Relocation

I moved from the Northeast back to the Midwest and I wonder how long it will take to recover. I actually cried when I left my old store. Of course the tears on some of my co-workers faces made my own tears hard to suppress.

You don't just work with people for five years and not form a tight relationship, so it was a pretty emotional break for me.

The "relocation" or transfer was not as easy as I hoped. My company gave me 90 days to show up to a new store after I had my store manager send out letters to the stores of my choice. I figured "Great! Vacation time." I quickly discovered that all stores are not the same, especially when you travel across six states. My store manager gave me the profit margins on three of my choice locations. I chose the store with a similar store layout and adequate profit margin to afford me.

Once I felt well rested, or bored to death, I called the store. My biggest problem was finding someone who knew what they were talking about. That took two weeks. Once I finally talked to the proper person, I received an interview. Can you believe that a six year veteran was offered minimum wage and a temp job?

I turned that store down and promptly called the small store near my home. I did an interview the next day and started work the next week. The moral of the story here is to never underestimate the easiest solutions. I thought a big store like my old store would meet my needs, but turns out a smaller store works out just fine.

Next post, "Job Security" talks about the importance of flexibility.