My workplace issue here is one dilemma that, I'm sure, many of you would sooner have than those many of you now do have, but having myself been at other times laid off, job searching, or unfairly treated on the job, I do very much appreciate your own plights, too. But here goes:

I've been in my current copy-editing job with a major firm in its field for over four years now. For most of the first three and one-half years or so, my supervisor was one who was notoriously difficult to work with, set in his ways, and frequently arbitrary and downright unfair, often assuming that in cases of complaints, his subordinates were mostly or always at fault, expecting many if not all of his own employees to "take it on the chin" so he could look good to and please others within the company. Last year, he had even called me one of his "top performers" but claimed he was unable to get me a raise above the rise in the cost of living. (Based upon my experience with this former boss and his own boss--now my current supervisor, as described below--I did and do doubt my former boss's claim that he had tried to do all for me he could.)

So, at this time last year, I had applied for another editor's opening within my company, one where I could use many more of my skills and be paid closer to what I'm worth (three salary grades above mine). The supervisor for this job also has a far better reputation for fairness and communication. He told me that while he had no doubts that I would have been great at the new job, there was, to his knowledge, only "one other person in the known universe," who would have been better, a former employee who had worked in the department for nearly a decade and, after having quit, wanted to return.

Soon afterward, our company was taken over by new owners and executives who have made it clear that they seek to revitalize the company and its ways. Earlier this year, my former supervisor, a chair-warmer to whom "ruffling feathers" or "rocking the boat" was the ultimate sin, left. His own rigidity, his own stubborn clinging to old ways, ultimately got forced him out. When he left, not many of his subordinates shed any tears. . . .

My new supervisor, a busy department head at the second level below our top management, is by comparison much more fair and decent. Indeed, during my first performance review with him, he not only apologized for not having spent any significant time with me previously, but acknowledged that many others had found my previous supervisor "challenging" to work with. (That's about as close to an apology most of us in such a setting will ever get!) Even though, as with any boss, one must be careful in how one broaches and approaches issues, he is far more open and willing to discuss and consider his employees' concerns than was his predecessor.

He also got my position upgraded by two salary grades, as well as a raise of over 6.5 percent. Given the median salary for jobs like mine, this brought me only near the median, but as most if not all of you know, such a raise, especially today, is nothing to sneeze at. I do appreciate his efforts, and after some envelope-testing negotiation on my (and, I tend to believe, his own!) part, I told him so.

All else equal, while many issues remain in my workplace, I am far better off than I was at this time last year. I would far sooner deal with my current supervisor than my previous one, and it seems that things, while often bumpy in the transition of ownership and management, have for me improved, monetarily and otherwise.

Here's the issue: That same job for which I applied last year is again open. I am considering applying for it, simply because it would no doubt entail a rise in pay (probably in the range of 5 to 8 percent) and because I would be able to use more of my skills. The "learning curve" concerns me, however; many of the tasks involved in the new job are ones I've not done for many years. (I have over 20 years of experience in editing, writing, and other aspects of wordsmithing, and good jobs in my field are quite scarce.) Of course, there would also be the issues of learning about new projects, procedures, people, and, yes, internal politics.

Making this possible switch, while something I still find worth exploring, is no longer the pressing issue for me that it was a year ago, simply because of the improvements I've since had in the pay and "boss" departments. I am also quite concerned about how my current boss would react if I applied for this again-open job. If I were still saddled with my previous boss, this wouldn't be an issue at all. But I have a much better relationship with and, I believe, far more real (including monetary) respect from, my current boss. This is not an easy decision any more.

Making it even harder is that I am very good at my current job, recognized by many "in the know" as one of the very best in my field. Even with all the challenges and the stress it can and at times does bring, I very much enjoy what I do. I am really not sure I want to trade this known quantity for a set of relative unknowns. The main appeal of the vacant job for me lies in the higher salary and--admittedly, this for many would be a side issue--the fact that the department where the vacant job is located seems to recognize its employees far more than my current one does for jobs well done when it comes to such things as informal social events

By comparison, as many of you fellow copy editors know all too well, we are often viewed and treated as being in a specialty, "niche" realm, one where we're often neglected socially in our working lives. (Or, as one co-worker of mine put it, "It's just like high school. . . . We're the nerds.") This can be and is quite rankling.

If I do go for the vacant job, I would want to make it clear to my current boss that while I very much enjoy my job and its tasks and working with those with whom I work (okay, well, most of them, but I won't say that to him!), and that I appreciate him and all he's done for me and us, the now-open job offers me more of a chance to use my many skills for the benefit of our company and its customers.

Okay. All else equal, were you me, would you stay where you now are, or try for what might (now marginally rather than significantly) be better?

Let us all know. I need to make my decision by Monday, December 10.

Thanks for thinking about this one.

Of course, the second-last sentence of the fourth body paragraph of my initial posting in this thread should be, and hereby are, amended to read as follows:

You need to decide tomorrow? Great, we have a deadline.

If you're afraid of the vacant job's responsibilities, you're probably not right for it.

If you're afraid of your supervisor, who's a good person, you're probably not right for a job in which you'd have more responsibility and a more powerful supervisor.

If you want the challenge (and money) of the vacant position, then explain the situation to your supervisor and apply for it.

If you feel the company owes you something for how you and others were treated under previous ownership, you're probably in for an unpleasant surprise.

It's simple--in my distant, humble and meaningless opinion.

Wayne summed it up nicely, IMO. I agree.

Soooooooo ........ did you go for it??????

Dear Confused and All:

As you asked:

"Soooooooo...............did you go for it?"

Noooooooo.

At least for now, I'm "standing pat."

Ultimately, whatever incremental gain I might have made in pay did not seem to me to outweigh the risks of leaving a position where I've proven myself for years for another one with a whole new series of procedures, politics, and people's ways to learn. Besides, at least a third of the job, I was told, would have involved indexing--a task at which I'm quite good but, compared with what I now do, find quite tedious. While I am an accomplished full-service wordsmith and producer of publications, I must say that, even with all its sometime frustrations, I very much prefer copy editing!

Had the salary differential been higher and/or had I still been forced to deal with the miserable excuse I had had for a boss until earlier this year, there would have been no question. But neither of these were issues any more, both aspects of my job here having improved considerably.

If one knows and has experienced what our unstable and uncertain employment world can bring, it indeed can be better to stay with the known than take a risk on the unknown. This is particularly so when, as in my case, one's current situation has significantly improved for the better.