Let’s recap the last few months of my life and why I basically have zero time~
May: Lease at current apartment is ending soon (July 15th) - want to move to the DFW area, but want to procure job position before I do. Express interest of transferring stores to continue working for same company. Find out no stores in the DFW area are hiring/need a store manager, so I would basically have to take a pay cut and work as a regular associate or find other work. I start applying.
Late May/ Early June: Receive news that the company is planning on opening a new store in the DFW area (perfect!) and will look into transferring me as store manager at current pay rate. Get approval to do so from upper management. Store opening is scheduled for late June, I have two weeks to pack all my shit and move.
Mid-June: Dad rents a Uhaul, drives down, and moves me up to DFW. I’m staying with my parents for a bit till I stabilize my finances and get settled in my new workplace. Go car-shopping that weekend, buy a car (my first one!), and find out the headache that are car loans, insurance, and paperwork. (Also discover that my parents have 3mbps internet...so no streaming for me :(
Late-June: New store is set up, crew hired, and logistics figured out all in one week before the grand opening. Store opens! Quickly discover the stress and overtime it takes to open a new store and get it running smoothly - definitely kept me busy.
Early-July: New crew seems to be okay, have to let one guy go because he got a new job and the schedule conflicted with his schedule here. Hire one more person. That person quits a couple weeks later because of personal reasons the night before his shift. Receive news that an Area Manager position will be opening up soon, I apply.
Mid/Late-July: I’m told that yes, they would like me to be an Area Manager! They are working out the details, but they want to move forward soon. I hire a replacement for the guy we let go. I start interviewing for my replacement. I find the perfect candidate! She’s organized, experienced, and super nice.
August: One of the guys puts in his two weeks - he got another job. He ends up quitting after the first week. Hire two new people to finally have a full crew (5 people). I finally start to think that maybe, just MAYBE things will start to calm down and get into a groove...how wrong I was. My new position as Area Manager starts - I’m salary now. I promote and start training the girl I hired for store manager. One guy’s wife becomes pregnant, he gets a better job - puts in two weeks. Doesn’t show up for his shift, SM and I attempt to contact him. Ignored. I go for his emergency contact - his wife. She answers, I am informed that yes, she is with him. They are at a doctor’s appointment. Apparently calling his emergency contact (whose purpose is for us to contact should he be unreachable) pissed him off enough that he blamed me for him not finishing his two weeks. Okay. He was fired anyway - you missed the high road, buddy. I start interviewing for a replacement. One of the guys who has worked there since the store opened is visibly upset over not getting the store manager position (both were interviewed for the job), but I knew he was not the right candidate to fill the position. Since then, he has had an attitude with me and the new SM, gotten several complaints from customers and coworkers about inappropriate conversations at work, and becomes very defensive, upset, and blame-shifts when I approach him about it and instruct him to change his behavior. Not good. Oh, I also found an apartment, signed a lease, and moved in all in one week...
Early/Mid-September: Continued problems with employee has resulted in the decision to fire him. I hire two people (one to fill spot of no call-no show employee, one to fill spot of employee I am about to fire). Employee shows up to his shift. I inform him that his behavior has resulted in him not working for the company anymore and collect his keys. Get called “chicken shit” for waiting to talk to him in person instead of just telling him over the phone (?) - yeah, I don’t know either, but whatever. He also gave me a nice little nickname - Cuntstina. How nice. Anyway, that weekend is LARP. I spend the entire week training the new people and trying to get things squared away so I can enjoy my weekend (oh, I’m also supposed to be leaving for Seattle on the 16th and have to take care of all this before I leave...joy). New people seem to be doing well (awesome!), I think again that maybe FINALLY I’ve found a good crew...and then, the Sunday of LARP, I get a text from one of the employees that he will be quitting after that day because his living situation is dangerous and his parents have demanded that he fly home to live with them. They already got his plane ticket. He’s leaving. ...siiiiigggghhhhh. Okay, it’s fine, it’s fine. I can do this. I’m leaving for Seattle in 4 days. I can hire someone new, get them trained, and entrust the store to my SM (who is awesome and makes me life better), an associate who is new, but not BRAND new, and three newbies, right? RIGHT? Just breathe. Luckily, my District Manager was amazing through all this and assured me that as long as I could get someone hired before I left, then he would make sure the store was fine while I was away ;__; I hire a guy Monday, get his paperwork done and do a day of training on Tuesday, leave Wednesday.
September 16th-now: I went to Seattle, had an amazing time with my significant other, saw friends, made new friends, had a couple emotional speed bumps, and left Seattle with a heavy heart and insatiable desire to return more permanently some day. Now, I’m back at work with new motivation to get my shit together.
My life has been hectic, it’s kept me from focusing on more creative endeavors and actually doing the hobbies (cosplaying and modeling) that y’all are here for. The reason I moved to DFW in the first place. I finally have good internet, so I can start streaming again, at least. My hiatuses from Tumblr seem to get longer with each one and I am truly sorry. I moved to DFW to have better access to the cosplay and modeling scene. Once this shit storm of my life calms down, I can actually provide content. Please bear with me ;__;
