benefits as well.

On a down side the hospital is about an hour away. He'll have to commute almost 2 hours a day. He did this before, when he lived in Houston. It's not something he's looking forward to, but the pros outweigh the cons. The other downside, of course, is the month of training. The company does do good with this though. They've paid for his hotel, provided breakfast & lunch, and have provided him with a Visa credit card with his allotment of money for evening meals, $25 a night. He's driving, so they'll reimburse mileage.

Believe it or not, this was a hard decision to make. Ronnie really enjoys his day job. His night job is just so-so, but he's learning a lot there. Ronnie's very much a free thinking, tie-dye wearing, outside the box kind of thinker. His time in corporate America has either been amazing, or crap. There's not really been any in between there. But, as we all know, the economy is in the toilet. Restaurants are closing left and right. Everyone is saying it's only going to get worse before it gets better. His restaurants aren't in danger of closing. At least right now. There's no telling what will happen later on. So many restaurants have closed in the area that kitchen jobs are extremely hard to find, and paying less than usual. So many apply for 1 job, that they can lower what they pay & still get applicants. The hospital will not be going out of business any time soon. It provides the most stable environment.

Ronnie leaves Sunday going to Atlanta. Figures that he would leave the weekend before Mardi Gras. We've had to change our Mardi Gras plans. Small price to pay, I guess.