deafdrummer
Active Member
- Joined
- May 17, 2009
- Messages
- 1,240
- Reaction score
- 12
I did it! I pulled the trigger two weeks ago on Monday. I had a grin on my face when I handed the letter in the envelope to my store manager, and he wondered what was in the envelope. I gently encouraged him to go ahead and open it. He was expressionless as he read the short letter, and we sat down and had a short, but cordial talk about it. I started off with, "Too many changes, not enough coming back." One of the things he said was that REI is going to go through many changes on top of what we have gone through already, and I told him that it was just as well that I go ahead and leave. He was nice enough to share his appreciation for my work ethic and hard work. Of course the door is open for me to come back any time I need to. I won't be going back. The company has a bad rep for sucking people back in after they've failed in their new endeavors. I see now that communism is very rampant there now, with the pulling of payroll from outperforming stores to underperforming store in time of need, and even worse, they have camping staff automatically trained for cash register duty. Because I'm not trained for registers, I could be in a situation where I'm by myself on the floor on a Saturday of all days, and customers get angry for lack of service. Most people are not happy there at this time. So, my last day is April 27th.
Why, you ask?? Because the company had been going through a lot of changes that did not benefit the more senior employees, including eligibility calculation methods that cut my full health insurance eligibility (I'm on SSDI), shorted me on vacation and sick pay accruals, and cut my hours into the bone marrow. On Sunday at work, I saw that I was working 8 hours for an entire week. When I saw that, I picked up that clipboard and went to my store manager, and asked, "What is this?" while pointing to my schedule. He explained cut backs. I asked why did I hear from another employee that they were hiring several people very soon. He said that they were short 10 people. I said, "If you're short ten people, why did you cut my hours?" This is what broke the straw clean through.
Where am I going?? I had been thinking for a long, long time. Lots of you know about my journey through the storm of the million-year epoch that has lasted 25 years so far. I am also leaving Houston (that's why my location says what it does) this year. I will attempt to go into the renaissance faire business, or the circuit, depending on what I do. In the circuit, I would be traveling from faire to faire. If I can't do that, I'm hoping that I will have a trade making something, like chainmaille, leatherwork, sewing things, building things. SOMETHING that is a physical trade. I may have a sewing master (as I am being brought on as an apprentice in any case), as I went to work at Sherwood Forest Faire (off-season now) last week to help him complete small, but HEAVY tents on one of the smaller commercial sewing machines mounted on a big rolling platform. Just the body of the tent weighs about 60 lbs, and it's hard work to spread the tent out and keep it turning like a top as my master sews in zippers, hems, and seams. Good workout, which I enjoyed. I also helped him complete Cameleon dresses in preparation for dyeing. I may be going back next week to do more work, and I also have a carpentry job to go to, expanding one of the booths out at Sherwood. There is a possibility of going to CO or NM to work with my sewing master to make very large tents (2,000-5,000 sq). I will know more details in a week or two. Because of his own doubts about whether the tent making business will continue, I have another option of going to a green community west of here and helping out in exchange for a place to stay.
Why, you ask?? Because the company had been going through a lot of changes that did not benefit the more senior employees, including eligibility calculation methods that cut my full health insurance eligibility (I'm on SSDI), shorted me on vacation and sick pay accruals, and cut my hours into the bone marrow. On Sunday at work, I saw that I was working 8 hours for an entire week. When I saw that, I picked up that clipboard and went to my store manager, and asked, "What is this?" while pointing to my schedule. He explained cut backs. I asked why did I hear from another employee that they were hiring several people very soon. He said that they were short 10 people. I said, "If you're short ten people, why did you cut my hours?" This is what broke the straw clean through.
Where am I going?? I had been thinking for a long, long time. Lots of you know about my journey through the storm of the million-year epoch that has lasted 25 years so far. I am also leaving Houston (that's why my location says what it does) this year. I will attempt to go into the renaissance faire business, or the circuit, depending on what I do. In the circuit, I would be traveling from faire to faire. If I can't do that, I'm hoping that I will have a trade making something, like chainmaille, leatherwork, sewing things, building things. SOMETHING that is a physical trade. I may have a sewing master (as I am being brought on as an apprentice in any case), as I went to work at Sherwood Forest Faire (off-season now) last week to help him complete small, but HEAVY tents on one of the smaller commercial sewing machines mounted on a big rolling platform. Just the body of the tent weighs about 60 lbs, and it's hard work to spread the tent out and keep it turning like a top as my master sews in zippers, hems, and seams. Good workout, which I enjoyed. I also helped him complete Cameleon dresses in preparation for dyeing. I may be going back next week to do more work, and I also have a carpentry job to go to, expanding one of the booths out at Sherwood. There is a possibility of going to CO or NM to work with my sewing master to make very large tents (2,000-5,000 sq). I will know more details in a week or two. Because of his own doubts about whether the tent making business will continue, I have another option of going to a green community west of here and helping out in exchange for a place to stay.
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