[Moving on and up]

Everyone can make a negative statement about any job or career. Everyone can also make a positive statement about any job or career. Overall happiness, IMO, is determined by the ratio as well as the scale of satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
In my 4 years at Enterprise, I learned a LOT. I used everything I learned in business school and I used and developed many additional skills. I turned into a true salesperson, mentor, student, friend, teacher, and a manager. I would never trade those 4 years for anything.
I miss the camaraderie, crazy customers, the few cool referral sources, the competition, work ethic and the incredible coworkers and friends I met.
Having said all that, now that I've left the company, I can honestly say to ALL those out there wondering if the grass is greener on the other side. It is! I'm making WAY more money than I was as a branch manager (I made more as an assistant than as a BRM-that's just not right no matter HOW you explain it). My benefits are far superior (although ERAC does offer pretty good benefits). My work week is barely over 40 hours. I don't have HR or upper management gestapo looking over my shoulder all the time. My stress level is down, my overall satisfaction with life is up. And I finally have time to myself.
When you're hungry, I mean just ACHING to get ahead, you'll put in 60 hours per week for years, no questions asked. But you forget about having a personal life. When you get it back, you'll remember how important it is to your happiness. I now leave my house at 8am and am home generally by 5:30. Not a day goes by that I don't thank ERAC for making me realize how wonderful that is. I have about 6 energized hours (instead of an exhausted 2) to spend with my friends, and loved ones each night before I go to bed and get a full 8 hours of sleep. My weekends are MINE! And I can finally wear a nice suit (with shirts of various colors) and not have to worry about ruining it washing a car in 93 degree heat, sweating like crazy and sucking my tie up in the vacuum and shredding it!
Oh, it's also great to be able to drop $250 on a lunch for a referral source/customer (or $1500 on dinner), throw it on the company AMEX, sit back for 2 hours and build REAL rapport, sell, and enjoy myself and not have to worry about my boss freaking out. I don't have to scrutinize every penny spent and it's a great feeling.
I do have to thank BJ out in area 4 for finally making me SO mad and being SO unreasonable (and cussing at me and threatening me with my job over something I wasn't aware of, and shouldn't have been unless he told me, which he didn't) that I started looking for other career options. If it weren't for him going WAAAAY overboard, I'd still be making crap money, stressed out, working more hours than anyone should ever work month after month, year after year, driving insane distances to work, and I'd still be under the mirage-like impression that if you put up phenomenal numbers over the course of your career, there would be an AM position waiting for you w/ a six figure salary. No one bled green like I did. I was hyped, passionate, skilled, dedicated, and motivated to make ERAC the best company on earth. He ruined that. I can honestly say he does not deserve his job. I do not wish or hope for him to lose it because I wouldn't wish that on anyone, I just hope that he eventually realizes this fact and changes into someone better.
I'm also thankful for the fact that after walking into a timebomb branch, that I turned it around just before I left and had the best month ever! I left on a high note. My team and I took this branch from a low of 110 cars up to a high of 196 with only four people and no car care, OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! We had almost an $1100/car IPC w/ about an $800/car breakeven (partly thanks to not having a staff). This branch was running on autopilot when I left and continued to do well after I was gone. It wasn't perfect, but it was 10x better than it was just a few months prior. How's THAT for "making it happen"? I KNOW I was a great employee who could be depended on to kick butt daily, as is evidenced by BJ's offer to let me work out 2 weeks (no thanks, needed a vacation finally).
Oh, my favorite nightmare memory would be calling BJ on a Friday night as I'm leaving at 96% saying I'd need 20+ cars FIRST THING Monday morning, NO later than 8am and then 8 cars would come rolling up as the last customer left my office at noon after waiting for 2 hours! "Make it happen" works in Orlando, NOT out in Brevard! The great thing about this scenario is that it happened week after week after week... And no one seemed to catch on other than me and my staff??? Despite my pleading...
Anyway, just to reiterate. I could say a lot of negative things about ERAC, but I could just as easily say infinitely more positive things. Other than my last manager, I've never worked w/ anyone I didn't love to death, or could at least get along with. The "idea" of ERAC and their culture is a great one, they just need to work on the execution, as well as the appreciation of their employees both verbally and financially. MT's should make at least $35K/year, assistants should start at $43K, BRM at $55K. I also think there should be a $500 monthly incentive for hitting sales goals (so you can raise your compensation by $6K/yr - which if I remember correctly is about what it costs to hire and train a new employee... things that make you go hmmmm) to get your employees to buy in to the "sales culture" the company says it has. Working over 50 hours/wk should be banned too, or compensated richly. It's not healthy to work that many hours, especially for years on end, and it's not good for morale! But money DOES talk.
ERAC, remember, if you don't follow through on that six figure promise AND treat your employees right, another company will and I'm evidence of that.
JB