Monday, May 7, 2012

Here we go, after a long hiatus

Howdy! As mentioned in the previous post (the one that I posted nearly a year ago...), I'm not sure who reads this. Furthermore, I don't even know who still writes on Blogger. For me, I've been trying to keep it cool and quiet as well as on a low-key basis. There's been a lot of changes (positive and negative) that have happened since my last post. Perhaps the biggest shocker of them all was when I left SnS. For the longest time, I haven't 'advertised' the fact that I don't work there anymore, just because the way I left was a bit humiliating. I have been telling select people I quit, but truth be told I left on a bad note. I'm not going to reveal on here why I was terminated. But I will say it would be one of the worst ways that someone who has been with the company for 13 years would ever get fired. It's been almost 9 months now, but I remember it as if it were yesterday. My last day was on 8/20/2011. SnS brought a lot up in me, as it helped me build relationships with the workforce, as well as with people. I've had so many memories of that place, and I'll be straightforward honest: I miss it a whole lot. Don't get me wrong; there's a lot of things I won't miss about my first job. I don't miss mopping floors, dealing with drunks and spoiled rotten SIUE kids, drive times competitions among many things. But I miss the people (although some don't work there no more), and just being part of the team. What I miss the most was being the go-to guy among people. After all, I was the veteran, I was there the longest, and I enjoyed being the longevity guy. But it all had to come to an end. The last few years I worked there I was doing mostly overnight shifts. Some may think that it led to my eventual demise. Maybe so, but it kept me busy. On the other hand, it sucked a whole lot of life out of me. Which leads me to the next point.... Right after I was given the ax by the manager, I immediately started applying to places. Mostly places where I knew people who worked there. Target was the first place I walked into and filled out a long questionaire and application. At first I thought it was a waste of time since I thought I wasn't going to be looked at, but I gave it a shot anyway. I also applied to a few restaurants as well. Two days later, I did something what I never thought I would do. I applied for unemployment benefits. Yep, here I thought I sunk to a new low. I was eventually denied those benefits for different reasons. The next day (on Tuesday), I received a call from Target asking for an interview. I'm sure they were impressed with my openness and availability. So I aced the interviews and got drug-tested and I was on. I have been with Target since (for almost 9 months) and its going great. Do I like working for Target? Absolutely. I tell people these days that I'm proud to be a team member there and I'm very loyal. Of course, I was that way with SnS for a long time, up until the company was bought out by an Iranian, and I felt he took the company into the wrong direction. In fact, I still do. And believe me, I'm still very bitter about it. This month marks the 50th anniversary/birthday of Target. We've been doing a lot of things to celebrate the occasion. They've been doing a lot to get team members involved in many things. I haven't been there for a year and I feel like I've worked there longer. I remember when SnS celebrated their 75th anniversary about 2 or 3 years ago. And what did people do to celebrate? Absolutely nothing. The company did not do their part to motivate people. If you would've asked me a year ago (or even 5 yrs ago) if I would be working retail, I would have said NO. Many people believe retail is boring. Not so. Yes it does at times but I stay busy either way. Its certainly a lot stressful than SnS. You'd be saying the same thing if you knew what I have been through. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that I think I could have started at Target a lot earlier. I'm glad I held on to SnS until my time was taken away from me there. But again, I'm still attached to it. On a personal note, it bothers me a lot that a lot of people that rubbed me the wrong way still work there. The boss that fired me is long-gone, and there's a new boss there. A lot of people have told me I've become more of a calm and cool person since I left that place. When I turned 30 a month later (September), I sat down and thought about so much that I missed while living my 20s. From that day forward, I've been living life. Of course, I still work long shifts at Target. But I still make time for what comes and goes. I'll talk more about it in a future blog. As for now, ciao!