Always choose Cake.
Especially Cheesecake or Beefcake.
I'm not trying to discourage you, but do weigh the bird in the hand for its proper worth.
Oh, Hec, believe me, those are all the exact things I've been telling myself for three years. It's hard to find a job and start over in a company when you're over 40; the job market is crap; it's very unlikely I could find another job with all the positive things this one offers. But I'm feeling like I should at least try, at least go look and see what I could find. If I can't get anything better, well, no loss; this is still a pretty good deal. But maybe I can. Maybe I could find something that didn't have ALL the same benefits as this one, but maybe I'd be willing to lose the telecommuting or take a $10k paycut for a job that didn't leave me exhausted and demoralized every day. The bird in the hand is getting really heavy, and the fucker is starting to peck at me.
Zen, maybe you should do an assessment of your job. Write down everything that you do, and how long it takes you to do it, maybe do this for about a week. Send it to your boss so that she gets some idea of what's going on.
Believe me, she knows. She just can't admit it out loud because she has to toe the party line. She almost did today, though - she said she was overwhelmed, really far behind, and losing track of things because she was so busy. I could do an assessment of everything I do and how long it takes me, but I don't have the time to spare to write it down... and if I gave it to my boss's boss, she'd just throw it away and tell me to suck it up or find another job. (I know, because this has already happened.)
Also, if she is going to tell you get someone else to do something, then she needs to define your supervisory authority, and whether you can ask someone or you can tell them to do what you need done.
heeheehee "Define"? Trying to get my boss to define anything is like nailing jello to a wall. This is of course why I hadn't asked the person in question to do it already. Boss will say one thing one day and the opposite the next. Literally. "Next time tell S. to do X for you!" ... "Why did you tell S. to do X? You have to go through me if you want her to do something!" Here are my wrists, please slit them.
Leo the Cat just stepped between me and the keyboard, stared intently into my eyes, then laid down on my chest, tucked his head under my chin, and started purring loudly. And there he stayed, for like ten minutes. I think he is right. I'm gonna go take a nap.