My Manifesto: The Incoherent Ramblings of a Madman

My new job, hopefully, is going to turn out just fine. I was offered a new job the other week but there was a few difficult hurdles to get over to actually get my new job. My boss had me sign a contract that means i have to give three (3) months notice prior to leaving which makes it almost impossible for me to get a job anywhere without telling them I can start work in three (3) months - and who in their right mind is going to want to wait three (3) months to have me work for them? Well the answer is no-one.

I talked my boss down to two (2) months with one (1) month taken as leave, of which I almost had owed to me anyway - by talked down I mean I had to give my three (3) months notice with no negotiations gone into. I at the time always naively thought that because there were so many illegal clauses in my contract (six out of sixteen) that the contract would almost be null and void - furthermore my boss has also changed the contract without giving notice, however, he has changed the contract without giving notice in my favour, which apparently negates the breach of contract that he has committed thereby making the contract still legal. If I had been working there three (3) years or over it would be a different matter altogether - my five (5) year contract would be entirely void on the spot - if only i had been working there longer.....So anyway - I gave my three (3) months notice, two (2) of working, one (1) of leave. This left me with a two (2) month gap to try and convince prospective employer to wait for me - luckily they did.

My boss took the whole thing with a blank look on his face at first, then became defensive, childish, and somewhat mean, then grew up and saw how he could make money out of this deal. The first thing he attempted to do was to invoice my new employer 15% of one (1) years wage to "buy" me. He then tried to hire my services back to new employer at a reasonably high rate full time for three (3) months, again, which didn't seem to work. My boss offered me a $5000 pay rise, which he said he was planning anyway, and a car, which he said he was planning anyway - the only problem is that my boss giving me car with a substantially larger engine than my current car that I have to pay the petrol for is more of a liability than an asset.

It sort of seems almost insulting to myself to think that someone can buy me, but in the end, I guess they can. Not that I went to my new job merely for the money, and I know everyone always says that, but in this instance it is true. The pay rise is great, however, the main reason I've changed jobs is to further my career and experience.

I've been in my third year rut for a while. Sort of moping around - going through the motions of living with no hopes of ever progressing further in my career without my boss actually dying, and the chances of that happening aren't very high thanks to him just starting on his health kick. I had a three (3) year plan to change jobs by the end of the third year - this year - however, the opportunity came up and I managed to take it.

Now all I have to do is try and leave on the best terms I can with my boss so he will give me a good reference - or otherwise three (3) years of my life will not exist inevitably making people ask the question: "what have you been doing professionally the last three years of your life?". I could always do the george dubya style thing and say I was an alcoholic and I have about as much idea as to what I was doing the last three years as what they do (sure he got away with 30 years - but I think 30 is stretching the truth a little far considering I'm only 24) or say I'm missing time because I was abducted by aliens - but somehow I think that most people will cotton onto the fact that there's something fishy going on.