BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A WOODEN BALL BEARING?

My husband was pretty excited when he saw the displays of Leonardo's experiment of freely-rotating balls to reduce friction and heat between two plates. (Please don't ask me to explain further, I am just copying from the brochure.) After graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree, CP got a job with a company in Muskegon (hometown of Justin Abdelkader, left winger/center of the Detroit Red Wings). The company is a major manufacturer of ball bearings in all sizes ranging from those used in flashlights to the really big one installed in space shuttle.

CP started out as a tool designer then moving on to production/quality control. After 10+ years with that company, an opportunity presented with a promotion to be plant manager brought us to St. Louis. It was the right move and St. Louis has been a good place to live. A few more years later, CP could no longer put up with all the "b.s." from management and a vp of operation who threw tantrum whenever things didn't go his way, CP moved on with another company.

CP has been much happier as a pre-production quality control manager. His focus is more on making sure all the specifications and requirements are met. Even though CP gave up the income and the corner office, he no longer had to work long hours and weekends, dealing with shipping schedule or worst, unhappy customers and their unreasonable demands.

I am not sure if I believe the saying "Do what you love and the money will follow". I do believe that you need to find work that make you feel proud of yourself, make your decision based on what's most important to you and the people in your life, a workplace where you are respected and appreciated, where you are happy spending 8 hours each day putting your heart and soul into the work, and most of all, it is your precious life that is being wasted at a job you hate.