Whirlwind job change →[More:] So in the manpower plan for my current work group, and specifically in my line in that plan (and one other guy), the trend was down. I thought it would fill in with other work, but no, the trend is clearly down, and the end was getting too near.

Now, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be the first guy kicked off the island if no new work came in, and they maybe could spread the work around a little more and keep everyone going until things picked up, but then again, the trend was definitely down for the foreseeable future.

So, I went in to talk to my manager. The intent of the talk was to get a little reassurance that yes, in fact, my position is safe for now. Instead, he mentioned that a manager at nearby site might be looking for some help and maybe I should talk to him.

So I contacted the other guy and he suggested I come by to just, you know, see what he has going on. The Thanksgiving holiday got in the way and I finally got over to talk to him Monday at noon, and we did a quick intro with the senior manager.

He said he'd get with me in the next day or two and let me know what everyone thought.

The next thing that happened was an email to my manager (cc'ed to me) about working out my "transition plan". Wait a minute! Aren't you supposed to offer me the position first? Aren't I supposed to accept? Or something? Apparently that's not required. I started out at the new office this afternoon (abrupt transition!)

It looks like the new position will be okay. Different enough that I won't be bored (Read: Okay, I don't know what the hell I'm doing!) But I made it clear that I'm no expert in what they want me to do so hopefully I've set expectations acceptably low.

I'm glad I have a job with a little more security, but because I'm working in both offices right now I can't ride my bicycle to work. The new office is 16 miles from home; the old office was an easy 7 miles. I'm hoping I'll still be able to ride my bike regularly once the transition is complete. The good news is that the new site has showers available for bicycle commuters.

I hope this works out.