I need help in making a decision ya'll. I'm possibly up for a promotion at work.
This is what I have goin on now....I'm a WG 7 step 4, I make pretty good money. I work graveyard (11pm-7am) sunday night - thursday night. I work 8 straight hrs a day, no extra time for lunch, just 8 hrs at work is all. I can work overtime  when we have it for either cash or comp time. I'm divorced with a 10 yr old son that I get once a weekend during school and 6 weeks of the summer.

This is what I could get.....A WG 9 step 3, I'll be making better money. I'd be working swingshift (roughly 3pm-11pm). I'm not sure if I'd get extra time for lunch or if its a straight 8 hr work day like I have now. Mandatory overtime on the weekends, voluntary overtime every day (2 hrs).

I'd be making more money takin this position but my visitation schedual would be messed up. Both my parents work day jobs so my son would have to go to my exloserwifes parents house, no biggie, but I wouldn't be seein him that much cause of the time I'd be getting home at night and the mandatory overtime on the weekends. If I get a chance to take this job it could possibly sooner or later lead to me working elsewhere at Tinker on a different shift possibly as well for more money.

I work in the paint hanger at Tinker, everyone says "man I'd love to transfer out of here, it'd be great and if I wasn't happy when I transfered to whereever its easier to move around from job to job once you leave the paint hanger." I don't know what to do...I could get stuff paid off, thats for sure. On 1, 2 week paycheck I could have approximately 80 hrs regular time and 52 hrs of overtime. That'd be a heckofa check! So, I can make more money but I'd be working the WORST hours possible and not havin much of a life in the process. The Supervisor for over there talked to me today and told me they've been workin mandatory o/t since last March.....so the $$$ is there to be made. But do I do it or not. I can't make up my mind yet. I talked to the Supervisor over there at 5am today, he said I can think about it but he needs to know today so, he's callin around 7pm tonight.

Any oppinions would be greatly appreciated cause I donno. And I know oppinions are like A-holes and everyone has them....so share them with me please.

Rat ,after I had kids (2 boys) I thought I needed all the overtime I could get and I worked all I could . I wasn't  making good money at the time ,so the overtime helped out alot. I made $9.75/hr and worked about 30 hours O/T every stinking week. My last year there I made over $45,000 and was drawing the hourly wage of $9.75. That sucks....then one day I came home for lunch and snapped....who was this woman and kids in MY house? I had spent most of my time at work and my youngest would not even come to me. Now that hurts....provide for your family and they don't know you either.

Now fast forward to 2006..... I make more money per hour and work less time and enjoy my time with my kids alot more ( of course they are older 11 and 14).  I still make less than what I was making but I have more time with my number 1 priorty- my family.

I can not tell you what I would do in your shoes but I can tell you that money is not everything.
BTW ,yesterday we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary.

man in the long run it ain't worth it, the moneys great and all but the time you lose away from your children, you don't ever get back, I worked 11 months strait 12 hours a day in 99' and I didn't see my kids very much, it was like I lost a year with them, I turned around and both of them were 3 inches taller, remember one thing grandson, moneys nice, but its not everything.

MLW>"<

I've been there and done that. For me, my "free" time is too valuable to me. Can never have too much  time for those you love and the things you love to do. So what if you have to do without some of the luxuries you might have bought with the extra money.Is it worth it for the price you ultimately pay? The price is too great in my opinion.  Good luck in whatever you decide.

Your son only grows up once.  Give him the time.  You can move up the pay scale later on.  You should be asking your son what he thinks of the deal.  I would bet he would tell you to be with him .

Rat, I worked an average of 55 to 60 hours a week, coached a soccer team, both outdoors and indoors, all year long, and attended college to finish my degree. This all occurred between the age of 31 to 36, 16 years or so ago. Would I do it again? NO. Had I not had a really good wife who put up with my being gone or on the move all the time, I couldn't have accomplished it.  My family didn't suffer - we spent our family time on a soccer field, baseball diamond, or indoor arena.
But FAMILY always comes first because in the end, that is all you really have.
Do what is best for your son and you. That can never be taken from you! I will always remember the games, the hunts, the fishing, the vacations, etc. with my wife and son. The other stuff is gone with the wind, family is forever!
I have been blessed by the Good Lord far more than I deserve. If you have just a fraction of the blessings I received, you'll be a very fortunate person!

I may be late since it's after 7p, but I'll throw in my opinion.

I have a son too (the 3ft tall guy who stole your sponge bob yesterday).  I don't think some extra money would be worth losing some of the time we spend together.

I can understand your dilema.  Everyone says that money isn't worth it and time with the family is best.  I agree, but how many of us are doing something to decrease our workload and increase our family time.  I'll admit that I should be doing more.

Well I went to the guys shop today and poked around n talked to him and a couple of people over there and I told him I'm interested in workin over there. The main reason there's been so much overtime is they have 4 people in the shop...tryin to do the work of 10. I hear there's about 5 positions he's going to be hiring for so I told him yeah I'll come n work for ya over here. So I'm hopin the overtime will go from mandatory to volunarty here pretty soon after he does the hiring. So...we'll see what happens.