Apr 26, 2019
Comfort Zone North
I was learning what a comfort zone meant. I had made huge changes in my life, lived nowhere, and figured out that our 'zone' is up to us. It depends on what we need not what we want. The things we can do without surpised me, and figuring out what is needed and what is wanted was one of the most valuable lessons that came of the drastic changes I had chosen to make. Bring it down to the basics of food, clothing and shelter, and go from there. It was the first time in my life what I wanted and needed were all my choice. There was no one else even making suggestions. I admit it was like I had paddled away from the shore and taken my life jacket off, but for the first time it was up to me where I went and how I got there! I had taken on the challenge of survival by treating job hunting as a job. With no one else to think about it was entirely up to me where I wanted to be and how I got there. That in itself was something entirely new, and I loved it. I got organized, I got optimistic, I got determined, and I got a job as an Assistant Manager of a nice store in the mall! I walked into that shop looking like a nice person who would be a good bet to hire, and a few days later opened the store with my own key! I felt luck had surrounded me, my comfort zone only needed some food, sleep, and a shower. Keep it simple, I told myself, keep it simple.
The Christmas season had come and gone and it was the best time to learn that retail depends on how things are presented, and priced. I learned merchandising. If something had not been selling, simply move it to another spot, change the sign pointing to a 'very good price', and sales picked up right away. I learned how to manage the inventory and do the bookkeeping and make bank deposits. I got along with all the other workers and was settling in to an interesting routine. My 'home life' in the studio apartment was great. It was small so I had only what I needed such as sheets, blankets, a pillow and towels. I made some friends and enjoyed just 'hanging out' and I even went out on a date! Learning to live an independent life took some doing. If in their life a person had never made a choice based on what only they want it takes some practice to figure it out. Then fate tossed another challenge in the ring, and things went into high gear... again!
I had been hired as the Assistant Manager of this shop just four months ago. I was settling in to a simple, comfortable routine where all my choices were based only on what I needed, all in a lovely town where spring was trying to make an appearance when one day the area Supervisor walked into the store. He was the one who had hired me as the Assistant Manager and he had a big grin on his face. "Let's talk", he said. Once in the office he said: "We have a store in Seattle that needs a manager...do you want the job?" Manager. Four months ago I had walked in off the street desperate for a job, had been hired as the Assistant Manager and was now being offered a management job in a large city. I took it. Why not!? I liked Seattle, I knew people there and my paycheck would triple! Luck had happened again...and I was ready!
Two weeks later I pulled in to a huge mall in the Seattle area. I parked my packed-full car, went in to the mall and found the store. I stood in the mall looking at the store and was shocked. It was twice the size of the other shop I had worked at, and was in terrible shape, dirty, messy, things were broken. I didn't go in right at first. I wanted to see what kind of challenge I had taken on. It was big and dirty and I knew I had my work cut out for me. I walked in and softly identified myself. The energy changed but not to the good. It was as if they had been sent someone to remind them they were not doing well for the company and a couple of workers quit on the spot, a few said they had not made up their mind, but my luck was still with me as the (lady) assistant manager walked up and said: 'welcome, good to meet you'. (footnote: I am still very good friends with this lady. Luck always seems to put someone like her to help me land on my feet.)
I rented a nice one bedroom condo, and a few days later I reported to work. The area Supervisor was there and it took him all day to show me how work was done here, where things were including two storage units a few miles down the road. Nothing had been gone through, sorted out or organized for years. He said: "This store is listed as dead last in sales and production out of over 100 stores of this company. All of the other stores ship you what they don't sell, what they consider junk". Here I stood in the least productive store with only two workers. I have to say I stood there wondering if I could do this job, but at the same time I knew I was being given permission to stretch the interpretation of the company rules to put this store into shape. I sat down with my great Assistant Manager and told her what I had in mind. I was going to consider her the manager while I put myself in to organizing the store and all the merchandise in the storage units. The supervisor had said: "Try not to drift too far away from company rules, but... just don't tell me anything."
I worked harder than I had ever worked in my life, 12 hours a day 7 days a week. We hired good workers and went through that store from top to bottom. Working around the company rules, the store was cleaned and revamped. All the old merchandise was cleaned and nicely arranged and suddenly put on sale. Sale things were arranged on large tables at the front of the store and once public attention was on the sale tables, people almost always drifted in to the rest of the store to see what else was available. I had inventoried, packed and moved everything from two junkie storage units to one well organized unit. It was looking great! Until the Supervisor came to check things out in about a month. The store was shining and busy, but the supervisor walked around and pointed out the things that had not been finished. I told him it looked 100% better than it did, sales were up, and I was waiting for a shipment from the company to finish the few things not yet done. He got bitchy and went from the nice Supervisor-who-hired- me to a real jerk. To this day I think it was because I had done such a good job in such a short time and maybe he was jealous! But he also got a few hard words from a hard working manager and as a result a line was drawn in the sand with both of us agreeing not to cross it again. We were both leaders.
Two months after taking over the store we went from dead last in the company to number 10. We were great! Several corporation executives from the home office in Texas flew in to Seattle and walked in to the store all at once to see how the heck it went from dead last to number 10! I was standing there dressed to the teeth ready for anything they could say. One of them said: "I see you all have name tags with just a name on it, not their status." I said: "When I started here I told every employee they were all managers when they were working, and this was their store. What went on was their fault". I never had any theft, no one quit, everyone showed up for their shift and the shop was always in gear. No store rules were being broken, but I had added my rules and it all seemed to work great.
One morning a few months later I got up and started getting ready for work when it suddenly occurred to me I had put myself in the same kind of position I had moved away from 8 months ago! Get up, go to work, clean the house, watch the news, go to bed, get up...and do it all again. I tried to shrug it off. I had a nice place to live, a well paying job and only answered to one man," The Supervisor". I decided to just flow along and see what else was coming along. With me it was a good bet something else was on the way.
And sure enough, just six months after I had taken over the store in Seattle, the Supervisor said he wanted me to become the Assistant District Supervisor to all of the stores in western Washington AND manage my own store for $2000 a year more! There were three other stores that took a lot of driving to reach and there would be no company car or mileage pay for my car. My job was going to quadruple for 2K a year!? I said: " You mean $2000 more a month and a company car." He got snotty. It was apparent his ego had taken over. Instead of him being proud of hiring someone who was putting the company in better shape, he stood there with his arms folded offering me a Supervisor job for $2000 a year with no benefits! I said: " I am giving you 30 days notice. I will hire a new manager and then I am gone.".. I have to say I enjoyed his frustrated blow-up, but I let him know unless he made a better offer, I am gone. He refused to budge or dicker. A month later I was once again in my car driving away from a well paying, sure thing with no idea where I was going. I had learned so much and had training and experience to add to my list of things-I-can-do! I could not wait to see what was around the next corner... another job, under the belt and my comfort zone was secure.
You may contact StarzAstroWand at: https://starzpsychics.com/starzastrowand
Reproduction of all or any part of material of StarzAstroWand©, including previous posts, without the express written
permission from Planet Starz, Inc. is strictly forbidden.
All violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
All Rights Reserved
Image: www.depositphotos.com/# 133466182 Date: Nov 30, 2018
Share this article with friends!
Tags:
#life#stories#starzastrowand,starzpsychics.com,starz#advisors
