Tejas de Marla?

So, after my last post (that wasn’t a Vegas review), you might be thinking that I’m moving back to Texas. Oh, how I would love to. Both of us would actually love to. If only the decision was that simple. It’s not.

Before I explain the complicated details, I should tell you how my husband’s Dallas job offer came to be. See, as I already mentioned a time or two recently, the conference that pertains to my husband’s line of work was last week here in LV. And thus, lots of colleagues were here, both promoting their business and seeing “what’s new” in the industry. Anyway, my husband took a phone call last week from one such colleague. And basically this guy offered my hubby the job. And when I heard about it, naturally I asked:

“Is it a real job offer, or is it ‘hey, I would love it if you could come work for me someday.’?”

Hubs assured me: “No, he has a specific job that he needs filled.”

Me: “Ugh! Where was this guy a year ago?”

HIm: “That’s what I told him. Timing is everything.”

Ain’t that a fact. Cuz here’s where I tell you why he we couldn’t even consider making a move anywhere, let alone Texas, right now.

You see, when my husband agreed to take this job in Las Vegas, he signed a contract. For three whole years. And the contract itself doesn’t restrict him from quitting whatsoever. In fact, he was only required to work for the company for 3 months, which is long past. But the contract does guarantee him continual raises. And in this economy, that is pretty awesome-sauce. Because, when we moved to Austin initially (more than 4 years ago, at this point), he was given a substantial raise. But soon afterwards is when the economy tanked and all raises, even the typical cost-of-living raise, were squashed company-wide. So, for three years, my husband never got a raise. And that sucked. BIG TIME. Cuz the cost-of-living continued to rise every year, which means my husband ended up making less and less.

Eventually, the wage freeze was lifted, but, unfortunately, my husband ended up with a new dick of a boss at the same exact time, and the cheap-ass Jew that he is (sorry, but that old stereotype actually fits for this man) decided that everyone was overpaid in the Austin office and continued the wage freeze at a local level. He actually told my husband to his face, “We are paying you too much for the job that you do.” So needless to say, my husband had a job offer the very next month, and we moved 3 months later. Sayonara, asshole, amiright?

Where was I? Right, the job contract. So, my husband has it in writing that he will get a raise for the next three years, and that is a ma-jah incentive to stay here and stick it out. Also: the reason my husband was recruited to work here was because he has the experience to build a new facility for the company. It’s a multiple-year project, and my husband a.) is very excited about it, and b.) can’t wait to add it to his resume. In fact, they just closed on a building a few weeks ago, after looking for something suitable since before my husband got here. And now Z is busy meeting with architects, etc to remodel the inside. So, if he were to leave, it would really, really suck for his bosses – not only his local boss but especially his corporate boss, who lives in Florida and is depending on my husband to be the project manager for this whole thing.

Besides my husband’s job contract being a reason not to move to Dallas, there’s *my* job. I mean, I finally have a reliable (damn-good) job. And what I’m going to school for is closely related to this job. So I actually have the job before having the degree, which is quite unusual. Once I get the degree, I will (hopefully) be able to move into a position that allows me to work from home. You see, my company actually hires more staff to work from home than those who physically work in the (corporate) office. Every month, they hire at least 50 people (an honest-to-gawd not-an-exaggerated number) from across the US, fly them to Vegas for a week of training, send them the computer, and pay them a fantastic salary to work in their PJ’s. True story. So, I’m thinking that, as long as I a.) continue to work for the same company, and b.) follow through on getting my degree, that it will be a guarantee to eventually score one of these work-from-home positions. And that also means I could work from *any state,* which means I wouldn’t lose my job if my husband took another job elsewhere.

And, so, the moral of the post is, we are stuck in Las Vegas, for now. Cuz it’s actually better for us in the long run. So basically, no authentic breakfast tacos anytime soon. Or a blog name change. Dammit, Tejas de Marla just sounded so perfect. Grrrr.