An Update - In Stages

Hey, all!  I'm going to work on updating you, but it will come in stages so please be patient with me!  Life, since mid-June, has been crazy and, since August 5th, downright up-to-your-neck-in-it kinda hellish.

That said, here is the first installment written . . . I dunno, an age ago! 

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It's shocking, I know, to find me here - actually writing a post.  I can't tell you how often blog entries are flitting through my mind.  Well, sure I can:  almost daily!  But, it's a matter of time - or priorities.  And this falls a bit further down the list than most things.

There's a good bit of news, though!  A "good bit" as in both quantity AND quality!  

If we go back to the first part of June, things were ramping up at my retail job for the busy, busy summer months.  I was getting my departments (housewares, books, and the watch case) fully stocked, and things were looking good as we dreaded anticipated the onslaught of tourists that keeps this little community rockin'.  I work with a terrific bunch of people, but the management of the store was steadily declining . . . including the treatment of us, the wonderful staff, who keep the place functioning as the destination that it is.  Truly, it is extremely uncommon for someone to walk out of the store empty-handed.  I would say that upwards of 95% (no exaggeration) of everyone who walks in to the store, purchases something.  An unusual statistic, but one that speaks to the history of the store (begun in 1941) and the items we've stocked.  

Unfortunately, particularly in the last year or so, we WOULD notice customers leaving empty-handed, and this was in direct relation to some changes the management has been making.  Changes that were disappointing not only the paying customers but also us, the employees.

So, in short, even though I absolutely love the heritage of the place as well as 80% of the people I work with, I was always applying for other opportunities (i.e. jobs) in the county when they presented themselves.  I had a promising and slightly nerve-wracking set of interviews for a position with the local folk school.  "Promising" because I was one of 5 final applicants out of a field of about 26.  So, I was feeling pretty confident because I have a lot of connections there, including having taught a course there before.  However, the first thing I was told in the final interview after the "congratulations on being one of the 5 finalists" was "every single one of you is a friend or family member" to the school.  D'oh!!!  And dammit to hellandback!

I think I flubbed the final interview, too, because I was lulled into the "friend" part of the equation and didn't sell myself as I would have / SHOULD have if I didn't know these people already.  I was too honest, saying "I don't like people - you know that!" to the executive director.  Dummy.  Instead, I should have said something about what I do so well and leave off the part that I hate it:  "I'm very good with customers and tourists and have a way of making them feel that I truly care about assisting them."  Again:  dummy. 

So, whatever, I didn't get that gig.   

I also applied for a front-desk position with the Forest Service, but - it being a government thing - that takes MONTHS before any action actually happens . . . and I'm STILL on the waiting list of applicants for that job, even tho I'm no longer interested in it.

Okay, where was I?  I wrote the above yesterday during a quiet period at work (that's a hint - although, I admit, an extremely broad one!).

Now you have a little of the back-story to what transpired mid-June.  I was at work one day when a dear friend (Bundle of Joy's daddy) came in and said that he needed to speak to me - but away from Big Ears.  I took him down a quiet aisle, and he laid it out:  his construction business getting busier every year - and his wife/mother to their three children, two of them twins, not having the time - he needed a secretary.  A pretty-much full-time secretary!  And would I mind a little baby-watching from time to time?  Oh, and the position would pay more than I was currently making.  And I could have as much coffee as I could drink.  WHILE I work!  (We're not allowed any beverages "on the floor" at work.)

Hmmm, let me think . . . um, YES?!  (Well, truth be told, I did have to think about it for a little while - fewer than 24 hours, if memory serves.)  Because, it's not a full-time position year-round due to the fact that construction and dirt work comes to nearly a screeching halt in this here neck of the woods in the wintertime - for obvious reasons.  So, I'd have to be frugal and a good budgeter of my monies to stretch the additional summertime / construction season pay through each winter.  But, I'm going to add to my income by REALLY focusing on my Chicken Mama Designs (the photography) each winter.  I'm 43 now, and I figure that if I make a REAL attempt at it . . . and don't succeed (due to my own laziness or lack of stick-to-it-iveness), I may as well throw in the towel on that particular dream of mine.  In other words, either "---- or get off the pot", as they say!

Anyway, after presenting me with this new job opportunity while I was at work, I grinned at my new benefactor and asked, "I suppose it would be awkward if I hugged and kissed you right here?"  ;)

So, I put in my notice at work on June 18th.  July 2nd - RIGHT before the big 4th of July weekend, YIKES! - would be my last day!  I felt bad for my co-workers that I was leaving them "in the lurch" at such a crucial time:  right at the very beginning of our busiest season.  But, when opportunity comes knocking . . . !  And, down to the last one of them, they all knew this new gig was the ideal fit for me.  When I told my closest friend at work, she teared up on me, damn her!  Others were "mad" at me - but, you know, in that "we love you, you CAN'T leave us!" kind of way.  So, the morning after my last day of 2.5 years of HEAVY retail & tourists, I began here on July 3rd.

The first time I went into the store to shop as a regular customer felt sooooo strange!!!  It was impossible to take something off a shelf without "fronting" the item behind it.  ;)   

Annnnnnnd, sorry to leave you hanging, but that's it for now . . . !  More to come as soon as I have the energy.  :)