James - thanks for your thoughtful note. I am so glad this experience (as crappy as it was) redirected you to take a risk and do something else. In one of my last jobs, I was pressured to start a week before I was ready and the day I got there, agreeing to start a week earlier only because I did not want to start off on the wrong foot with my new manager, she left for two weeks holiday and I had absolutely nothing to do!