Well, it's good to know you have a fallback position if needed, and time to make that decision.

I did a two year gig as the Service Manager of a medium sized Equipment Sales and Rental dealer. We had enough exotic equipment in the rental line to keep me interested and our sales was OK. We didn't have Cat as our big power ticket, so couldn't ever be the big dog in the area.

But I had absolutely first rate mechanics and a good support staff, so our shop looked like a Cat shop at times. Plus I had a personal pipeline to Cat parts (a cousin) so we did well as a department.

My major malfunction was misreading the office politics and generally not giving a guzbuck about them. That and that they expected me to keep my hands clean. They infact told me to leave my tool box at home, but I convinced them to let me bring it in for insurance reasons. My homeowners agent wanted a separate rider on my box being at home. The company had a blanket policy so it took nothing from them. It sat ignored in my office for the two years. Or at least that is the official line. :)

Early on we had the single biggest parts order I've ever seen for a piece of rental equipment that the customer was on the hook for. A single part was over 30k and the order was just over 100k. I oversaw that repair with great care and dirty hands.

The Service Manager position there was a hard narrow road. Ownership wanted a steady and growing profit line. Management wanted to 'suck up' to their best customers. Employees wanted more money (actually, it was a union shop and the mechs were pretty satisfied until they had to do serious work in a freezing puddle).

I have to tell you I didn't enjoy the two years. I loved the guys and the customers but the rest ate at my soul. I was a grinning goon when I got my pink slip there.

I'm thinking something good is coming. More time at home, more challenges and more money.