Strange Days...

Ah.The past few weeks (actually past month) has been a strange time. I can't say for sure if it has been good or bad... just strange. I don't feel like my normal self. I feel sort of misguided in a way. Only time will tell if something good will come from the current chaos.

I found out a few weeks ago that the store that I'm currently working at will be closing, and therefore, I will lose my job. I lose my vacation time and my health benefits, which is going to suck... but I guess I'll have to manage. I'm a little angry about it, which I'm sure many could empathize with. I'm not angry that I'm losing my job or losing the benefits and all that jazz... I'm angry because it had nothing to do with the economy. The lease ran up, and the mall owner raised the rent because he's being greedy. I've heard rumors that he wants to demolish the whole strip plaza that is currently there and rebuild a new, better mall. At least if it was due to the economy, I could understand better and probably be less angry...

Not only am I upset with the mall owner, but I'm perturbed about why Corporate decided against just relocating to a different (cheaper) location. There are plenty of open store fronts elsewhere, and they would probably get more traffic through the doors. That would in turn produce more sales and more customers. Corporate said that our location was too close to a neighboring store. The problem with saything that is the fact that the neighboring store is in the middle of a different market. It's located in a richer area, where people are more willing to drop a shit ton of money. Corporate believes that our customers are willing and able to drive the extended distance to visit this store. I can guarentee that customers will not do so. They have told me that they will never go there, and have also given me a great deal of grief when I had previously refered them to the neighboring store. Customers that are driving from Jefferson (about 1.5 hours away) are just simply not going to drive an extra half hour to buy merchandise, they just simply won't go. They will find their merchandise elsewhere. I don't think corporate relizes how much business they are going to lose by closing this location completely. Maybe they know what they are doing though. I can only hope because I really do like the merchandise we sold (even though sometimes I didn't always agree with the quality...). Anyway, I shall digress.

Another thing I will miss are the friends I've made since working there. Recently I've come to the conclusion that they may not really be my friends. They've been saying some pretty hurtful things to me. They say that it's something that I need to hear, I say that its hurtful and is really unnecissary. I realize that they may be stressed out with the fact of their unknown future fate, but we're all in the same boat. We are all freaking out because we simply don't know what our future holds. We all have no idea if we will be able to pay our bills. We all have to deal with idiotic customers that are oblivious to our feelings and our welfare. That is the joy of working in retail. YOU have to deal with assholes for a living. You get paid shit and you get treated like shit. The perk of this is, that due to having to deal with all that stress, the turnover rate is high... which means that you'll probably be able to find a job pretty quickly with the amount of experience that we all have. I'm confident that we will all be ok in the long run. It's just a temporary set back.

So on top of that stress, I'm taking 6 classes (which I've listed in my previous blog), and I recently bought a new car. It's the coolest car ever. 2001 Volkswagon Jetta. I've always wanted a Jetta since before I could drive. haha. It's been one of my dream cars for awhile. And now I have one! I'm so lucky! I'm learning to drive it because it's a stick shift, and I've never driven a stick. haha. It's an interesting journey. I'm not as scared of traffic as I was when I first started. I can actually go the speed limit! I've been doing pretty well at not stalling out at lights or burning out at stop signs! Yay for me! I think I shall name her Lucy. haha. Everytime I get in the car, 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' is one of the first few songs that she plays (even on the Ipod).

Mike and Irene also temporarily moved in with us until they can find a house. It's nice to have the extra company; people to laugh with and laugh about random things. I've also been enjoying Irene's cooking. She makes me a special plate to eat when I get home. I will miss that when they leave. It'd be cool if we found like a two story house where we'd all live. haha. It would be fun! I'm sure the boys may not like the idea, since they've mostly lived with each other their whole life. I can respect that, but still. It'd be cool. haha. I just hope that when they do find their new home, that we will see each other as often. It's pleasant.