Sounds to me you really want to go for the job. I can sense your excitement - I would have a problem as the job longshoreman reminds me of a movie - men with heavy slickers down to their ankles, thick fog, waves beating against the boat, icebergs. Good luck. (smile)

We have some control over how incapacitated we choose to be. I believe in something like the power of positive thinking or mind over matter or where there's a will there's a way.

Zig, big daddy here. Hoe does your current job compare to that of a longshoreman, who is always outside in varying weather conditions, etc. You have to remember, a job is more than just money. One more thing: In your present job, is there a danger of you falling into the water in full winter gear? The reason I ask is that about 35 years ago I was a firefighter. One day we got a call to a local port on the Delaware River. A longshoreman, in full cold weather gear had fallen into the bone chilling water between the ship and dock. Eyewitnesses told us he went under like a rock and never resurfaced. We found his body in about fifteen minutes. A gruesome sight it was.
it wasn't my first drowning call, nor my last.

Just something for you to think about son. big daddy

Zig, Like many others I see the excitement in your words, If I were in a similar situation I would go for it. Take care, Bill --- good luck to you no matter how you decide.

All good points there big daddy. I talked with my cuz about what kind of work would be done and he mentioned walking the log booms requiring a special ticket. Most of it is clamping down the containers. Driving on site requires another ticket, vehicles they for some reason call "bomb carts" Lol

I can do it by taking a leave of absence from the place I'm at and not disturb my full time position and 14,000hrs seniority there before seeing how it works out. There are good things about the job I'm at now which is working in the hospital system, I'm in the warehouse which supplies all the hospitals in the entire province, everything from the floor wax to the scalpels. We get 12 paid sick days per year, I've got 20 paid vacation days, 12 paid special leave days for things like taking care of burst pipes in winter, taking a family member to the hospital, if you're burglarised and need a day to straighten stuff out. It's also union and has long term disability if my health goes south on me. I work all the stats at double time plus a day in lieu (a future day off in replacement of the stat) of my choosing. So it's also a good job in it's own way too, it's just that the pay is modest at $20/hour. I got into it when I had to give up my trade (industrial insulation) because mom had got sick and I couldn't afford to be out of town all the time, like the 8 or 9 months a year in every god forsaken corner of the province that had a pulp mill, gas plant or anything running a high temp boiler or extreme low temp thermal work. After 20 plus years I was sick of it anyways, good money but always someplace other than where you'd want to be.
So, I got to think long and hard on this. It would sure be nice to make money comparable to my old job and still be in town but the job I'm at now has it's perks and security too.

maybe you should do the ol' fold a paper in half & write the "pro's & con's" of the job you have & the job you are presently have...then go with the one with the most "pro's"
or you could flip a coin, heads stay with job, tails go longshoreman.
instant gratification never worked well for me in life.
you're young & have the rest of your life so you can always start over at something else if this doesn't work out for you.
good luck in what ever you chose :)