Tough times lie ahead

Things have taken a turn for the worse at work. My team currently has 4 people: my boss, JP, me and Isabel. My boss doesn’t like to work too hard, and he thinks he’s worked hard enough in past, so he basically does client relationship and delegates on us. Isabel is a young kid, fresh out of college, who helps out but can’t be given too much responsibility yet. So that leaves me and JP. We share the load of projects between us and we’ve both been swamped lately, has I’ve documented profusely here.

JP is leaving. He got a very good job offer elsewhere and he’ll leave by the end of next week. Which means… well, it basically means I’m fucked.

When I decided to work in an Investment Bank I knew I would have to work hard, I knew I would have to work nights, weekends, whatever was necessary. And I did, until I had R. When I got pregnant with her I talked to my boss (the old one) and offered to go to another department where I didn’t have to work as hard. He said he wanted me in his team, and everyone would make an effort to cover for me. So I hired a housekeeper/nanny and we agreed I would work 5 days a week, from 9 to 7, and would ask hubby to cover for me at home in the sporadic event that I would have to work a night or weekend here or there.
But a few years went by and I’m no longer the kid with little responsibility. I’m responsible for my own projects now and there’s no one who can cover for me. For the past few months I’ve asked my mom to go to my house at 7 (the time the housekeeper leaves), give the kids dinner and wait for either me or ZM to get home more often than I can count. Sometimes I go home, give them dinner, put them to bed and then come back to the office. I hardly ever have lunch at home with M anymore and I’ve had to work several weekends.
I thought this was just a phase, and it would all go back to normal once this project was done. But the fact is, with JP leaving and all, this is normal, this is what it’s gonna be like from now on. And I just can’t do this.

So now I’m faced with a tough decision. First of all, I love my job and don’t really want to quit. Second, we really need my income. And last but not least, finding a new job, with two kids and all, will not be easy. So what do I do?


On a totally different note…. We’re leaving for Israel on the 30th of July. I’m so happy, so anxious, so grateful.