Life is a series of choices...DUN DUN DUN!!

I apologize for the long wait, but I hope you enjoy.
So I have recently decided that my time with my previous job (Smokey Bones BBQ) should come to an end. Again this was not an easy choice seeing that I have spent the past 2.5 years with them and 3.5 years with Darden. Seniority, benefits, friends, and a fairly well known, and deserved reputation within the organization as a hard worker, smart, energetic, blah, blah,blah B.S. that they have no problem handing out to any wanna-believer. Don't get me wrong, I did a damn fine job, and I worked hard to get there, but its a crying shame when hard work, and what you want to achieve do not intersect.
Case and point #1: Before I get to ranting, understand that I have delayed this story for a very long time, for out of respect, professionalism, worry about my own rep, or a combination of all three I cant be sure, be let it be known that I have since then thrown those thoughts to the wind. AHEM......
So I was the man (so I thought) my first GM groomed me to strive to be the best, work hard, and I could achieve anything. So I listened. I sacrificed my personal time to do silly things like drive to Greensboro to pick up product, even though it wasn't my fault we ran out; I would accept being sent to neighbor restaurants like Fayettville, Greensboro to assist cleaning up a mess that was created either by circumstance or the idiocrity of previous hires by my previous company. (At this point I must ask that you see the post by my brother Dhazy @ http://innocuousramblings.blogspot.com for he can shed some light of this comment.) all to prove that I am a worthy employee, and worth the time one would spend on me. I even gained a nickname from co-workers for my high energy, yet constructive ways: QCR (Queen City Rob) because I work in Charlotte, and it is known as the Queen City. That was for individuals who may read this and not know me or where I live/work. One day I caught my GM changing Daydots (a program that restaurants use to ensure the proper rotation, usage and quality of products prepared and served at their establishment). Well in Darden, you change a daydot, you will be terminated(or so I thought). So I attempted to reason with Him and he rebuked all comments made by me. So I approached my management team with the situation, and after careful discussion and much debate, we decided to notify our Director of the situation. Doing so, would definitely place me at odds with my GM, possibly have some ramifications unseen, and all in all make me feel bad. So long story short, he was not fired, even though the proof was irrefutable, and I put my name and rep on the line, and lost a good friend in the process, I did it because it was right. My wife thought that I should have come down off my morals, but hey, my momma raised me right. So it comes down to this: Did I do the right thing?
1) I did not become the GM of the restaurant
2) I did not get a raise.
3) I never regained my GM as a friend
4) I eventually left because the woman who became GM is a dolt!(more later)
So did I do the right thing. YES, because I made a choice that was the right thing. The goal was not one based on personal gain but for the good of the restaurant. The guests that dined their deserved fresh food, the employees deserved honest managers, and my soul deserved to not be haunted if I had decided to look the other way.
Case and Point #2: So my first GM left and seeing that I have not been through the LADDR program with Darden I was not qualified to try for the position, so the Northern scourge that came from Ft. Wayne, IN was given the coveted title of GM. She did not have the knowledge of the restaurant, or background, desired. She did not know how to lead, nor how to motivate, nor how to inspire one to succeed. She was a leaner. (LEANER: one who relies on one or more individuals to ensure that the job is done by 1 - giving no thoughts or ideas, but yelling and pointing out the failures of everyone else, 2- having no original thought 3- confusing delegation with laziness at every turn 4- and taking all credit for anything that is accomplished my the rest of the managers) And she leaned on me till I felt as if I was the GM without the pay, benefits ect... The managers would call me before they called her. She would call me before she called the Director so she knew what she was talking about. She would delegate really important tasks to me because she did not have the brain power to accomplish the task. So with all this, I bet you are wondering why I left. Right? I mean I had a nickname, shouldn't I have been content with that?
I left because to stay there would mean that I would never become a GM for my accomplishments but for constantly doing the job all along without pay, until she retired or quit. She did not need to quit or retire because I was making her job too easy. I did everything! So the company was put up for sale, and were not going to open any anytime soon, so why should I stay? Driving 45 mins + a day, 5 days a week may sound good to you, but it starts to suck after 2.5 years. I made the choice that I should have made a whole lot sooner. I chose my family. Family? I spent more time doing things for Smokey Bones than I did my family. Here's the math: 5 days a week X 10 hours a day = 50. Now add in that I never worked only 10 hours a day but more like 10.5 to 11 and the number is more like 54ish. (You must respect the ish factor) now add the hour and 15 mins I use to ensure that I make it to work on time so: 1.25 X 5 = 6 hours. I am up to 60 hours. Now add the drive home. Again, depending on when I leave, it could be anywhere from 45min to 1.5 hours before I get home. So lets just keep it at 1.25 hours. The total is now up to 66 hours. The average person who gets up at 8am goes to sleep at 12am allowing 8 hrs of sleep. a 15-20 min commute, 9-5 job means 8 hours a day and plenty of time to "live" after they get off. My job was get up a 8am (4 year old and all) start to get ready at 12:45 to leave by 1:45 to get to work by 3pm. Close at 10pm, out by 11:30, home by 12:30-12:45, in bed by 1:30-2am, up again at 8. So roughly out of a typical 40 work week, I already work 54, not so bad but by adding my drive time, I add another 12 a week in just driving. That's an increase of 25% just to get to work. Sucks right, so I will spare you when I am a mid, in at 10am and done at 10pm. Get home and everybody is asleep when I leave and when I get home. Did I make the right choice? Yep!
So now, I have finished my training, and are about to embark on the next chapter of my professional career. A restaurant 3 min from where I live. Talk about the good points, put a list on a wall and throw a dart, you'll hit one. I am closer, I am making about the same amount of money, and I get to spend more time with my family. All +'s.
Choices are never easy, and many times they can not be the right ones, but its the people who put themselves out there and try, will ultimately learn, right or wrong, that the choices they choose will lead them down the path that they desire. Have I reached that point in my journey? Have I learned all I need to? I hope not, because then most of the fun will be over. Controlled chaos can be a good thing. No one can know for certainty that the path they have chosen will lead to the proper goal, until one has tried.
I have left a job, where idiots were abound, laziness was often times produced as much as baked beans were prepped, and uncertainty was around every corner. My new job, will most certainly have some of the very same problems, but my choice to leave one headache behind for a closer one, will always strike me as the right one.