Y'know how sometimes life turns in a weird direction? Yeah, that kinda just happened to me.

My store's in chaos at the moment. The beer lead (my direct boss) is moving to center store inventory, the former center store inventory person is moving to floral, several people got fired in the last few weeks for apparently stealing literally hundreds of dollars from the customer service desk registers, it's a fucking mess. That alone would make me iffy about sticking around at this store, but the store manager, a six-foot-something balding walking talking overcompensator (the type to rib workers and tell people to have a laugh about it), is looking to push his weight around, and I'm not a fan of it.

So let me back up a bit. The former store managers got fired around the time I started for trying to punch out a shoplifter. They were more interested in eating than they were in enforcing rules, so a lot of the old-timers got used to doing whatever they felt like, effectively. Given the pay and given that the store hadn't imploded from the hands-off approach, can you blame them? The current manager started last May, and he's got this grand plan to overhaul everything. So, he's cleaning house and moving people around.

Through a transition like this, I might be willing to stick by that kinda manager, but I've also ended up on his shitlist for various nebulous customer complaints he apparently gets about me. Keep in mind, I work a register where I have to tell people no. I have to tell people no when they want to purchase alcohol over a certain volume. I have to tell people no when they don't have valid ID, regardless of their age.

I am legally required to do this; I literally have a PLCB certification I paid for saying I would do these things to be able to work this job. There will be complaints about me, because people got told no and because I wasn't nice enough about it, and I'm getting paid $12/h. I will not be people's best friend for $12/h.

There's a stupid rule that the beer lead set up where people can't mix the "beer recovery" packs, which are made up of otherwise fine product salvaged from damaged cases. Given that I've been told on occasion that I was hired not to sell beer, but to do "literally whatever we tell you to do", I enforced this rule and got shit from this testosterone freak because he also found it to be a stupid rule and I defended myself. I later found out he'd instructed his night person to look for reasons to cut my shift short. Ratfuck couldn't even send me home himself, he had to get the old night lady to do it instead.

Keep in mind, I've come in on my days off, I've always left the department nicer than anyone else, I go above and beyond to put out stock, and I'm as helpful as I can be to literally every other department working at the time I am. One customer complaint later and I'm cruising to get fired for defending myself against said complaints. He's hinted at there being others, but I haven't heard of any since maybe early December?

In case you need further proof of me not being a shitty worker, I had a lady from New Jersey the other night tell me that I was the first nice person she met in the state. They walked out with probably $80 in wine and slushies, and I got to be highly amused by the antics of her drunk friend who was amazed she could drink in the passenger seat in Pennsylvania. Apparently, that's another stupid law, just a New Jersey one.

The store manager is very fond of pushing the concept of sales above all and to just take it with a smile, and it's getting a bit ridiculous. I've since heard stories where some of the front end girls are being racially harassed by customers and nothing's being done about it. One had a gun flashed on her. Nothing! Not even cops called. Further evidence of this came when I got interviewed for the beer lead position. In the process of the grilling, he used the example of a guy who used to come in to harass me and complain about me near-daily. "While we think he's an asshole, when he stopped coming in, we lost a sale."

That man only ever bought a $3 tallboy of Coors Light, maybe two some days. That's what sale the store lost.

I was told that my emotional health was worth less than $3.

As you can well imagine, this has tanked my desire to stick my neck out for anyone at the store. Normally, openings mean an opportunity for advancement, and I did interview for the beer lead position, but nah, fuck em. I'd have to uproot my entire schedule and switch to days for a $2 increase in pay and ten more hours a week, along with a ton more work doing orders and schedules and tags. They don't even know if the beer lead will stay a full-time position. Not worth it.

Unfortunately, it's also killed my desire to do much outside of work either! I didn't even write a journal about my four-year anniversary (we had a great time on the 20th by the way, and same with today). Just not been doing much of anything, outside of playing games for RetroAchievements. (By the way, if you've got an account, and you really should if you like games from the PSP on backwards, friend me. I'm almost in the top 2,000 users on site!)

The good news is that this kind of experience has helped me see what all this job has been worth to me. I applied for money and work experience, and I have both now. I've been asking some of my superiors (the not-shit ones) if I can use them as references if I do get shitcanned, and thankfully the answer's yes. Savannah also relayed a ton of her own experiences with wage jobs before she got hired by the government and said she never lasted much longer than the better part of a year in any of them, which was hugely relieving and encouraging. I'll be a year on March 30, so almost ten months. I've done fine.

Also good: we're expecting inclement weather tomorrow, so there's a good chance all my modes of transportation will be unavailable. I will be calling out if the snow appears and getting a two-day break for my troubles. If they complain, they can find someone to replace me. I'm a bargain for what all I'm willing to do for the pay I get. You will not find another of me. Fuck around and find out.

The plan is that, if I'm still working there by the time of the Wales trip in April, my last day worked there will be shortly before my departure. I'm looking forward to the downtime between jobs, frankly. Even on a good night, this job physically destroys me. A few weeks of being a NEET again will be kinda nice.