You work for a small business in a clubby, insular industry where revenues can rise and fall from year-to-year like the tides.
You are not trained for much else than what you're doing.
Business has been steady, for the most part, for the past decade or so, if not the boom years you enjoyed five or more years past.
Your boss is fair-minded and looks for opportunities for you to earn some extra money; you've known him since you were kids. There's trust.
But last year was kind of tough. Your boss had some health issues and revenues fell through the floor, as did your income. You've got a young family and you're nervous about the future.
Your boss hasn't openly talked about retirement, but the industry you're in is so competitive that it can be forced upon you in a matter of years.
Meanwhile your track record as a steady, reliable, good humoured employee has preceeded you. You're popular in the industry and have proven that when things get tense you don't lose your cool and in fact can help those around you keep cool, a vital asset in a high-pressure business.
Another employer in your industry is looking for someone with exactly your skill set and experience. He hasn't had the same success your current employer has, but he's 12 years younger and presumably just rounding into his prime.
You helped him out on a few side jobs when your regular employer was taking some time off and now the new guy is making an offer: He wants you to come work for him full-time.
Would you leave you friend and a loyal employer for an extra $7,000 a year?
That is basically the scenario that explains Brennan Little's decision to leave Mike Weir and begin caddying for Sean O'Hair next season.
From what I can gather it really is a business decision, as described it the other day; there's no word that there was any other issues.
Was it the right move for Little?
It's a bet on Mike Weir's future earning potential as compared to O'Hair's.
Interestingly, even though it seems like ages since Weir, 40, had a 'big' year, and O'Hair is one of golf's bright young (he's 28) stars, working for Weir has been a pretty good deal for Little, even recently, apart from 2010.
On Tour Weir is known for being "good" with his caddie. The standard pay structure is between $1000-1500 a week and 10 per cent of the purse in wins, seven per-cent for top-10s and five per-cent for anything else. This doesn't always apply, there are stories of some top players paying their caddie a flat rate of $1500 - keep in mind caddie's have to pay their own expenses - and that's all, while Steve Williams, Tiger Woods' caddie, is said to be the richest athlete in New Zealand, with earnings well over $1-million in Tiger's big years.
A back-of-the envelope calculation of Little's prize earnings via Weir for the past five years totals about $650,000, or $135,000. Meanwhile - presuming the same percentages - O'Hair would have paid his caddies about $142,000.
Moreover the discrepancy is even smaller considering that nearly all of that difference was this past season, when injuries and inconsistent player limited Weir to $559,000 in earnings, compared with O'Hair's $1.85-million.
When you consider the visibility Little gained by being attached to one of Canada's most famous athletes - how many caddies co-star in commercials together? - and the additional off-course income he likely derived and I'd suggest that Little was being sincere when he said it was a difficult decision; and given that betting against Weir's ability to carve out a nice living on the PGA Tour has always been the wrong bet to make it's not clear that Little will automatically be better off leaving his old job for his new one.