Work sucks

...like a pool pump sucks away unsuspecting children's intestines. If you didn't know, there have been many cases of pool pumps sucking out kids' intestines when they sit on the intake at the bottom of a pool. Now you may think this is graphic, but work makes me feel like I am in an abusive relationship and I just keep taking one hit after another.

I got hired almost 2 years ago. They took well over 18 months to give me my first inflationary 3% raise. So technically, I'm still making less than I did last year because my bills for the same apartment and electricity are still about $50 more a month than my raise. Go team! Anyway, you'd think that when your manager says you're on track for a promotion and that your hard work has been recognized means that you will get to reap the benefits of your hard work, right? Not with this company. Those who know me know that our company is having financial difficulties at the moment and this is no fault of mine. However, because of this my promotion, and well-deserved raise has been delayed indefinitely. You typically get this first promotion a year to a year and a half after you've been hired. Now remember, it's already been almost 2 years for me.

So in utter dissatisfaction with my job, co-workers, and company outlook. I have been looking for other jobs. So far I haven't been able to line anything up outside of this company but there is a small glimmer of light because there is now an opening in the first team I interned for. This job would actually allow me to use my brain and I like the team members. Unlike me normally, I actually made it a point to keep in touch. So that appears to be working to my advantage. But to make this another negative, my manager asks me to come to his cube today and he asks me to think and make sure I'm making the move for the right reasons... Is he trying to guilt me here? He said that the grass is always greener on the other side and I told him that i knew that I would most likely have to work late some Fridays and be "on call" every 4th weekend. But since I dislike my current position so much and the team mentality makes me want to trow up, I'd gladly take these negative aspects if it meant I wouldn't have to avoid certain team members because they depress me and that I'd actually be able to use my problem solving skills to write scripts. I just can't believe my manager tried to guilt me like that. Maybe he did that because he realizes that I'm a better employee than some of my other teammates, but still. That just makes me feel even worse.