Starting to think about leaving

Always considered job loyalty a given. Came here for that reason: with a 15-year termer saying "I'm one of the new people," there was a sense of security and family about this place. A lot of problems, true, but like old-time families (before divorce was de rigeuer) they worked things out. Or covered them up. Or, at any rate, survived them. Survived them, yes: got here at the tag end of that era and saw how it worked.

Now, since the "new" team has been here for 3 years, loyalty from the company down is certainly no more. Lookit all the old-timers harassed off. I'm new enough to escape that purge, but it still ain't fun to watch.

Job loyalty... Oh, what am I saying: hypocrite - I sure was ready to leave this place a couple of years ago when my "old" manager was getting too oppressive. But that was Dan the Hyper-Active Boss Man, and he had actually only come a couple of years before me - and he was going crazy because the New Team was isolating him, and he reacted in all the wrong ways.

But why leave here? To what? 'Haven't looked for a better job ever before: there were enough recession-driven layoffs, bubble-burst collapses and we're-bought/you're-out situations to make most supposedly career-track jobs into just extended short stays. This here is what's out there.

But - what used to be a "family" is maybe now more like a dinner party - and did you ever feel like you've stayed a little too long and it's time to leave?